Open Boat

So, we're settling into Hobart for the season.

We know some people from the last time we were here, but as these things go we still haven't seen a few of them since we've been back.  And we've met some new people, largely through Elias' school.  Some of them seem like people who might turn into friends, but they're all still acquaintances at this point.

But, we can kind of feel the clock ticking here - once Albuera Street primary goes on holiday in December, I predict that we're going to be looking for the first decent weather window to get to New Zealand.  If we're going to be getting in some QT with Hobartians, we'd like to get the social interactions moving.

What to do?  What else - we had an open boat last Sunday, and invited a whole passel of people.

We got perfect weather for the day.  About 25 adults came, and a dozen kids.  Many of them we didn't know well, and many didn't know each other, which gave us some early-party nerves as we worried about how well the social mix would come off.

But Alisa and I had a great time, and I think our friends had a great time, too.  It's all a part of the travelling game - you have to put yourself out there, again and again, and see what happens.

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My favorite snippet of conversation from the party was reported to me by Alisa.

Alisa (to man who raised his five boys aboard a travelling sailboat): "It's great that all of your boys have grown up to do so much sailing on their own, that they're all so confident on the water."

One of the man's adult sons, a completely mad sailor, overhearing and interrupting: "Yep, we're all useless on shore."

That got me to thinking...  We all like the stereotype of the happy sailor who ran away to sea, the person who escaped the disquietudes of life on shore and is busy chasing their own destiny, twinkle in eye.

But what were those happy sailors escaping from in the first place?  And is there a flip side to our ever-growing comfort in a life afloat?  What the heck will it be like when we go back to sleeping night after night in a house that forever goes nowhere at all?

I guess that we'll worry about that when the time comes.