A castaway becomes famous
April 13th 2007 07:29
Cured of all romantic thoughts of being a permanent beachcomber, I still have to admire and wonder at Australia’s self admitted beachcombers. Either on their own or with a partner they have found a small part of heaven on a reef fringed island in the Coral Sea and castaway the trappings of society to settle down as God intended Adam and Eve to live.
Amazing really to imagine living with nothing but bananas, fresh water and the odd damper. Why? I have to ask the question. Is society that bad that the only way to escape is to lock yourself off in a barren, albeit lushly overgrown with tropical plants, bit of coral and sand surrounded by the sea? Perhaps it is or can it be that the escapees are the problem. They are the round peg in the square hole. Whatever the reason we at first admire their courage then try and change their mind. A touch of guilt or are we really envious of their lifestyle?
In my own mind I do much as the beachcomber does by living alone on my yacht but coming ashore to go to the library, visit an occasional girlfriend and meet a few mates in the club. I must have my mobile phone, laptop, Internet access, a radio station that plays constant classical music and sometimes a bit of jazz. I want nylon fishing lines with laser sharpened hooks to help feed myself in my self-styled subsistence living standard. I have to be able to get the boat alongside to hose her down, top up the batteries with shore power and haul her out with electric winches to clean the bottom. My car blew up so I am back to peddling the pushbike to the shops and surprise, surprise the waistline is being drawn in tighter with my belt. I can even get into jeans I had almost posted in the garbage. A quiet lifestyle of fishing, solitary walks along the tide line, fossicking for anything that takes my fancy that nature puts at my feet. That is what I am about for the moment. Still I have to finish my course at college before I can say that I am cured of what society has to offer. How could I really give it all up? I have been as corrupted as the next person, though we all try in our own way to break free.
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