The Beggar's Diary, 29.09.2007. - It's raining cats and dogs in Muenster and it doesn't look like it’s going to get better any time today. Filch reluctantly cancels the guided tour he has always wanted to lead, and the only thing to do now, he figures, is to sit and wait at the fyal, scoring as many free coffees as he can. There are quite a few visitors looking for him. It feels almost like Filch, as a public figure, has an office now. The people who have come to say goodbye to Filch come bearing presents: pictures taken during the last month; a Cuban cigar for him to smoke on his last day; and a we-are-going-to-miss-you note. A photographer comes around and offers to take some last pictures of him, but Filch, friendly but firmly, declines the offer: "So many pictures have been taken that I have the feeling I’ve seen them all."
As things quiet down, Filch decides to leave a sign at the bar: he draws a last portrait on the walls of the fyal with a blue marker. "Something to remember me by."
He leaves and decides to dance in the rain in front of the Switch+—a last performance for the info point girls, and, willy-nilly, for a group of SP07 visitors on guided tour as well (Christoph is leading them). The info point girls offer him a coffee and a knee massage with ABC cream. He is a sculpture in decline, yes, but he must see to it that he can make it one more day. Someone asks if he wasn’t bought after all: "Schade." The hard rain, Filch’s cold feet, and his sore knee are clear signs that his time is up. When asked if he is running off to a better place, he replies:
"I'd rather live poor in Muenster, than rich somewhere else."
He returns to the fyal, which is crowded now, and sits next to three art students. When they learn his identity, they tell him a story, and they don’t want to hear one in return.
The story goes like this: "We have a friend, an apprentice carpenter who belongs to an association that has connections worldwide. When you belong to this association, you have to leave your hometown for three years, during which time you cannot come any closer to it than 150km. You must travel the world and learn the craft from professionals, who will lodge you and instruct you. Our friend has been to Alaska and South Africa. In accordance with tradition, when he left he had to drink a bottle of strong liquor, leave a message in an empty bottle, which he had to bury under a street sign in his hometown. Last but not least, members of this association have their ears pierced with a nail, and must wear earrings."
Now, that is a fantastic story, thinks Filch. After Sahara desert that was yesterday, he now wants to become a carpenter. He asks them if they can keep an eye on trolley for a second, as he urgently needs to go use the bathroom. A girl tells him when he returns: "You didn’t lose anything, but you didn’t win anything either." He wants to object, of course, and say, "Actually, I’ve won a lot today,” but lets it be.
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