Ah, isn't it great to be part of Europe? Our own Lottery is only offering a jackpot of just over £2 million tonight while if you entered last night's EuroMillion lottery you could be walking away today with a grand total of £166 million (given the nature of daily newspapers these words were penned yesterday and there's a chance I may have won. If so, thanks for everything and goodbye. It's been emotional).
Off course, as the news stories to the left reveal, it's probably best we aren't actually a part of Europe when it comes to the single currency because the unfolding debt crisis which has already clobbered three once-buoyant economies looks to be claiming more victims.
Economists had already flagged Spain's woes and one look at its unemployment rate - over 20% at the last count - offers a pretty good insight into the problems in the land of jamon Serrano and tortilla.
Your diligent scribe, ever keen to get close to the story, even travelled to the Iberian peninsula last week and can concur there's an air of worry amongst the business owners across the region, in particular the bar and restaurant owners who rely on domestic customers to sustain their custom.
With disposable income for the average Spaniard being hit by the same factors which have dented the pockets of consumers from Galway to the Galapagos Islands, the restaurants are struggling to pull in the punters, both local and from the tourist trade.
We could learn a lot from the Spanish when it comes to attracting visitors but sterling has fallen sharply since 2007 when a pound would buy you €1.49 to current levels of around €1.13.
Ironically, the most recent troubles in Europe have seen the euro lose ground against the pound and you'll get much better value than the €1.10 it was at just prior to me going on holiday. But of course, I'm not bitter.
Meanwhile Italy is the relatively new kid on the block to be tarred with worries that its economy may be in as much trouble as a gelato left out in the midday sun.
Yesterday the government of Silvio Berlusconi - the Teflon prime minister of the Mediterranean country who is pictured to the left - had to offer up a 3.67% return on its government bonds on a 12-month basis, the highest level it has been forced to pay out since September 2008 when the Lehman Brothers' crisis broke. That's a sure sign the markets are worried and if Italy follows the path of Ireland, Greece and Portugal there will be worse to come.
More deep-seated problems in some of the eurozone's most prominent countries have helped build the case against the single currency and if solutions to the debt issue aren't found soon there are worries for its future.
Of course, it's unlikely the euro would be shelved but continued trouble could have significant ramifications for relations between the member countries.
In the meantime, you might as well take advantage of the dip in the euro and head off to support our European neighbours in their time of need.
Not that we're exactly flourishing, as today's report from PwC shows.
As the worst performing region in the UK we could do with a shot in the arm to try and get our stumbling economy back into growth territory and should be trying to get tourists to come and spend their money in our shops, restaurants and hotels.
But if you are going off to the sun don't, as I did, expect to get the wholesale rates quoted here when you go to buy your euros.
The markup is phenomenal but the confines of this column mean I'll have to save that rant for another time. Not to mention hire car excesses. Or trailed suitcases.
These all converged and have left me in my own euro-debt crisis.
Here's hoping the EuroMillions comes good. If it does, I might even lend Italy a euro or two...
Article Source KBG Test Blog (http://rc.kbg.me)
