I collect pins...

A dear friend of mine asked me the other day why there is an on-running joke about pin collecting in matters of Facebook status updates and other random references by yours truly. For those who haven't the faintest to what I am referring to, I should note that these references tend to just repeat "I collect pins" a whole lot. No wonder people think I've acquired some rare disease in remotest Papua New Guinea, the far-flung regions of the Caucasus, or the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park.

But now, due to popular demand, I am here to set the record reasonably straight. It all began on a busy day at High Street Hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland about 9 years ago - yikes!). It was check-out time, or thereabouts, and Charmead (famed author of the "All the Queen's Men" blog and certified rock star) and I were working the front desk, dealing with the outgoing rush of sweaty backpackers from our home-away-from-home for nomads. In the flurry of activity, a small visa-sized photo of a Japanese woman of indeterminate age had been left behind amongst a collection of pink tickets of departed travelers.

Unsure as to who this actually was, we decided it would be best put up on our cork-matting to either side of the reception window, snuggled amongst those typical accoutrements of hostels and bars throughout the world: low-denomination foreign currency, drunken photos of staff members past and present, and random Canadian and Australian pins.

I think it was about ten minutes after the pic went up that our first inquiry into who it was came from one of our staff members, Mel from Ireland. Post-rush euphoria prompted me to spit out: "Oh. That's my daughter, Kaoru". Now Mel is a rather smart cookie and she was observant enough to note that my supposed daughter was Asian. Challenging me on this, I (in rare creative and quick-thinking form) elaborated on the tale on the spot:

"Well, you see Mel, you can tell from the photo that Kaoru is of a fairly indeterminate age. She is, in fact, 11 years old. It just so happened that I had gone to Japan many years ago - 12 of them or so ago, when I was just 16 years old. I was there with my parents for a month when I met a maiko, or apprentice geisha of the same age. One thing led to another and, lo and behold, she was pregnant. I had left to go back to Canada and Kaoru was raised as Japanese. I've seen her rarely as I have only been over once since then. Beautiful child, really. She's taken an interest in Canadian culture once she found about me. And she collects pins."

Mel raised an eyebrow at me and I could hear some kind of stifled laughter from behind me where Char was trying not to lose it. I kept a straight face, however and Mel left for the lounge downstairs. That gave Char a chance to let burst with merriment. We agreed that Mel probably didn't buy it.

However, it wasn't too much later in the day that random long-termers and staff of the hostel came by reception to comment about my daughter and how surprised they were by this interesting story. Alas. My story had worked too well. In fact, what became even more amusing was the sudden swelling of pins that started to grow around the photo, ostensibly for me to collect and put into an envelope to send to Kaoru for her pin collection. Again, truth proves to be as strange as fiction.

And here we are nine years later or so. Kaoru would be 20 years old at this point in an alternate reality. She'd have a number of pins from strangers who made their home at High Street Hostel for a spell, and I'd be much more fluent in Japanese than I am at the moment, I'd suspect.
"Sou desu-ka? So desu-yo!"

Random fact: Kaoru was the name of the first ever guest to stay at Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh in 1997.