Sadly Sailing
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sat 8 Feb 2014 14:16
Wind: North west, F3 gentle breeze
Weather: overcast, mild, occasional showers
Today was relatively quiet. I did a little bit of shopping; groceries for me, some treats for RC, and some hardware for Sylph. This evening I caught up with Murray who took me out to meet Nita Sentai, his Aikido (a from of martial arts) teacher, and Masau, someone who owned a wrecker's yard. We drove out in Nita's car into the sugar cane country where Masau's yard was located. The sugar cane fields are small plots adjusted to sloping hillsides. It is harvesting time and even as we drove past with the sun setting, small harvesting machines were at work reaping the crop.
We arrived at Masau's yard where we found Masau feeding his goat, whom he called his daughter, and her foal. The goat was white, fat, confident and healthy. As we drove on she looked defiantly at us, quite the owner of everything within her gaze, despite the limitation of her tether.
Nita had to coax his small heavily laden vehicle across a muddy ditch into the conglomeration of fascinating junk that made up Masau's livelihood. From the car we entered a small room, having discarded our shoes on the threshold, with palatial armchairs of synthetic black leather, including one which was a rather intimidating machine of massage. We drank tea from ring pull cans and attempted to make conversation and a connection with one another. It was polite and courteous, but from my perspective, we did not quite make it. Nonetheless I think that it was nice that we were all interested enough in one another to try, and at that rather fundamental level than indeed a connection was made.
Murray and I were subsequently dropped off by Nita in town at a community hall where some of Murray's young English students were performing as part of a musical ensemble. They were mostly of about ten to eleven years of age so of course we did not expect the London Philharmonic. They acquitted themselves very well. Indeed some pieces were quite complex even to my untuned ear. Murray's wife Yoko met us there (she works as a nurse in the nearby hospital) and we then walked to a restaurant that sold wine (to satisfy my gluten free requirements – I can be such a pain these days). The restaurant was relatively new, and the decor lacked much in the way of atmosphere, with bare concrete floors and sparse bamboo partitions. A dumb waiter noisily delivering orders to the first floor upon which we were situated, but the food was good, as was the company, enhanced markedly when Saori was able to join us.
Now the evening is over. It is perhaps obvious that I have enjoyed Saori's company very much. I have found her to be intelligent, thoughtful, generous, independent, positive, funny, and, indeed, quite beautiful. I sense in her an appealing bit of recklessness, and equally a touch of well hidden sadness. But I also sense that, in me, it is time to move on. I hope to sail early with the morning tide..
All is well.