Life is Good

I’ve been out of touch.

I just got back to NY last week, but I have been somewhat discombobulated, in that I have not had my laptop computer because we had a little accident.

It’s dark; it’s 05:15 a.m., the Dublin bus leaves at 5:30.  I’m hurrying; suitcase is top heavy, because I put all my electronics in the top compartment, for easy removal at the airport.

It’s dark; I lean over the rail of Dauntless to stand the suitcase on the dock.  I let go and am stunned to see it topple over into the River Suir.  I jump off the boat onto dock, get on my knees, not worrying about my suit and fish the suitcase out of the water before it gets carried downstream in the swift current and floats off into the Atlantic.

I was pleased it hadn’t sunk and was not in the water more than 10 seconds.

Hopeful that my electronics had not gotten wet, laptop, tablet, Kindle and iPod, I didn’t have time to check as I had to literally run to catch the bus to Dublin. Only 500 meters, so the driver was able to see me scurrying up the last block, so he waited and I boarded the almost empty bus.

This was the milk run, taking an hour and half longer than the direct run, but finally, four hours later, at the airport, I open my suitcase.

Well, there were no fish inside, but everything was wetter than I had expected, though not dripping water, just wet, but not dripping water 🙂 I wiped everything dry and hoped for the best.

I was hopeful all would be OK.

When I got home to NYC, I let everything dry for two days before attempting to power up.

Wrong, right, wrong, almost wrong.

• The laptop is still away having the mother board replaced. $200.
• The tablet was fine.
• The iPod needed a new hard drive $59 and then it took me a full day to get it to sync (I had to re-index the music files).
• The Kindle took another three days to recover, but was then OK.

So, my lesson learned, even packed away, I will pack all electronics devices in plastic bags from now on.

But I must say, having crossed the Atlantic has changed my perspective of everything.

Incidents like this that would have caused all sorts of major anguish in the past, due to my own stupidity, are now just minor annoyances.

And for all those four hours on the bus to Dublin, I thanked the Fates for getting me to Ireland safe and sound, for landing me in such a nice land with wonderful, friendly people, like the bus driver who waited for me, which is so typical of the people in Ireland and lastly, I was thankful that the stupid bag hadn’t sunk or otherwise been swept away.

Basically, I’m much less hard on myself.

Life is Good and I can’t wait to get back on the water.

Author: Richard on Dauntless

I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge. Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey. I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around. My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between. I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist. After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life. Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal. Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit. But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally. View all posts by Richard on Dauntless