Immeasurably More

When you're on the river and your boat is on a collision course with some obstacle, your coach or cox or bowman may say "Hold it up." or in an emergency, "Hold it hard!" Everyone in the boat will put their oars vertically into the water to stop the boat's progress. If the boat is moving very fast, it actually takes some strength to hold the oar in this position of highest resistance. Today was my second week testing the waters at a new club and circumstances dictated that it would also be my first week trying to single scull. While bigger boats are typically steered with a rudder by a cox who sits at the front or back of the boat, single scullers have to steer for themselves by looking over their shoulders then changing trajectory by their rowing. At some point during the morning, I looked over my shoulder and saw my life in terms of rivers, currents, over-steering and oncoming yachts, and I decided to hold it up literally and figuratively. I'm worki...

Right before I left on my most recent trip to the US, I received a letter from British Gas. This letter informed me that it was time to schedule my landlord's annual gas safety inspection. I put the letter in the "to do when I get back" pile and went to Boston for two weeks. I believe it was the day after my return that I received a second letter from British Gas informing me that I had not yet scheduled the gas safety inspection, and it was due to expire on Oct. 6th. Upon calling, I discovered that the earliest appointment I could get was for Oct. 6th - sometime between 12pm and 6pm. Conveniently, I was recovering from a cold and so had a reasonable excuse to work from home and await the coming of the gas man. The land line rang around 11 am and I ignored it; no one calls that line except for British Telecom trying to sell me more phone services. The gas man never showed. The next morning, the landlord's agent called because they had also received a letter from B...

Dear Reader, My opportunity finally arrived. Because I have no immediate travel plans, I was able to sign up for a 4 week beginner’s rowing course. The induction was Wednesday night. Mom wants to know how it went, but I need to start at the beginning. Beginning (South Bank of the River): Google has carefully calculated that the walking distance from my house to the rowing club is less than 3 miles and would take about 50 minutes. I’m a fan of long walks, but not before and after strenuous workouts or after a certain time of night when I’m unfamiliar with the neighbourhoods involved. Therefore, I investigated public transportation. A 5-10 minute walk from my flat, I can catch a bus which will stop after roughly 30 minutes at a point a 10 – 15 minute walk from the rowing club. The rowing club website suggests the taxi fare from the club to my closest railway station to be £12. I don’t own a bike. So, given time of day and money considerations, I decided I would take the bus to the...