Prague, supplemental

My over-all impression of Prague:
1: Take a medium-large city.
2: Unleash a plague of sculptors on it, covering everything with statues and filigree.
3: Marinate in pollution, coating everything with a layer of dirt and grime.
4: Sprinkle with people who are thieves, beggars, scammers, club promoters and/or drug dealers.

* * *

Fueled by paranoia, I held out for two weeks before my laptop was stolen from my hostel... from within my locker.
(I wouldn't say I'm angry about the theft, precisely, or about the lackluster Police response. It's just that I've removed Prague from the list of locations I wouldn't nuke, a list which formerly included every city on Earth. Should I ever need to re-route a meteorite, crash a rocket, teleport some antimatter - well, every other city is out of the question. Prague, now, with Prague I'll have to weigh the pros and cons before making the decision... )

Oh well. I had everything major backed up online. Though I guess my plans for writing and posting short stories for my dA gallery are going to be somewhat delayed.

* * *

I met a man in Prague, who was pacing the street to and fro. He was, so he said, a Slovakian flight instructor, a well-to-do man. Swearing over the rotten thieves in Prague who had taken his wallet, he asked me for money so he could take the train home. He would, he said, repay me handsomely when he returned home. No, he wouldn't let me buy him the ticket, or follow him to the train, or take his photo with my phone - his honour would not allow such a thing.
And after talking to the guy for about ten minutes, I came to realize something - that this guy was so obviously a scammer that I HAD to pay him the money. Actually getting to confirm for sure that THIS was the demeanor of a no-good crook rather than an honest citizen was well worth the comparatively modest sum he asked.
Which might have been what the guy counted on. He sure didn't return my money.