An Ambitious Canadian Traded Up From A Tiny Fish Hook To A Whole Boat
The barter system may be antiquated, but it still finds a way to exist, even in 2020. A PEI man actually managed to trade a fish hook for a sailboat. He had to make some smaller trades along the way, first.
Josh Lindsay, who owns the Bens Lake Campground in Belfast, PEI, started his trading journey on May 4 with a single item: a golden fish hook.
Each step of the trading sequence (which is not dissimilar from the ones featured in Legend Of Zelda) was catalogued in a different post on the campground's Facebook page.
In the first, Josh wrote that he was inspired by the story of a man who traded up from a red paperclip to his own house.
He traded the hook for a sanding block, which he then exchanged for four bottles of pickled hot peppers.
Rather than using those peppers as a delicious topping for Italian subs, he managed to turn them into three boxes of freezies (240 in total).
He then flipped the freezies for a couple of fishing rods, which were exchanged for a painting, which was then traded for a marijuana plant (Josh wrote that he had to look into the legality of this trade, but it was fine because no money was exchanged and the plant had not flowered yet.)
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That plant led to Josh acquiring a set of golf irons, which he turned around to get a signed Dion Phaneuf jersey.
Things didn't stop there. The jersey was exchanged for a set of Samsung Galaxy smartwatches. He then traded the watches for a set of silver coins commemorating the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
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The next trade changed things up a bit. Josh split the coins with a carpenter friend, who exchanged his expertise and hours for Josh providing supplies to build a greenhouse.
The final trade saw Josh trading the newly built greenhouse for a 16-foot fibreglass sailboat, with its trailer included.
Josh is now running a treasure hunt for the golden hook that started it all. Those who can find it are entered into a draw for the sailboat as the grand prize.