Case Studies
Mr J. C. G. George, KSG, FHS, as the list of letters that follows his name suggests, has had a long and interesting life. Before he retired Mr George’s role involved helping with the mounting of state ceremonials, responsibility for the control and regulation of the use of official insignia (such as flags, armorial bearings and other emblems) and also supervising official genealogical records.
More recently Mr George returned to the United Kingdom after two years in Spain; a happy period living outside of the UK that was unfortunately cut short by ill-health. Following his retirement from his richly traditional position Mr George decided, on medical advice, to move from Edinburgh where he had been living for some 20 years, and seek the warmer climes of the Mediterranean coast. Initially he and his wife bought a delightful property on the sea but due to his increasing immobility they felt it necessary to move closer to the heart of their local town. A few months later they bought a spacious three bedroom apartment, again not far from the sea, which benefited from larger-sized rooms than is usual in most Spanish country properties. However, Mr George was unfortunate enough to pick up a rare infection and following complications was soon in a Spanish hospital. Mr George comments, "Although I could usually get by in simple conversational Spanish and some of the doctors there spoke good English; the nurses unfortunately did not. Consequently, due to my lack of knowledge of Spanish medical and hospital terminology, communication with them was a major difficulty".
In view of the necessary surgery and subsequent general decline in health Mr & Mrs George felt it wiser to return to the UK and dispose of their flat in Spain – despite it being a time when the Spanish property market was seriously failing therefore presenting a far from opportune moment to sell. After about fifteen months Mr George luckily found a buyer who paid for the property mostly in euros. Not being happy with the exchange rate offered by his high street bank Mr George researched the internet for a foreign exchange specialist to handle the money transfer – and came across Foremost Currency Ltd. Mr George comments, "I spoke to a currency dealer at Foremost Currency who obtained for me a sterling to euro exchange rate of 7 cents per euro better than my bank had. As this was a six figure deal you can quickly see how much extra money that made. So although we got less than the asking price, we managed to recoup virtually the entire difference with the excellent guidance of the foreign exchange specialist who helped me pick the right moment to make the trade when the pound was rapidly declining against the euro."
