Paradiso

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 17 Feb 2013 09:59
At anchor, off Strahan
Wind: Southwest F2 gentle breeze
Weather: sunny, warm

While old Dante Alighieri had to go through hell and purgatory to reach paradise, Sylph and I have been through Hells Gate to reach . . . well I wouldn't call Strahan paradise, but it certainly is a very pretty little town. There isn't an awful lot to it, but what there is, is nice. Lots of nicely painted wooden buildings with eat signs hanging up outside of them. The odd notice gives credit to the Government's stimulus package, so the GFC wasn't all bad it seems. I had a chat to a bottle shop salesman this morning (and consequently have just enjoyed a glass of red with dinner) while I was waiting for my laundry in the next door self serve laundromat. He has lived here all his life, something I could never have done, and he told me a little of the history of the place. Apparently it was once a iron ore port. The ore used to come by rail to Strahan where it was loaded onto ships and transported elsewhere. I have to say I find the logistics of this all rather incredible and I am a little sceptical of my source. It is all quite intriguing but I do not have access to the internet at the moment so information is not at the customary tap of a keystroke away. So my plan is to go to the local library on Tuesday (it is only open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) to do a bit of research. Also there is train trip for tourists to the old mine which looks very interesting. Part of the trip includes an old puffing billy along a piece of track that is supposedly a marvel of 19th century engineering ingenuity, and as I have always been a bit of a fan of old steam trains this bit of tourism sounds very appealing.

It occurs to me how topsy turvy the world is these days, Here I am, the man on the ground so to speak, who will have to wait patiently for a couple of days until that anachronism of the 20th century, the public library opens, to find out more about my local scene, whereas all of you out there in the realm of the internet, almost anywhere on the planet, has all this information at your fingertips.

As the Wicked Witch of the West famously said as she slowly dissolved, "What a world, what a world!"

All is well.