and so another post about a place i have been which might (or may, look you see) be of interest to the casual observer somehow finding themselves here on my blog. or possibly not, i suppose. for all i know you are reading this sentence and round about now go "no", presume it shall be rather boring, or dull, or even simply not of interest, and have already clicked on another link so you haven't even read this bit. such things happen.
for those who have decided to stick with it, even if just for a little while, welcome. and for you a tale that isn't quite one of adventure on the high seas, but is somewhat aquatic all the same. it involves, of course, me (moi) taking a trip, or if you will voyage, across a body of water. actually i am not sure which body of water, but the one that takes you off of the English mainland and finds you, all being good and well, arriving at the Isle of Wight.
indeed yes, above is an image, presented in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, of a ferry like the one i was on, making the crossing between Portsmouth and the Isle Of Wight. much of that i suppose did not need to be said, for i could not realistically take such an image of the ferry what i was on. and ferry is the term i am comfortable with, for that is what it was. many use this sort of discussion to get bogged down in the debate around what you can call a boat and what you can call a ship. well, you can get a life boat on a ship, but one tends not to find a ship stored on a boat.
what drew, or otherwise compelled, me to visit the Isle of Wight. in the absence of time travel, so as to go and see their splendid festival in its prime, a verk instructed visit. a consequence of such is to give you warning that, alas, no, i didn't get to see much of the place itself. just get there, do what it was that i was requested (or instructed) to do, and, well, leave. from what i could see of the place it actually all seems all right. not sure i would wish to be an outsider there when night falls, but, still.
yes, we have some video, like the above. except, so far as i can recall (as in i think) it's only the above what i have gone done in my spiffing new VHS camcorder format. pretty sure the remainder of the video here is "normal", whatever that may mean in this brave new world. anyway, the above footage shows, off of the back of it, the ferry leaving Portsmouth.
blame, if you will, my ignorance of such matters, or my general lack of knowledge, but i had no idea the crossings between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight were so frequent. and busy. my knowledge of all things to do with the place amounts to the festival, really. so far as i am aware, at least during daylight hours there is a ferry going between the two once every 40 (forty) or so minutes. each one that we were on (which is two) was rather packed, too. no, alas, i have no idea what commerce or industry means such a level of movement is required.
some of you for some reason or another might have looked at the video of the ferry leaving Portsmouth and wished for just a relatively straightforward image of such instead. well, there you go, above these very words one shall find such an image. but then you probably worked that one out.
have i researched why the crossings are so frequent? no. i am satisfied to just document that they are. there must be good financial reason for such, as they tend not to run any service unless there is a very significant economic benefit for doing so. quite strange that there are more ferries sailing between the Isle Of Wight and Portsmouth than there are buses running between towns over on the mainland. let such be a (mass) debate for another time.
another bit of video, then, and i think presented in non-VHS camcorder format. sorry, or great, if i am mistaken with that declaration. yes, indeed, what you are seeing (should it be the bit of video i intended to add) is a ferry going the other way, so to speak. no, i didn't wave at anyone on it, or try to attract the attention of the crew, for i did not think to take one of them smart flare gun things with me. bit of a missed opportunity perhaps, but another time, another place.
the journey takes around forty (40) minutes or so, which ties in rather nicely with the frequency of the service, i suppose. and no, of course one cannot smoke on the ship. oh, heaven forbid one should find themselves with a fire on their hands when they are more or less surrounded by water. indeed that is flippant, for the last thing one would want is to be in the middle of a quite choppy, not too calm body of water with their vessel rapidly disappearing into flames.
perhaps a warning is appropriate here, for a selfie follows. see, i put a warning, so please could whoever it is that keeps flagging my posts for being "inappropriate" take the day off.
would i have ever considered a life at sea? certainly. there was that one show Michael Palin did, i think it was his first travel one, Around The World In 80 Days. yeah, it was based on a novel, the title of which escapes me for the moment. anyway, there was that one bit where he hitched a ride, so to speak, on a container vessel. it looked like a quite class thing, for as far as i could see the main duties of the crew were to smoke, drink coffee and sit around reading, occasionally playing chess. i am reasonably sure that is a job i could do.
now, maybe not so much. possibly. it seems that smoking is banned on all forms of travel on the sea, but i am not certain who would enforce such in the middle of the ocean. still, even if you could smoke, it would be them rough as goodness cigarettes. also, getting bummed off of a salty sea dog holds no appeal, and nor does the prospect of becoming a salty sea dog which does such things. fighting pirates doesn't seem as exciting a thing to do as younger me might have presumed. maybe i should just refrain from (yet) another career change, then.
not in the greater good or glory of Commodore 64, then, is, above, an image of a ferry going the other way. actually this one was (i think) heading to the Isle of Wight, as i am pretty sure we (me and a guy called Eddie) were heading back to the mainland. taken from inside, for the weather turned badly and it was frightfully windy. so, sorry for any anecdotal reflections.
it did, to be honest, feel quite strange to be on an entirely different body of land from my (known) children. yes, true, i was still within the same nation, and usually i am some distance from them, which is a tragedy but if i am in a maze then it is one of my own making. but still, you know, that thing where you are not even sharing the same land as them.
last bit of video for you above, then, and indeed it is footage of the ferry what i was on pulling away from the Isle of Wight. my hope was that it was heading back to Portsmouth, and indeed it was.
for those interested, actually i did surprisingly well, not having a cigarette for a good hour or so whilst taking the journey. the view was distracting enough, and i was further distracted by the large number of coffee shops one could find on the ferry. now, if i were to do something extreme, like for instance take a flight which saw me unable to smoke for, oh, 17 or so hours, it would be fascinating to see how that one would work out. perhaps one day.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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