Sunday December 16th 2018

An impulse buy whilst fuelling the car today. A bag of chocolate coins.

It seems appropriate on the day the toll was finally removed from the Severn Crossing to post an image of this chocolate money. For 800 years or so, crossing from England to Wales across the Severn Estuary has been via a toll, or a long detour via Gloucester. Be that ferry, train travel or latterly the twin bridges. Historians think tolls were levied as far back as Roman times. However the first confirmed evidence of a ferry and a fee to cross was around 1200. Tonight however the M4 crossing took it's last toll from a passing motorist and from tomorrow morning, entry to Wales will be free. It's always been free to get out, prompting humorous comments over the years. It will be strange going over there and just driving into Wales without stopping. I last paid a toll on November 30th this year. A contact-less payment of £5.60 meaning I had no real historical evidence of my final crossing, requiring coinage of the Realm to be exchanged for safe passage. Just an electronic debit in my case, but definitely not chocolate money. Or maybe I could have offered some gold chocolate coins, after all chocolate as a currency has a longer history than the tolls over the Severn.

It's thought the Inca uses cacoa as a currency. Like sugar and salt, chocolate was in great demand throughout history. Chocolate coins, known as gelt were and still are part of the Jewish Hanukkah festival. But the Christmas decorations we know and love today maybe hark back to Saint Nicholas himself, who loved children in his Turkish homeland and its thought gave them chocolate as gifts. In reality the real reason why we buy or give coins which resemble the currency of the Realm is lost in the mists of time. Though this cocoa based Sterling currency I bought in the Esso garage in Nailsea worries me. Why is the 2p coin huge compared to the 5p and 10p;  which themselves are much smaller than the £1?  I'd have thought if the coins were to represent the actual currency, size matters, though for my £1 purchase price I received £1.58 worth of chocolate. All of which was academic as once home the larger 2p coins were consumed first. An absolute bargain I'd say.