July 7, 2008


Messing About in Boats (For Alek)

“There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not.”

(Ratty to Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows)

posted by Sheila Ryan in observations 

comments

6 Responses to “Messing About in Boats (For Alek)”

  1. alek on July 7th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    ‘the great mystery of wood is not that it burns but that it floats’
    fugitive pieces

    thanks Sheila, ratty was always close to me heart, even though i kinda envied the temperament of toad

  2. Marty Heyman on July 7th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    Another great “messing about in boats” book with an emphasis on what we might call “localization” is DRIFTING by Stephen Jones. Just finished rereading it and a small boat is being shipped as I write the (see blog.the-guideboat.com for more).

  3. Sheila Ryan on July 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am

    I always fancied Toad’s driving costume.

  4. Alek Lindus on July 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    nai! and the goggles and the vehicle and the chaos and all them stoats and weasels

  5. Alek Lindus on July 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    but Ratty’s little philosophy is my epitaph

  6. Sheila Ryan on July 7th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    Motoring costume. Make that “Toad’s motoring costume”. And yes, put it together with the chaos and the stoats and weasels — that’s life as it should be lived. One version, anyway.

    I believe I must be part Ratty and part Toad.

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