Taking the boat
I live on an island. What makes that different from the mainland as we say is that we have ferry boats and a bridge but that’s because we’re also very modern. Anyhow, the ferries have been part of my life all my life. In one way or another they have always been there. I might not take the ferry in any given calendar year but the reassurance I could get away from the island to the mainland has been a staple part of my plans for the future. Was there more than one ferry? Yes actually. I did a quick count and I came up with five different sites in my lifetime and I know that there were others in the past. The local radio stations would carry the next sailing times and the newspapers would carry the next sailing times. No attention paid to those that had already gone because like everything else that has left the dock it is no longer available to you as a passenger. What I can tell you is that the ferries are all different, one from the other. They have different names and different sizes and above all else different characteristics. I can remember when the ferry carried railway trains. That is no longer necessary. I know that the ferry can carry a cement truck because it does that when needed. And I know that the ferries go to different provinces. That’s how we learned geography in the good old days. People did not ask where you were going they asked how you would get there. Of course since I am really old I can run when planes came into play a lawyer almost never used that ability to get away. Taking the ferry was sufficient even with the bicycle. If I look back to all the different places where ferries sailed I can still find some infrastructure. Docks that are no longer used. I have photos of some of the older ferries which means that I am operating a small history book in my own home. Keep in mind that since the bridge came into place a quarter century ago many young children no longer understand the relevance of a boat that goes from here to there and back again. On schedule or not. And these boats sailed in some of the worst weather conditions you can imagine. Big storms while trying to breakthrough thick ice. Not anymore now that we have global warming but you get the idea. The ferries held a special place in our life.
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