BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Sunday 18 October 2009

CONTEMPT BY FAMILIARITY

My paternal great grandfather emigrated to this area as a master mariner, sailing trading vessels along the shores of my State.
My maternal grandfather emigrated to this area to a fledgling ship building industry on the port's river, which actually didn't exist.
I have walked the sands, fished from the jetties, dived from the wharves and sailed on sail and motor powered craft from the inner river port, the outer harbour port and the white sandy beaches of this maritime wonderland but I have never really seen it all.

Oh, yes I have looked at it and I know about it and I have lived a lot of it but I have not appreciated what I have seen.
Not until I see it again through the eyes of others
I know the history---I have lived through some of it.

So Clyde, "Why did the build these jetties---just for people to walk out to sea a little or for the local recreational fishermen"



Well actually no----they are not as long as they used to be----they have been destroyed by angry seas over the years but the used to be outer port freight off loading jetties for the small sailing freighters that plied the coastal routes,
That tower on the foreshore used to be a semaphore signalling station to bring ships in from outer moorings at the right time.

I have started to realise that I know things----where the sand hills went and why they went. Why there is an inner and outer port, why there are beacon lights out to sea marking a channel, that the larger international ships need a pilot to guide them into port through that channel and that the last light is named the farewell
beacon.------and that I have been to the farewell beacon many a time on the pilot boat to pick up the pilot from the departing craft or take one to an inbound freighter.
Visitors wonder at my local pub on the marina----



They would wonder more if they knew that pub, surrounding townhouses and the marina were built on land reclaimed from a sea swamp that I used to ride race horses through to strengthen their legs.

I am starting to see more of my environment through the eyes of others and starting to see it again----it is as beautiful and intriguing as it always was.
I love this place---I love the history

Just look around
You never know what you will actually see for the first time---or remember

Oh, shit--a mirror, no, no, I don't need to know anymore there----I know the history

20 comments:

Barlinnie said...

It's a feeling of belonging my friend. Over time you become a part of the place you stay.

It sounds a good life to have had.

Shelly Rayedeane said...

Those pictures look just like Crescent City in California.

Fanny said...

It looks like a beautiful part of the world, Clyde. You don't take it for granted, either - that's not you.

Ponita in Real Life said...

It's amazing what knowledge lurks inside us, isn't it? We only discover it when someone asks something and the answer springs forth, unbidden, seemingly unknown, but just lying idly with all the other flotsam and jetsam that litters our minds, waiting for the right words to draw it from the depths.

How lovely that you are learning anew that which you already know but don't know you know...

Okay, that was just too bloody confusing, wasn't it? lol!

UBERMOUTH said...

They say it takes tourists to show natives their land.

Clyde said...

Jimmy
It became all too familiar---so familiar that I couldn't see it for what it was
It is good to see it again and remember it for what it is and was.
I know I'll never walk away.

Clyde said...

Shelly
It looks like home--an it is

Clyde said...

Fanny
It is more beautiful after remembering it as it was and why it is.
It is part of your history too.
We lost most of our coastal ketch fleet to Tasmania. I must go one day to see if any are still there

Clyde said...

Ponita
I often say that I am a great mind of useless information---but maybe it's not so useless.
It is good to see it again

Clyde said...

Uber.
And I guess that we don't have the history of England, so we have lived a lot of the history of this place

Sister Christian said...

It's beautiful. All that sparkly diamond water and history. It gets annoying when things get built over other things and change, but c'est la vie. As long as you've got those memories of what they were once upon a time.

mapstew said...

Looks and sounds like a beauty pal! One day when the kids have flown the nest you must show meself & herself around.

(Is that a picture of me I just noticed in the sidebar! My, I AM losing weight! :¬) )

Ponita in Real Life said...

Clyde, I think we all have a tons of useless info crammed in our noggins. Makes for interesting conversations at times! :-)

@Map: ...and you've grown a helluva lot of hair too... ;-)

Clyde said...

Sister
Oh, yes it is a beautiful place---I even love it when that sea is angry and crashing to the shore.
There are some things I miss---some of the sand hills that went for housing but the old sea swamp was a little smelly and not overly attractive

Clyde said...

Stew
Ah, it is beautiful and always will be---you are welcome anytime

Oh, yeh, I took your photo--luckily I covered the bum crack

Clyde said...

Ponita
Yep, we all have those little things that we remember and have no idea why they would be stored in the memory bank

Ms Scarlet said...

I agree with Uber... it happened to me very recently.
I'm grumbling away... and somebody points out how lovely something is. Familiarity and all that.
Yes, who is the nice fella on the side bar?
Sx

Clyde said...

Miss Scarlet
I'm not sure that the tourists are showing me things---I think it is more that they are reminding me how much beauty there is around and how much I know about this place.
Oh him, he's just hanging around waiting for someone to notice him--just like me

tehkorah said...

Funny thoughts... I could have sworn that pier was from my hometown... but that goes to show how our mind sometimes play tricks.

History is a great memory, a simple reminder, or a place of feeling. Hold onto them... they make us who we are, more than just appearances.

Clyde said...

Tehkora

That pier as you call it is the Largs Bay jetty in South Australia--but if it would make you feel at home, you are welcome to come and walk along it or near it.
It was nice to be reminded of what I know about this place