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MONEY AND SHOPPING
Why did people start using money? What makes money valuable? What use does it have for us?
We use money to pay for things we buy. But at first people bartered which means they exchanged things they had for things they needed. Throughout their history people used different things as money: knives and rice, shells, beads, skins, tobacco, cocoa beans, salt and even cattle. But coins are much easier to store and carry about. The first coins as well as the first paper money were invented in China. They were made of a mixture of gold and silver. But coins were heavy, difficult and dangerous to carry in huge purses. So paper money was invented. Paper money is also called banknotes or bills. We also use the word CASH to speak about coins and banknotes. There is another sort of money which includes checks and travellers’ checks. But nowadays people carry plastic cards in their wallets and purses instead of cash, which makes travelling safer and more convenient. With your credit card you can take money from the cash-machine any time you need. When people travel to other countries they need to convert their money into the local currency. For that an exchange rate is used.
Many countries in Europe today have the same currency. All their coins and paper money are euros. Great Britain however is still using pounds. They sometimes call a pound a quid. The one-pound coin has four designs: an English one, a Scottish one, a Welsh one and a Northern Irish one. In Scotland paper money with a Scottish design are issued. These notes are perfectly legal in the other three parts of the UK. In a pound there are 100 pence. But before 1971 Britain has another system. They used pennies, shillings. People had farthings, crowns and half-crowns etc. The British are not very adventurous shoppers. They like reliability and prefer brand-name goods.
Perhaps the two most famous shops in London are Selfridges and Harrods. These are both very large department stores. There are also The John Lewis Store, Marks and Spencer. A lot of big department stores in London are situated in Oxford Street, famous for its shopping. The largest store is Tesco followed by Sainsbury’s . But people don’t only use department stores and supermarkets. A lot of shopping is still done at small corner shops – small shops on the corner of the street. The small corner shops sell more specialized goods which a supermarket does not stock. People like going to the grocer’s, to the butcher’s, to the stationer’s, to the florists and the fishmonger’s.
The normal time for shops to open is nine in the morning. Large open-out-town supermarkets stay open all day until eight o’clock. Most small shops stay open all day and then close at half-past five or a bit later. Also today selling and buying goods on the Internet has become extremely popular.
As for me I always have pocket money on me. Of course I don’t have a plastic card. But I think it’s more convenient to pay by credit card than in cash. I always try to think hard before I spend money. I always save it for something I really want to have. It’s very important to plan expenses (траты). To my mind I’m responsible person in terms of making my own budget. I almost never waste money on things I don’t need. I also try not to borrow money from other people but sometimes I lend it to them.