Word avalanche

I have this east-European friend who loves travelling. One time he went to Scotland and had his travellers' cheques stolen, but being traveller's cheques he was able to get free replacements — in this case, special commemorative tartan ones with Gordon Brown's face on them. He was really proud of them, and kept showing them off at every possibility. One day, when in northern India, he showed it to a local who didn't believe it was real, and went to the trouble of looking up the ID number to see if it was a fake. He always remembered the Sikh with the cheek to check the ex-Exchequer chequered Czech cheques.