We arrived home yesterday totally befuddled. my body had no idea what time it was – we were starting to adapt to Ottawa time zone but when you get up at 4 AM two mornings in a row (which was 1:00 AM Victoria time) to catch a flight, all references to civilised time are lost.
I wanted to go to bed when we got home but it was only 4:00 PM, (7:00 PM Ottawa time, but since we had to get up at 4:00 AM we had been up 15 hours already. Gahh).
I feels so good to smell the salt air and listen to the gulls and float planes. But I must admit after living in a house these last several days and sleeping in a very large bed, getting used to boat living again is gonna be a bit of an effort. I hate to admit it, but there’s something about living small that demands a small space, and living larger needs a large space. I’m not sure what I mean, but living quietly and thoughtfully requires only a small space -a place to hang your hat. Even this city is a “small space”. But after this last week in Ottawa with it’s massive architecture and aura of power, after meeting MPs and influencing political decisions that effect how millions of dollars are being spent, conceptually, one’s world needs to shrink and shrink a lot to fit back into this boat and this city.
I really don’t know what I’m talking about, but liveaboard life really is for me about living small. That’s not a bad thing, but one has to wonder is small isn’t sometimes a euphemism for withdrawal. Perhaps that’s why it has been easier for me than for Tracy because her work involves working with many people as part of an institution while mine is mostly solitary. Is it possible that our living spaces reflect our worldview? Our consciousness?
Maybe it’s all about balance: sometimes one’s conscious needs to encapsulate global issues, sometimes it needs to contemplate falling leaves. What I do know is that I felt just as alive in Ottawa as I did sailing down Johnstone Strait, and that really startles me.
When we got back I decided to write a couple of letters to the editor, which is quite a feat given my exhaustion. I am happy to say that the Calgary Sun, Province, London Free Press, and Medicine Hat News carried my letters. I suspect a few more newspapers will cover them over the next few days. This is important because politicians have staff actually cut these out and summarize them to give their masters an idea of where public opinion is going. I don’t get it but people love the letters to the editor section and you can influence tens of thousands of people by writing letters.
The press likes to show democracy as ineffectual and citizens powerless, but i now know that’s not true.
Our flight was canceled Tuesday morning due to fog and icing so it gave us a chance to go for a drive in the Gatineau Hills. I must say that I’m spoiled; with the profound beauty of our coast at my doorstep, viewing some bare, brown hills was a real anticlimax. I’m sure it is quite lovely when there is snow, but this time of year it’s just damp and dead, with gloomy skies to boot. The best part was lounging in a small town cafe, listening to all the French around us.
Here’s an Interesting post on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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