France is wonderful but - as elsewhere in the EU - there are too many different coins. This causes fumbling at the retail counter and a gradual accumulation of the brown ones which are virtually unspendable. Why this needless complexity? I asked one vendeuse. To allow for VAT (confusingly called TVA over there) on comparatively cheap items, she replied impeccably.There is a technological solution. It's called a coin holder and the Euro version holds the top five denominations in neat spring-loaded cylinders. I had expected to be treated with contempt when mine went into action but most French people regard it with silent - yet undisguised - fascination.
The brown coins I drop into charity boxes which may be what I'm expected to do.
One disadvantage. My holder was bought online from a casino equipment supplier. For some time afterwards I was bombarded with email offers for discounted roulette wheels and poker chips until I de-subscribed.
