Thursday, November 26, 2009

Friday Photo Shootout, with 59 minutes to go.


The photo on the left shows the  Rocksalt Anthology group, who read their poems at the Poetry Gabriola Festival last week. I borrowed (?) the picture from Facebook, where Kim Goldberg (that's she at the front of the photo) had posted it. Such happy faces. This week's topic, Faces and Smiles, was suggested by Sarah.  For more Friday Photo Shootout posts, just click on the big camera in my sidebar.

And the 59 minutes? That's how long I have to wait before my ferry leaves. I came went to Vancouver today - on the 8:30 a.m. ferry) to visit my son, this being his day off, but I wanted to get back to Nanaimo in time to do WordStorm (remember WordStorm?) We decided I would have to catch the 3 pm ferry, which would get into Nanaimo at 4:35, lots of time to go home and have supper and then go to WordStorm for 6:30. However, by time I came by ferry to Horseshoe Bay, caught the bus downtown, and then caught another bus to where my son lives, we only had an hour and a half to spend together before I had to do the route in reverse. I could live with that. We went  to a Thai restaurant for lunch and spent an hour catching up on each other's lives, but then it turned out that the bus going back downtown was re-routed due to construction, so I got to the connecting bus stop three minutes too late to make my 2:07 connection to Horseshoe Bay. The next bus (the 2:20) was five minutes late, and in the end I got to the ferry terminal at precisely 3:00 p.m., ten minutes too late to catch the ferry (they cut off ticket sales 10 minutes before sailing.) So here I sit, enjoying an Americano at the Blenz coffee shop, watching for my 5 o'clock ferry to come in, reading Margaret Atwood, trying not to be too annoyed about being here when I could just as easily have hung around with my son for a couple of hours more. Okay, an hour more.

I sent a Facebook message to David Fraser, my connection at WordStorm, explaining my situation and asking whether, if I don't get to the theatre until 7 o'clock, I might still take part in the open mic (which doesn't actually start until then). Then I scrolled down a little on his page and saw that on the 22nd, he was sending messages from Mazatlan. Hmmmm. So I sent a p.s. that read "Never Mind." If he has returned to Nanaimo, I hope he'll find my message before he goes to WordStorm. If not, I'll just have to take my chances. I do have the poem in my bag, so I can have Robin pick me up at the ferry and drop me off at the theatre without going home first.

All this is to let those of you who don't live on islands know that once in a while, the situation is less than idyllic. ;>) - especially if you don't organize very well.


Oh, and this means I'll be having ferry food for dinner, folks. Pray for me.

Later:  Well, the boat ran half an hour late, so I didn't get to read my poem, but I did tell my sad story to the emcee, who suggested that I get on the list for January, as there will be no WordStorm in December. I told her I would be in Hawaii in January, so we settled on February. Then I sat down and listened to the poets and musicians  - first, the open mic folks, and then the three featured performers. They were all very good, all very different. Speaking of faces and smiles -This is Dinah D,the last of the featured performers, who made me laugh so hard that my stomach hurt. She lives on Gabriola Island. I think I have to move to Gabriola.

12 comments:

Karen said...

I love public transportation - when it works!

Sandra Leigh said...

Me, too. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get to Victoria by bus before 10 o'clock in the morning, and I'm running into problems with that, too. I don't want to drive, because I'm afraid the Malahat Pass will be icy or snowy. Too many cutbacks in our bus service, I say.

RedLan said...

I am living in 7,107 islands and I can relate what you were trying to say. Thanks for sharing the experience and that face and smle that made your stomach hurt.

Chef E said...

Now that my storm has passed...I would love to hear some of your open mic experiences! Wow you are right we do have a lot in common

Here is my smile for your day :)

I was in your part of the country last September, and went to an open mic on the Washington Islands that month too, so cool to be able to do that!

We have performers that make my stomach hurt too! Love it...

Chef E said...

Now that my storm has passed...I would love to hear some of your open mic experiences! Wow you are right we do have a lot in common

Here is my smile for your day :)

I was in your part of the country last September, and went to an open mic on the Washington Islands that month too, so cool to be able to do that!

We have performers that make my stomach hurt too! Love it...

GingerV said...

now that smile was worth the wait - your story was great. does that ryme?

Unknown said...

Too bad! It does remind me of my days of relying on public transportion when living in San Francisco--as Karen says, great when it works. Is being put on the list different than the open mic?

Sandra Leigh said...

Redlan, I can't conceive of trying to work out the ferry schedules among 7,107 islands. I shall stop complaining now!

Chef E - I'll tell you all about it after the February open mic. I'm on the list for that.

GingerV - Isn't Dinah D's smile fantastic? She sat next to me during the open mic, and she was great fun. I was delighted when she turned out to be one of the featured performers.

Sandra Leigh said...

John, no. You sign up to do the open mic. There were seven or eight people reading/performing at this gathering, and the emcee introduced each one. They just need your name ahead of time, for purposes of the introduction, and probably just to get a handle on how many people are participating.

Kerry said...

I'm exhausted just reading this. Ferry food--I know what you mean but it reminds me of a chocolate-honeycomb candy that i used to love (called "fairy food")!

Sandra Leigh said...

Kerry, our ferry food has a horrible reputation, but in fact they serve a pretty good veggie burger, so that's what I had for dinner.

J9 said...

Sounds like a fun night, even if you didn't get on stage!

Blog Archive