journal features

ferry mishap

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Sydney, 2001.02.27

A ferry ran aground in the harbour today. A German tourist came on the news spot, stating - in a surprisingly subtle way - that it appeared that no one was pilotting the craft at the time it plowed into an extremely obvious point of land in Mosman. He - and a number of other eye-witness accounts - described the event by stating that the ferry just plowed straight towards the rocks, eventually colliding minutes after the passengers first noticed that something was amiss. They all agreed that the ferry hadn't even slowed.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges