TILTING AT WINDMILLS: CHEESED OFF WITH THE BANK?

Friday, August 14, 2009

CHEESED OFF WITH THE BANK?

Word reached me after the banks closed on Friday that in central Italy a deposit of Parmesan cheese is enough to secure a loan.

Apparently this system dates back to the 1950s and is still used by four banks in northern Emilia-Romagna including one which holds around 400,000 rounds of the cheese.

I am reliably told that a round of Parmesan weighing 40 kilos is worth 300 euros so is not to be sniffed at.

The cheeses take about two years to mature but during these two years the producers have to cover a range of costs and continue to pay their suppliers. To allow them the necessary financing the banks in this region have diversified by creating Parmesan storage.

In cases of default, the banks recuperate their losses by selling the cheeses.

I am now busy raiding my fridge to find that packet of ancient, sorry mature, cheese slices and will be off to the bank as soon as it opens on Monday.

1 comment:

PROSPERO said...: Am right behind you, Sancho! But it'll have to be on Tuesday: the banks are closed on Monday in Jimena. Bit cheesy, all these holidays...; August 14, 2009 at 6:52 PM

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TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Sancho Panza is much less learned but a good deal saner than his master.

"At this point they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that are on that plain.

"Fortune," said Don Quixote to his squire, as soon as he had seen them, "is arranging matters for us better than we could have hoped. Look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants rise up, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes. For this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth."

"What giants?" said Sancho Panza.

"Those you see there," answered his master, "with the long arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long."

"Look, your worship,'' said Sancho. "What we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the vanes that turned by the wind make the millstone go."

"It is easy to see," replied Don Quixote, "that you are not used to this business of adventures. Those are giants, and if you are afraid, away with you out of here and betake yourself to prayer, while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat."”