The Case of The Phantom Franc

I have always been intrigued by ghosts. They seem to conform to certain rules - follow particular patterns of behaviour according to type - but they are so capricious that one can never be sure of seeing enough of them to take proper note of their behaviour, or be sure that they are conforming to any rule at all.

All of which makes The Case of the Phantom Franc so very interesting.

The Franc is, of course, certainly dead - we all know that, because many of us attended the funeral - but I have to say that I never encountered such a persistent and reliably visible apparition. It lingers in a thin column on my Bank Statements, whispers the price of a single leek in the Supermarket, lurks gloomily at the foots of bills from the garage. It appears,in fact, a lot less capriciously than it should, and far more often than one would expect, for the ghost that it is supposed to be.

Perhaps it isn't a ghost.