Windy and Windier

Windy and Windier   ...   Friday 19^th April 2013

On our way to dinner last night, we walked past a couple of bus stops outside the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).  In keeping with a decent sized city, there were people waiting for the bus.  Mostly, though, I noticed the number of cars and the thickening traffic.  I found myself thinking about walking in the US.  The reality of life in the US is that almost no one walks anywhere.  Except for the dispossessed or disenfranchised. 

The people who you see walking in the US seem to fall into a couple of categories.  There are the homeless people, usually carrying some belongings.  Another group are the crazy people—drunks, bag ladies, people talking to themselves.  These later maybe a sub-group of the former, it’s hard to be sure.  Then there are the dirt-poor who walk because they can’t afford other transport.  As a boater, you find yourself washed up on the sidewalks with this crowd.  It’s an unusual perspective for us and sometimes uncomfortable.  Michael seems to draw the mentally disturbed to his side.  Once they engage him in conversation, we are lost.  His British good manners make it difficult for him to just walk away.  Having lived (ever so briefly) in Manhattan, I have a decent line in “keep away” stares and don’t often get targeted by the mentally unstable. 

Having just thrown most of the people walking on American’s streets under the metaphorical bus, I find myself wondering how people look at boaters walking around coastal towns and cities.  We are certainly pretty disheveled, wearing ratty clothes and water shoes.  Perhaps we are just seen as another sub-group of crazies.  Maybe that’s not so far from the truth.

The day started off windy and has gone windier with each passing hour.  Charleston anchorage (in the Ashley River) has large currents.  Usually, the boat either points up the river (north) or down (south) depending on the current.  Today, the wind has played a larger part.  This afternoon we were pointed into the wind—sideways to the current.  It hasn’t been an easy day to be aboard.  The harbor was so stirred up by the wind that we elected not to go to shore in the afternoon.  We hope that the Rocna anchor lives up to it’s reputation and holds us in place.  Now we are hearing the rumblings of thunder.  As I write this, I am sitting right next to the lightning rod.  Oh joy.

Gloria

Red onion - abstract ... one of the ingredients in the chicken mole we made this evening ... and very delicious it was