It was Sunday, July 5 and my bike still wasn't fixed. It was cool and not raining, perfect biking weather. I woke up feeling flat, not merely supine, uninspired. I had no good reason to get up and nobody to give me one. Desperate, I remembered my kayak. I hadn't inflated it since last May when I was with Barbara and Terry in Victoria. It had been ignored in the garage while I lavished all my attention on my new toy. 

I can't say I leapt out of bed but I did rise with a plan. I would have breakfast on Swan Lake as I used to do when the kayak was the toy du jour. I had put it away well, if I do say so myself. It was easy to load into the car, not so easy to inflate and put in the water. I got to the launch spot at the same time as a bunch of fishermen who were rolling their aluminum boats off their trailers and heading out to fish. I felt they were all watching me scornfully as I fumbled with my valves and pump. Then l gave myself a mental slap. Why would guys eager to get fishing even give me a thought. I finally began to concentrate on the task and eventually succeeded. As I started paddling, I noted that I had not inflated one of the small sections but that was unimportant. I paddled straight to my favourite spot at the north end of the lake and enjoyed the breakfast I had brought with me. It was almost 9, still cool and calm and I was surrounded by geese, goslings, gulls and ducks with ducklings. There were three herons perched in the tall, dying trees along the shore. I watched one land in an awkward, crashing way but once he had settled he remained like the others: erect, alert and motionless the whole time I was there. It always amazes me how they stand as upright and unwavering on relatively thin, dying branches as they do on the shore of an estuary. They are regal. How could I have waited so long before returning to Swan Lake for breakfast?  The paddle back was a bit more taxing because the wind had come up. 

As I was deflating the kayak a couple of young guys pulled in, one of whom was in really bad shape. His buddy had made some basic but very effective adjustments to their system so that he could get into the boat and out to fish. Although I was busy with my own stuff, I noticed how handicapped the one guy was, unable to straighten up. A heavy cast on one of his legs had a full catheter bag strapped to it. I gave myself my second mental slap for the day, to think that I had felt too flat to get out of bed and then worried about people watching me as I clumsily relearned how to inflate my kayak. Just get on with it. 

Breakfast on Swan Lake

Another Superlative Donald laugh from the Baughans