We shared a dream of arriving in New York on the Queen Mary 2, sailing right up under the Statue of Liberty in the footsteps of the millions who had arrived by ship in search of a new life in the free world. Those dreams never actually mentioned that we’d have to be up before four in the morning, nor that at that time there’s not a drop of daylight, nor that it could quite possibly be a bit brisk outdoors.
In this case “brisk” meant that it was five degrees actually, and on a windy morning on the foredeck of an ocean liner that’s travelling at twenty knots or so that can chill one to the very core. This is particularly the case if, when the bags were taken last night, the hat, gloves and other sensible foils to the cold were inadvertently left in them when they went.
But we are here, and tonight we are still unsure of what has just happened. We have crossed an ocean in the most genteel manner at our disposal, yet we are exhausted. Of course that may have something to do with the shortage of sleep hours or it may be that we’ve not yet properly thawed. Whatever the case, we shall let it all sink in slowly (now that we are ashore and words like “sink” are back in our vocabularies) and in the cold hard light forecast for tomorrow, will once again set out to explore new territory.
No comments
Post a Comment