PART 1- NEW FRIEND
Meet my new friend, Bill.
This photo was taken on August 22nd, during our second of three visits while sitting on the bench I like to stop at along the bike path near the beach, here in Port Townsend. When Bill walked up this time I said, "Good morning, Bill." He told me that I had a much better memory than he did which is probably a debatable point. In any event, he joined me on the bench and we continued our conversation from the previous week. Now it's time to see just how good my memory is, by writing about some of the topics that Bill and I shared with one another.
Our first visit was initiated by Bill. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see this gentleman approaching the bench, while I sat there reading. He asked if he could share the bench in order to have a rest. How could I say no?
After the usual comments about the nice weather etc. which seems to be a standard opening line with new acquaintances, it wasn't long before our conversation moved on to other topics. It seems like we felt comfortable with each other's company right from the get go. Bill had worked as a commercial fisherman up in Alaska, prior to settling in Port Townsend with his wife. He told me that they had met in Gladstone, Australia. She was an Aussie, but I guess Bill's charm must have convinced her that the best decision that she could possibly make was to marry him and move to North America. Of course, that's just speculation on my part. If memory serves, Bill said that they were married in 1978 in Australia. So after only knowing each other (Bill and me that is) for a few minutes, we had already found some common ground. I said to Bill that we were both in Australia at the same time, and I also told him that we had both married Aussie women. His marriage obviously lasted longer than mine. He said that his wife died a couple of years ago. If my math is correct, that would be about a 36 year long marriage. He beat me by a country mile. I spared Bill the details of my rather brief marriage. But here's a bit of trivia. As has been mentioned before on this blog, somehow I have a memory for dates, and today's date is one of those days. The year was 1998, and I was on a visit to Calgary from Melbourne. I made the fateful decision that afternoon to call Jennifer in Melbourne, and ask her to marry me. The reason I remember the date is easy. August 28th in N. America is August 29th in Melbourne, which happens to be Jennifer's birthday which seemed like a good day to offer a marriage proposal. My gut instinct at the time was that I probably shouldn't go down this marriage path, but I didn't heed my instinct. Years later in 2012, I would experience a similar feeling only moments before making a misstep and tumbling down a mountain. From now on, I'll try to pay more attention to what my instinct is trying to tell me. But I digress. Let's get back to Bill.
So now we were talking about travel in general, and Australia specifically. At one point I mentioned to Bill, that I had originally arrived in Australia as a passenger aboard a cruise ship named the Oriana.
While I am relating this story to him, I can see that he's smiling and getting all excited, and he begins to tap me on the arm and proceed to tell me that he had been a passenger on the Canberra, which at the time was a sister ship, both belonging to the P & O shipping line.
Amazing. I've only known Bill now for maybe a half hour at best, and already we've got some unique things in common. What are the odds of meeting a total stranger in a town that you're just visiting for a while, only to find out that you both got married to Aussie women in Australia, and both travelled on the same cruise ship line? Life's little coincidences.
Prior to Bill's departure, I asked if he would mind if I took a photograph of him in order to post it on my blog. I explained to him what a blog is and he was happy to comply with my request. By mentioning the blog, of course I had to talk about the internet. Bill was familiar with it, however he doesn't use a computer. I told him of a book I had recently read which explains in detail how the internet is having a negative effect on our memory. The title of the book is "The Shallows:What the Internet is doing to our brains" by Nicholas Carr (https://www.amazon.com/Shallows-What-Internet-Doing-Brains/dp/0393339750/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472448322&sr=8-1&keywords=the+shallows+what+the+internet+is+doing+to+our+brains)
The book goes way back in time and tells about how humans, prior to the written word, had to have better memories because any knowledge acquired had to be passed down verbally from one generation to the next, but nowadays all we have to do is go onto the internet and "google it" and the information is at our fingertips. It's a double edged sword. Easy access to any and all information, has a negative impact on the brain's ability to retain facts. Bill listened to this explanation, and he said that it made a lot of sense.
Shortly thereafter, we went our separate ways. Later on that day I was thinking that it was unfortunate that I didn't ask Bill for a contact address so that I could send him a copy of what I was going to write, and I was trying to think of a way that I could somehow get in touch with him again before I leave town. He's been living here since the late '70's so surely there would be someone in town who might recognize the photo I took. Perhaps the library would be a good place to start, or better yet, the post office. A few days went by as I pondered my dilemma, and then lo and behold, Bill showed up for a third time at my bench along the beach. Once again we began to reminisce about the land down under and somehow the subject of beer came up. Why would it not, when two blokes are talking about Australia, after all? He told me that he still remembers paying only 12 cents for a glass of beer all those years ago. I mentioned my most recent visit there in 2014/15 and how I had to pay $19.95 for a six pack of beer. He probably couldn't believe how expensive beer had become in the interim, and quite frankly, neither could I at the time. He talked about driving in the outback and remembering all of the broken glass along the highway from car windshields, which brought back another forgotten memory for me. Back then in Australia, car windshields weren't made of safety glass, and so if a stray rock came up and hit your windshield (or windscreen as the Aussies call it), the chances were very good that your glass would shatter. I remember driving with friends there back in the '70's and if we found ourselves in that situation they would automatically place their fingers onto the windscreen, in the hope that the impact of the incoming rock would be absorbed through their fingers. I'm not sure if it worked or not, but they seemed to swear by the practice. Another topic we discussed was tennis. Bill brought it up. He said that he used to love watching the tennis, from way back when and he was trying to remember the name of the famous Aussie player. I said, "are you thinking of Rod Laver?", and right away he agreed. I said that the main tennis venue in Australia now, is called the Rod Laver arena in Melbourne. And then he told me a story of when he was living in Gladstone in Queensland, and one day he went to get a haircut. When he returned home he mentioned where he had had his hair cut, and he said that his sister in law told him that the man who cut his hair was one of Rod Laver's brothers. I enjoyed that story, as well as all of the stories that Bill was kind enough to share with me.
That about covers all that I can remember from our three conversations, and I'm happy that they are now on the blog and out of my brain. Once I finish writing for today, I'll make a paper copy of this, and send it to Bill at the address which he gave me on our last visit. Perhaps I will see him once again before I leave Port Townsend, but if not, I feel grateful to have made his acquaintance and shared some thoughts together. Even though we are separated in years by almost 20, we certainly seemed to have a lot in common. Bill will be 81 on the 24th of November.
And Bill, seeing as you will be reading this soon, I apologize in advance for any errors that my memory may have caused. I'll blame it on the internet. Thanks for sharing your time and wisdom with me.
PART 2- OLD FRIENDS
Yesterday I had the pleasure of catching up with some old sailing friends here in town. Actually, we had a visit on their new boat named Raven. I originally met Jim and Karen way back in about 2006/7 when I attended a Pacific Seacraft boat rendezvous in Seattle. At the time, I was interested in a boat that was manufactured by this company, called a Flicka. The rendezvous was for anyone who either owned or had an interest in Pacific Seacraft boats. In 2008, Jim and Karen happened to be in Vancouver, and one day I was at work skippering the Aquabus ferry down at Granville Island and the next thing I know, they are standing on the dock. What a surprise. We managed to catch up later on that day on their boat. Since that time we've both had other adventures, and the big one for them was crossing the Pacific from here to New Zealand in Jim's Dana 24, also a Pacific Seacraft. That particular boat is now up for sale, and they have purchased Raven.
We had only been visiting for maybe ten minutes or so, when Karen asked what I was doing in Port Townsend. I told her that I was housesitting for a friend who has gone to climb mountains in Alaska for three months. As soon as she heard that she said, "you mean Dahr?" What a small world. If I would have just said that I was housesitting for a friend, the connection wouldn't have been made, but by mentioning Alaska and mountain climbing it was. She took a photo of us and emailed it to Dahr. Won't he be surprised.
We had a good visit for a couple of hours, but the sun was getting lower in the sky and a cool wind had sprung up, so we headed off on our merry ways. Here's a photo of them in front of Raven. Nice lighting if I don't say so myself.
And finally, to wrap up today's blog, this will be my last one for a little while from Port Townsend, because I will be moving on late next week. However it looks like I may have a short house/cat sit coming up later in September back in PT but at a different house, so that may be my final blog from this town that has become a home away from home. Hey wait a minute, I don't have a home. I'll miss the tranquility of this place, but such is the life of the homeless housesitter, aka The Thoughtful Wanderer.
living a life of profound acceptance,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
No comments:
Post a Comment