i was thinking by now that someone must have deemed it necessary that visitors to the rock must go through a hazing ritual.
the time on the rock was symmetrical - arrived at port-aux-basques in fog, travelled trough fog crossing the isthmus coming. heavy fog leaving the avalon, and entering port-aux-basques.
had sat in the machine waiting to get on the ferry for an hour after we were told to return to our cars. then there was a discussion on where to go to get on the ferry, i was lucky enough to be place on the long haul truck level but was in one of the last lines to go on.
one has to have a plan. either find a seat or get food, the sooner you board the better your chances of either. i had decided to find an outlet. i was looking for one by a recliner, but they were taken. all in all it seems that unless one has a sleeper there electric outlets are hard to come by.
giving up for a moment i headed toward the cafeteria to see what my chances were for getting something to eat. a mr sub was the good news, the fact that the queue was snaking around the area to the point where i couldn’t find the end. decided to wait
found an outlet in the seating area of the cafeteria nicely remote, sat down to both download the snaps and recharge the battery for the digital - don’t really like this new method of working, i am too aware of my dependency on electricity and thus to some grid.
the snaps at this point are less fragile i don’t have to worry about heat, light and keeping the snaps safe until i can develop them but i know to protect against these problems - it seems in fact that boots of machines are better than the back seat as there is some insulation. i was worried about the damp when by the ocean but again i simply use the contraband announcement bags one picks up at the tourist centres.
saw marc and antoinette - who seemed to be also trying to decide on whether food or a seat together was more important - but still fearing geeking out didn’t go over.
once downloaded and ready for the next day i went for the food the queue was down to 20 people and i realised that i had time to waste. i had to stand here as my other options were roast beef and poutine or pork chow mein. to accommodate the crowd there were two people making the sandwiches, one had to leave as they ran out of some meat.
getting my submarine, i went back to my corner, ate, read then decided i would try to sleep so that i could be somewhat functional when the ferry arrived at 3AM.
the caribou was to arrive at 10PM allowing some time to drive to a decent motel was thinking the fair isle in whycocomagh as it was quite nice and cheap, get a good night’s sleep and be close to the snap that i missed on my way up somewhere between mabou and inverness.
marine atlantic, however, was sticking to its schedule no matter how late it was. wandered the seats for some time before finding a place that i could try to sleep - passed the person who was behind me in the queue on the floor by an electrical outlet. pointed her to the seating area of the cafeteria. it was by the lounge but at at midnight with people kipping in the bar...
there was a band and the band was going to play no matter how late it was at midnight 30 buddies came on and played a set until 1:30.
off the ferry i pulled into a vacant lot between trucks across from a tim’s in north sydnet to sleep. i thought it would be pretty easy as again it was a good hour after we had to return to our cars that we actually left the ferry, and, since i was on the long haul deck and the lorries had started their diesels creating a carbon monoxide fog, my fumed clogged brain would give me a head start.
it didn’t tossed and turned a bit, photographed some closed restaurants across the road, before trying to find a motel that was open.
passing kelly’s view motel, the only one with the light on. took a room - and wasn’t the last - and tried to sleep.
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