Stealing Notebooks

[@luigig6256]

A mystery writer, with a magnifying glass, investigating stolen paper…

[@writerlywitterings]

No. I can't. Not without dobbing myself in!

[@gents6379]

I don't travel much, but when I was a journalist in Los Angeles, I went to the Playboy Mansion to interview the then resident on his 80th birthday. I snagged a notepad from his desk and on each page it says: From the desk of Hugh M. Hefner" Pretty cool.....

[@writerlywitterings]

Ah, I only travel when it's a Smithsonian gig nowadays. Holidays are a distant memory, as are signing tours, but I have a friend who has a letterhead from Germany, with a note saying, "Don't worry, we're fine." It was written by my friend Bob's grandad, who was with the army that broke into Berchtesgaden at the end of the war and pilfered Hitler's own notepaper to send a letter to his mother!

[@LANCSKID]

Believe me, Michael … you have paid for those ‘complimentary’ shower gels, soaps, notepads etc … many times over!

[@writerlywitterings]

To be fair, that is always my belief. After all, I think the price of them is always included in the room cost, just as breakfast is!

[@penarbor]

And that bathrobe too :D

[@LANCSKID]

@ Yes, and the monogrammed fluffy slippers …

[@ginopagnani7286]

Are those police sirens coming up your driveway ???😂😂😂

[@writerlywitterings]

DAMN! ...

[@ronwoch]

There is at least one company I heard of that DOES collect up used soap bars from hotels, melts them all down and batches them into new soap. Soap is, oddly enough, actually 'recyclable' like that.

[@writerlywitterings]

Aha! Thanks for that. I really did wonder, and have thought it would be the sort of company I could create - too late, again, as usual!

[@dansv1]

Clean The World is a global leader in environmental and social impact solutions, which aims to make the world a better place by diverting soap bars and plastic amenities that the hospitality industry would otherwise discard onto landfills and recycling the collected soap into new bars. - from their website

[@tma-1704]

I traveled quite a bit in my job as a telecom instructor and would "collect" all the complimentary hotel soaps and shampoos from my visits. I took them home and save them in a box. Once a year, the wife and I would donate the box to the women's shelter.

[@writerlywitterings]

That's a really good one! thanks for that!

[@chesterlott2557]

Laughing at your topic. Came back from a medical convention in San Francisco’s Marc Hopkins Hotel with a weekender bag of 8.5x11 lined tablets , 28 lb bond -between 750-1000 pages. Used over 2-3 years. Could write both sides with juicy ink with no feathering or bleeding. Best paper ever. Was left at each seat every day and I collected leftovers at the end of each day as filing out.

[@writerlywitterings]

Ah, clearly you and I went to the same school of thrift!

[@donaldgoerig6171]

I take the note pads and any letterhead as well

[@writerlywitterings]

Oh, that's going too far! Good idea, though ...

[@penarbor]

Now we know why you do crime writing 😆

[@writerlywitterings]

HAHAHA - no, it was just a practical exam, honest ...

[@paulmchugh1430]

Great research on you part for hotel paper as well as soap and shampoo, Michael. Most of the more luxurious hotels here have now put their soaps and shampoos in large bottles on a tray that is locked. You can pump the soap and shampoo from the bottle but you cannot remove the bottles from the tray. However, near the sink there are still small bottles of hand cream and moisturizer as well as the ubiquitous small bars of soap. Obviously it is meant to halt guests from filling their travel bags which is a shame. Lol. As for paper, almost no hotel offers paper for writing, clearly the laptops have done away with this. Getting even a ballpoint is arduous, having to go the the front desk and asking for one. These pens are my reminders of where I have stayed and I keep them with my travel journals. When there is paper, it is just a step below copier paper with their emblem at top. Pity. Your hotels seem to be more civilized.

[@writerlywitterings]

That's interesting. This year I've stayed (with Smithsonian) at the Osborne in Torquay, the Queen's in Cheltenham and the Bloomsbury, and all have paper, writing paper with their letterhead, and biros in the rooms. Only one, Queen's, used the big dispensing bottles, but that too had a soap. I did notice that the better hotels also had their own A4 notepads, which I assume was intended for meetings and so on. And that paper (at the Bloomsbury) was wonderful too.

[@paulmchugh1430]

@writerlywitterings A4 is a wonderful size for letters. Years ago one would get half-sheets (A5?). There would also be a "scratch" pad for notes. Now, nothing.