Digne de gloire est qui vole un royaume, qui vole peu est digne du gibet.
Giovanni Battista CASTI


Day 33

am (Hot)

pm (Cold)

Rides = nil
Arrival = Victoria
KM travelled = nil
$ spent = $4.00 (Bus, food, laundry)
Time passed on the road = nil
km walked = 7


I went to the fabulous Empress Hotel to see what it was like and I ended up walking in the hallways and snooping into actual rooms. The doors were open but I did not see any maids around. Every thing looked very nice, very tidy. I could have slipped so easily into one of the beds and taken a nap, I could have called room service and eaten a big meal, I could have taken a bath. The bathrooms were impressive, spacious. There were big mirrors and lots of lights, the enamel of the tub was blinding. But my eyes were pulled toward the fancy monograms embroidered on the towels. Each of these big fluffy white towels had a beautiful black E on the right corner. It was too much. I could not resist. I paused, then quickly stuffed two of them in my packsack. I left the hotel by the front door trying to act as cool as possible even though my bag had quite a large bulge. As I was walking around the harbour I considered collecting / gathering - I guess stealing would be the right word to use - some towels for resale. For example, if I could take 2 dozen and sell them at 3 or even 4 dollars each, I could make $60.00 dollars a day!

I met Veronica and Adrianna, two French women from Paris. They were visiting the West. They loved Victoria and kept saying that it was like Britain. We spent the afternoon walking and looking at boats coming and going. Veronica suggested that we should get some wine and meet up with three of their friends. We went to a park close by; Karl, François and Pierre from Québec were already there. We drank, smoked and hung out. It was pretty nice. I told Pierre about my idea for the towel scam and he said: "There is an easier way to make some quick money. You can go to the Ministry of Human Resources and tell them that you are broke and that you want to go home. They will give you $60.00 for food and a one way bus ticket that you can sell or something." Before we split up, we all exchanged addresses.

Later that evening I got a room at the Salvation Army.

- Daniel



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