High-speed nostalgia

IT’S been a very long time since shops accepted ginger bottles as currency but the practice can still be found in unexpected quarters.

Deedee Cuddihy was on a Londonbound Virgin train when the on-board shop manager announced that a problem had arisen and that credit card payments couldn’t be accepted for hot drinks, snacks and sandwiches.

Payment could, however, be made “using cash or ginger bottles”, he added. Strange to see such an old-fashioned currency making a comeback, says Deedee.