Day 2
Bureaucracy in San Sibilia is clearly a lot more efficient than those incompetent paper-pushers back in old Blighty. A letter arrived from the city at the guest-house this morning. Seems they already know I'm here, and have somehow divined that I'm here to map this place. They let me know in no uncertain terms that creating any “map or other cartographic document” is strictly “prohibited, forbidden and not allowed” and threatened me with “expulsion or imprisonment.” Bureaucrats, they talk the same in any country, eh?
Well, that certainly explains the reputation of this city as being “unmappable.” All that rubbish about the streets changing course, buildings coming and going on a whim, maps rewriting themselves to be false...No, it's just against the rules.
I'm not going to let those sons of unwed mothers stop me, of course. I'll have to be a little bit more discreet about it. My equipment will remain at home and I will rely on my eyesight. But I am here to map this city and map it I shall.