| |
pesetas, and then have Franco devaluate his currency. When I knew her, at least, she had never been caught. Year in, year out, she was living and living well on this small amount of capital. On an average she would turn it over possibly twice a month. There are literally hundreds of persons in Tangier playing the fluctuating currency game. Some of them have no more than a few hundred dollars on hand, some of them have literally tens of millions at their disposal. A fraction of a change in the value of a currency can send these big operators hurrying to their telephones and rushing through orders to Switzerland or New York, Hong Kong or Lisbon. Buy Indian rupees at 5.88 to the dollar; sell Norwegian kroner at 7.14 to the dollar; buy gold bullion at 532,000 French francs to the kilo! I messed around with this myself for a time, on a small scale, and didn't do too badly, but frankly it's not my dish of tea. I'd wind up with a fine collection of ulcers in six months' time. But maybe you're different. CASE HISTORY No. 4. As I have compiled this book, I realize that I have mentioned American artists and writers, of one type or another quite often and possibly some of my readers might think that I've written too much about this type of American. However, it is simply that so many of these are the type person who take off from the treadmill and go off to the bargain paradises both in our own country and abroad. In fact, many readers of this book who take the advice that I give and actually get out of the rut themselves might well find in a year or so that they've developed an interest in one or more of the arts themselves. It is when man has leisure time that he is able to look at the beautiful things of life. At any rate, thus far I haven't dealt with a type of American living abroad that is to be found in all parts of the world, sometimes even on the other side of the Iron Curtain. I'm thinking of the regional writer. The regional writer is one who deliberately moves to a certain locality and puts down roots and writes about that locality and usually nothing else. Emily Hahn chose China, and became a top professional writer; Frank Waters chose New Mexico;
|
|