It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time: since internet access was unreliable at sea, I’d just post via email.
Well.
As it turns out, we haven’t had email lately, either. But such is life. We have it now (obviously) and I’ll try to make up for lost time.
What to say? We’re at sea; therefore we’re not <i>at</i> anyplace in particular, at least subjectively speaking. The landscape is simply the endless sea in all directions; which is compelling or exasperating, depending on your mood.
(We went up on the mast to do some maintenance a while ago; and it’s odd how the difference in perspective changed nothing. From ground level, the sea goes on forever; and when you’re high, high, high off the ground, it still goes on forever. In one of Baxter’s novels, he talks about perspectives that are larger than our eyes are designed to deal with; and I think that this is one of them. Probably that’s why it inspires our imaginations.)
Cosmic intimations of the sea aside, most of the interesting (human, trivial) stuff happens on the ship itself.
Because we’re at sea, they allow <i>no-shave chits</i>. For a few dollars, you can stop shaving for weeks at a time. This is much more convenient than you might think; effectively, it’s the chance to sleep a few extra minutes every morning, and if you’re not a morning person that’s worth a lot.
Convenience aside, my beard comes in thick; and this year, it’s coming in with a fair amount of gray in it. Tsk! When did that happen?
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