April 13, 2004
There and back again
It's been a while since I had any seafaring adventures. I picked up a copy (signed first-edition) of Caroline Alexander's latest, The Bounty. The story of Capt Bligh and the Bounty has long fascinated me, and now I'm learning new details:
May 1 brought an extraordinary diversion: two sharks were caught and in the belly of one was found a prayer book, "[q]uite fresh," according to Lieutenant Clark, "not a leaf of it defaced." The book was inscribed "Francis Carthy, cast for death in the Year 1786 and Repreaved the Same day at four oClock in the afternoon." The book was subsequently confirmed as having belonged to a convict who had sailed to Botany Bay in 1788 with the first fleet of prisoners consigned to transportation.
RTFM(anual).
A few weeks ago, I found a chromed Diamondback BMX street bike lying in the street behind a Chinese restaurant in San Rafael, with a sign reading "Free Bikes" taped to the top tube.
Done.
Today Lupe was learning me on manuals, bunny-hopping, and scuffing (the latter on his bike, which has a front brake). After about an hour, we retired to the café for lunch; lo and behold, just as I pulled up to the door the brake cable snapped.
Of course, none of this coolness was at all apparent when I walked into a meeting with a fresh mug of coffee, sat down in a comfy conference-room chair, and found out that the back was broken. I fell backwards, and the coffee spilled all over my hoodie and trousers.