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High And Dry -- Part Two
After breakfast I went downtown, cruised through the Market just for fun, then caught a movie at Park Place. "The Italian Job", based on one of my favorite Michael Caine films from the '60's. It's not a remake in the strictest sense of the word, which is fine by me, as they used just enough elements from the original to pay it the proper respect (even going so far as to show a clip from its predecessor with almost subliminal quickness), but still coming up with something original and quirky on its own merits.
After the movie let out, I raced up the hill to the bus, and had just enough time to stop by my storage locker to pick up my tuxedo in preparation for the evening's Duck Dodge theme, "Prom Night". For the first time since I've been helping out on the Committee Boat, I actually got invited to crew on a participating boat, courtesy of my friend Mary, who's boss owns a sailboat and races occasionally. I picked up her boyfriend DJ, and we headed down the back side of Capital Hill to The Queen City Yacht Club in Portage Bay (See Entry Below, "Black Duck" for more on that.)
(Historical Footnote: for much of it's civic history Seattle was known as "The Queen City", an epithet given to it ironically by a Portland-based real-estate firm around 1869 when they described their northern neighbor as, "The Future Queen City Of The Pacific". In 1982 the local Convention Bureau changed it to, "The Emerald City", although the more contemporary epithet never really caught on with the locals.)
Wednesday morning was up early again, shoving off for another try at getting the boat into a yard. The trip was somewhat less eventful than the day before, as I'd made a point of actually checking out the location of CSR on my way back to the marina, thus correcting my neglecting of what must be at least the third or fourth most important rule of seamanship: Always Check The Map. Tied up at the dock, went inside to talk to the manager (a very nice woman by the name of Cindy), got an estimate on the work (significantly more than the other place, but not unreasonable given the circumstances), and made arrangements for an overnight stay. Hopped into my dinghy and made a pleasant, albeit somewhat bumpy return passage to AGC, where I transferred from water to land vehicle.
Had another leisurely breakfast, then some shopping, a bit of laundry and finished up the afternoon with a second movie ("Pirates Of The Carribean" not bad at all, although after viewing the trailers for coming attractions it seems pretty clear Disney has completely run out of new ideas and for the next couple of years will only make films based on their theme-park rides. I predict when "It's A Small World: The Motion Picture" opens sometime in 2009, the day will officially herald the "End Of Western Civilization As We Know It".)
The evening was rounded out by a quick visit to the boatyard to see the results of the cleaning and bottom painting, and resulted in a nice chat with Kathy, one of the yard owners, and a fellow Duck Dodger. This is one of the things I'm really beginning to like about boaters; they're a very tight community, similar in many ways to the local theatre crowd. They help each other out, make new folks feel at home, and generally enjoy each other's company. They're all-around nice folks.
Then it was off to a birthday party, then finally to bed. A bit weird climbing a ladder to get into a boat that's propped up on spindly little jackstands eight feet up in the air. Didn't sleep too well either, as I'm not used to having a bed that doesn't move; usually there's at least a tiny bit of sway from the motion of the water, even on a quiet night, and being on unmoving dry land takes a bit of getting used to.
Posted byCOMTE
on 1:33 PM
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