Each morning I purchase, from the coffee bar downstairs, a large cup of tea for 40p. But unbeknownst to the establishment I have, over the weeks, amassed a selection of teas in my desk drawer. For herbal or green teas I reuse the café’s paper cup and all I have to do is add hot water from the coffee machine before I can enjoy a steaming cup of bliss.
For a cup of PG Tips I have a far more sinister tactic. I reuse the café’s paper cup, pop in a tea bag and hot water and head for the elevator. Once in the lobby I make my way over to the café but instead of going to the counter I aim slightly to the right and walk up to the carafe’s. It’s at this point that I adopt a nonchalant aire and casually milk up my brew ‘till it’s colouration indicates the perfect timing for delicate application to my pallet.
Minor infringement or massive disgrace? Have a look at the math and you be the judge …
Black tea
40p x 2 cups a day x 5 days a week x 16 weeks = £64 total savings
Herbal/Green tea
50p x 2 cups a day x 5 days a week x 16 weeks = £80 total savings
Please note that the only real cost to the café is a splash of milk which probably only measures a cup every 2 days. The rest is just good economics!
The first leg of our journey took us 4 hours. Not bad for Petra because she knew she was going to arrive that day. For me it was a bit more stressful because we´d only managed to get a fraction of the way that I needed to. Then in Foix we (plus another hitchhiker we bumped into) we found some French arachists who were going to Portugal.
So I just rode with them all the way to Bayonne and then spent the night in my tent. Then the next day we got up and went to meet some of their friends. I ended up living, eating and drinking with these guys for 4 days first in a squat, taking breakfast at 2 homeless shelters, then 3 days on the Atlantic coast. 
When eventually we did leave and get to Bilbao 2 days late and at 10:30pm, June was waiting for me in the station. We caught the metro back to her place and I showered and did some laundry. The next night we went out for an explorative walk and rented a movie. A movie which still remains unwatched because Bilbao seems to have a disproportionately large percentage of pirate pubs! We hit 3 that night before coming back home and going to bed.
The next day we went to a fantastic juggling convention full of young hippies from all over the place! It was awesome, with tall celings, enthusiastic young jugglers, a bar, sleeping upstairs, rope acrobatics, unicycles, everything. If you´ve seen it in a circus or ever wished you had, it was at this convention. All held in a fantastic 4 story squat, complete with vegetarian kitchen on the 2nd floor and climbing wall on the 3rd.
That evening we went to see a show and before hand one of the hosts started talking to me about my moustache. June told her I was Canadian so she started talking to me in French. Then later on during what was a FANTASTIC show full of ´Just for Laughs´caliber tricks and performances, they started giving out prizes. The last prize she started asking for the Canadian guy with the moustache she liked. I didn´t understand a word of it, but June said she was looking for me so I stood up. When she saw me she ran over, jumping over seated people (remember there are 400 people watching this show) and came over to me, gave me a pink toy bicycle, kissed me once on each cheek, and held my hand aloft saying something about being the Canadian d'Artagnan.
After that everyone at the conference knew me, and after the show lots of folks came up and patted me on the back, or congratulated me, or maybe insulted me, who knows, I don´t speak Spanish!
I made a new friend last night and she seems pretty connected. Last night she managed (in only a matter of moments) to get myself and Griff staff passes to the Green Man festival near Cardiff. Griff works 'till 6 and after that he's going to drive us both down to the festival where I'll do . . . something in exchange for free entrance and camping etc.
I'd say it's a pretty sweet deal! I hope the weather stays nice!
