Paris: the Yellow Coin Collection

I haven't felt like writing anything lately-- nothing to do with circumstances especially. Maybe I've just been in Paris too long. It doesn't feel fresh any more. Even all the odd things that struck me at first just seem normal now.

Today is one of those days with jackhammers' noise coming from two different directions, boring errands to do and nothing fun on the immediate horizon. 

I had to go to the local post office to buy some stamps for the USA. As usual, all the pretty stamps were only for domestic use. The Americans do this too, by the way. Why?
And it's pièce jaune time! You can pick up this nice foldable box (above) at the post office, fill it with all your pièces jaunes or yellow coins-- the small change in the Euro Zone is yellowish or copper (below). Then bring it back in to the post office before February 15th and voilà, you have helped children in the hospital.

(I never normally look at the coins much, but each coin is different on the back in each EU country. Some people were specially collecting Greek ones in the days when it looked as if Greece might leave the Euro Zone. In the photo to the left, for example, the harp denotes an Irish coin, and you can also see coins from Greece, Spain and the Netherlands. They are all valid anywhere in the Euro Zone, which is very handy when you travel.)

The word for a "piggy bank" in French is the poetical tirelire. If you can't get to a post office, here is a virtual tirelire for your pièces jaunes. Of course, this being France, you first have to "create your account!"