credit crunch over? Not a chance,,, its just starting by the looks of it.

It's about time to start wiring some money again... anyone else? Who get's the best rate for SFr./€ next week?

(Like it really matters with these amounts...)

Resurrecting thread:

Not looking quite so weak any more, not vs sterling anyway:

From www.xe.com

Live rates at 2008.01.02 15:38:04 UTC ==1.00 CHF== ===== ==0.450071 GBP== Switzerland Francs United Kingdom Pounds 1 CHF = 0.450071 GBP , 1 GBP = 2.22187 CHF
Compared with last August:

Live rates at 2007.08.15 09:39:33 UTC ==1.00 CHF== ===== ==0.414355 GBP== Switzerland Francs United Kingdom Pounds 1 CHF = 0.414355 GBP , 1 GBP = 2.41339 CHF

Not bad, almost 10% increase in five months. Beats the interest I'd have made converting to stg back then and shoving into a UK savings account.

But now, to keep my hoard of dosh in CHF or move it to Stg.... or perhaps, gold

When I arrived in Switzerland in August 1969 there were CHF10.20 to the Pound....

Was that before or after the dinosaur killer meteorite?
Did this have any, er, impact?

Before, actually...Happy years, when everything in London was cheap and we were Swissfrankrich.........

Would you be willing to start a "Good old days thread"? It would be interesting to hear how life was back when the living standard in Switzerland was considerably higher than the rest of Europe and the salaries as well. Or was it ever really so?

It was of course the other way round. With CHF10.20 to £1, Switzerland was cheap for Brits and the UK expensive for the Swiss...

How about the good old days? Were there ever any?

The simple sad fact is that we are now living in the good old days.

In a few short years we'll be looking back at with a wistful smile at the days when we had the time, freedom and money to make mind-numbingly posts to forums like this....

But don't forget that at the time everything was cheap in the UK, (petrol 5/- a gallon),a 4 bedroomed house about £10000, a cup of tea 7d, a meal 2/6, cinema seats 3/9 etc etc and people earned much less.... annual salary for university grads just starting work about £1200 p.a bank manager £5/6000 p.a. My CHF 2'000.00 per month in 1970 went a long way in the UK...at the time.

Of course there were good old days.....no speed limits, no seat belts, no radar traps, no terrorists, friendly bobbies,no Macdonalds,good schools, GCE's,no commercial TV, no video games etc. Watch a few "Miss Marple" episodes with Joan Hickson and you'll get a taste of what it was like.....

It's lapsing into that 'good ol' days' thread whether we like it or not: Muffin the Mule, Billy Bunter, Uncle Mack on the radio, Two-Way family favourites, Saturday morning cinema, pullovers for goalposts...

Oops showing your age mind you I know what you`re talking about

This is the sort of stuff I was talking about. Open the good 'ol days thread!

Now sadly illegal in most of Europe

not forgetting Andy Pandy and the Flowerpot men....

When this was first on TV, it was so spot on with reference to the stuff parents came out with that it had us on the floor with laughter.

"Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen"

Back to the Franc for a moment, it is at a few months high against the Euro today, median is 1.63 or thereabouts. The CHF against the dollar is 1.10 which is also pretty low!

Yep, I think the Franc is just going to get stronger and stronger. It's a traditional 'safe haven' currency. I believe at one point in the late 70s the Swiss govt sold negative interest rate bonds to foreigners who desperately wanted to hold Francs and were willing to pay for the privilege. The aim was to stop the value of the Franc going ballistic and making Swiss exports completely uncompetitive.

Personally, my Franc savings are now worth 10% more in Sterling than they were six months ago
.

That's not a bad 'interest rate' for me, should I decide to convert my cash.