Yesterday was book club day. Sal picked up her down-shore neighbour, G, in her small boat and headed up and over the storm-tossed seas to another island to pick up J, book-reader #3. She arrived at the dock to see the so-designated feverishly and frantically flailing about. The woman was attempting to unload a sinking boat.
J had just arrived at the dock and saw that a neighbour’s boat was sinking. She immediately sprang into action. The engine was half submerged, the boat was taut and low on the lines tied to the dock and various bits and pieces were beginning to float away. J sacrificed her non-galoshed feet to the effort and was immediately soaked to the knees. She then climbed onto the slippery and bouncing bow to balance the boat as level as possible. Sally and G hauled up on the aft dock line, attempting to get the transom above water, and began to bail. Twenty minutes later they had re-floated the boat, put in a call to the owner, collected the errant flotsam and re-tied the vessel.
When the owner arrived, the ladies boarded their boat and carried on to book club where a delightful time was had by all.
What is all that about?
Well, in comparative terms, it is the equivalent in effort to, perhaps, helping a neighbour get their vehicle unstuck in a snowstorm. In terms of discomfort, it was a smidge more miserable for J whose feet were not sporting boots and, as it turns out, for Sal, who worked like an Amazon to empty the boat. But, in dollar terms, it was much more huge. A too-long-submerged outboard might be written off. At the very least, it is a major effort at the mechanic’s to disassemble the motor, dry everything out, replace the electronics and then run-and-replace oils and fluids as required to capture all the moisture inevitably trapped in the machine.
But, in this case, the owner is a skilled mechanic. Five hours of immediate and expert work on his part rescued the motor and all is well.
Last night, Sal got the obligatory and much-appreciated phone call of gratitude and the promise of a fish or something to which she replied in all sincerity, “No. Nothing, please. Just do the same when it happens to us. Honest. This is what we do because we all experience this kind of thing at some time. So we just did it without even thinking. And we are all just pleased to have been there and done that at the right time. Please. Nothing. Just pass it on.”
And she’s right, of course. Every year. At least once, usually more often, a boat sinks at some local dock. Sometimes someone shows up in time. Sometimes not. We’ve had it happen to us. We’ve rescued others. Many have done and experienced the same. It’s what happens out here. Prompt action saves engines.
Our Off the Grid Home 
That encapsulates the Island spirit and is foundation to your living there.
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It’s what we do here! If you drive by someone who is stopped on the road with the hood up, you stop and ask if you can help. Doesn’t happen in the city! People look after each other here.
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I think that is true. Having said that, I have stopped in the city and people have stopped for me but, hundreds might go by first so that’s a difference. And, more to the point, I seem to recall that MOST of those who stopped were small-town folks recently transplanted or Newfies. Newfies stop all the time. I think they are the most rural-minded community in Canada. Hmmmmm….maybe northerners, too. But, out here, everyone stops. If they don’t, they are tourists.
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We had a person find our woodshed (torn loose by high winds) floating down the lake tie it up to a snag so the two distance would be shorter, a friend raise our sunken boat tied to our dock (at least the motor was in fresh water), and many other acts of kindness. You are right, it is the way of life off the grid. There is now a cabin owners Facebook page where lost and retrieved items are posted. That social media put to a good use. We have a saying, “What the lake takes away, she returns.” That’s related to the ebb and flow of floating objects. Sinkers are so easy to get back from 100-1000 feet down. – Margy
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but back in the real world OMG Charlie ‘say it ain’t so’ did you guide a female with a touching glance to the small of her back,,?
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Are you mad? A man touch a woman or a child!? OMG! Get the rope, find a tree, hang em high! More allegations every day. More lives ruined without an ounce of proof. Why? Because power corrupts – BOTH ways.
Is this how the world hits back at the uber-stinking rich .1%? Is this the inequality backlash unchained, unfocused, illogical? SOME rich men have too much money and power so ruin everyone you can? Who cares who dies…..this is war!
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Some are feeling the power of vindication. Look how many are making the same claim as me!
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I do not know what claims you are making, who you are or what is being vindicated….please explain. If you mean women are being vindicated for their claims of harassment because other women make similar claims, there is some validity to that. One hundred accusers carries more than 100 times the weight of one. Numbers count. But some women are claiming rape. Some are claiming bum Pat’s. And some are saying they felt compelled to trade for their career. One is a crime, one is bad manners and the third is prostitution. Not all claims are the same.
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It is a strength in numbers claim by many women. Some feel vindicated upon hearing that others had been treated similarly. Each women’s case is different and I agree with the continiuum of severity.
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I do not think anyone disputes that harassment has occurred and continues to occur. Where there is some dispute is what constitutes harassment, separation of harassment into categories of severity, the proper responses in those cases and, to my mind, it raises the additional question that also needs looking at: what is the cause of such behaviour – that behaviour of offering what is not wanted?
We KNOW the basic answer but when is the offer just natural male behaviour and when does it begin to turn threatening?
A geeky friend who fancied a cashier went and researched her on the net, then followed her home and sat in his car to muster the courage to give her flowers. When he loomed over her front door one evening with the flowers behind his back, she freaked, screamed at him and called the police. To her, he was a weirdo stalker hiding an axe. To him, she was the object of his affection.
To this day, she is still afraid of him. This point is raised NOT to tell him how to behave the way she and all women prefer, only to illustrate that clumsy, geeky behaviour can be innocent. He’ll eventually learn. Maybe. He’s a geek not a pervert.
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It is interesting that you cite the cashier example. A large supermarket chain implemented a policy of cashiers being more friendly by saying hello, being chatty, offering help taking the groceries to the car but the unintended consequence of this policy in some cases was that that cashier’s friendliness was misinterpreted by by men as sexual interest. The friendliness was interpreted as flirting hence the door knocking with the bouquet of flowers. There is an element of wishful thinking and ego protection underlying this miscommunication. But this is not to suggest that harassment is just a matter of a misunderstanding or that it is excusable. No means no.
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True….mostly…..as I mentioned in my post, my wife said no. But, after a gazillion dates, relented to a kiss (I swooned). So, NO did not mean no, it meant ‘maybe, in the fullness of time, if I get desperate, maybe…..if you try real hard….perhaps…’
My first live-in girlfriend said no and then wouldn’t take no for an answer. Relations are not as simple as no. In fact, one of the tests women use to measure interest in their pursuer is to say no, play hard to get and measure persistence. Maybe not in these times but literature is rife with persistent males eventually winning the heart of the fair maiden. Read some Harlequins.
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The on-line “Urban Dictionary” describes such seemingly unobtainable women as “unicorns.” Hence some men might pursue themselves into trouble.
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