Pic and a Word #286: Sailing to Punta Ala

This was my Tuesday. No, I wasn’t sailing. I came by car but had to return. Read all about it – prose this time instead of poem – and see for yourselves what the future is like. I think I was disappointed since I expected a lovely little old town but pleased because I knew Patrick’s theme was sailing.

Punta Ala

This is the future, I think, as I descend from my car. I was forced to turn around at the gate that is blocking the port and park almost a kilometre from the shore. This is a marina, you see. No games. No sunbeds. No cars unless you have a boat.

It is huge, I think, and eerily empty. Strolling through it with bestia feels wrong. The yachts and sailboats clink as if toasting upon devouring all life.

It is not completely deserted though. A bark is heard from a boat and we cross to the other side. I know, protection is in order. A seagull is meditating on the surface. A fish is spotted swishing by, big and happy.

But still, it feels like a cemetery. This is how it will be when humans run out. For now they are still around, but barely. A bar is open and by the way the waitress is serving breakfast to the one occupied table, I know she doesn’t want me there. Some workers are at work noisily. A masked lady passes me questioningly.

I reach the end. There is a grassy patch with four warnings (dogs gets two), a bench, a lovely island in the distance, a beach to the right. After that all is fenced off, verboten.

I sit on the bench to take a photo of the island with my crappy phone and send it to friends and family as immediate evidence that today I Went Out. Suddenly I hear excited German voices from the sea. I look to the right and am barely able to spot some people in the water. They look like a family. Finally some joy to this place.

For some reason I’m not happy with my vision today. My eyes can’t seem to focus. A sudden movement with my hand to the eyes and the reason is revealed. The right lens of my glasses is missing. Not again. It keeps falling out.

But this is good news. I thought with a vision like that I would need to stop driving.

I sigh, thinking of all the places I stopped on the way to Punta Ala to take photos where the lens could have dropped. I rush to the car, not caring any more about the marina but for the facilities, unlocked and empty as the rest.

I reach the car and there it is, the lens, on the floor under the steering wheel. Lucky this time but I know: one day it will sail away, and so will we.

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  I stop just before the Punta Ala sign and find this beach. The point is where the town is, or so I think.

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  The descent from the parking lot. No town as such below, just a city of boats.

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  You don’t wish to see this sign if you’re packing a dog. Luckily it only means dogs cannot enter commercial establishments.

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  The first sign of the future.

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  I spy.

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  It seems I need a barrier between them and me.

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  Even if it’s just a plant.

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  Or a lamp post.

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  Finally I spot something pretty.

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  “Too many secrets.” What did you do to all the humans?

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  Reflections are pretty.

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  A dog.

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  What does he see?

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  A gull.

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  A fish.

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  Boo!

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  I have nothing against sailing.

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  Look, no. 14 is free! Hurry!

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  “No games. No sunbeds. No, thank you. Yes, please.”

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  Can you see the Germans?

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  The end of the world. The big island in the back on the right is Elba.

(Just a word on the block “gallery”. Indeed it has improved in a way that now it displays captions without a need to click on the photo. Hurrah! However, if you do click to enter the horizontal gallery, the lovely colourful background effect is lost! And if I use my favourite block “stacked” that has this effect, the photos are reduced in clarity and size by half! One day all will be fixed and boredom will prevail…)

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #286: Sailing

This day in my blogging history

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  2015: Vulci – What about the giants?

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  2016: Etruscan mysteries from Vetulonia

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  2017: Colour is everything, black and white is more. ~Dominic Rouse

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  2020: Introduction to Farnese

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