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Paul J Penton – Songwriter
“Release the Muse”
Ferry- Daily Object Writing- Feb 1st
That Australian Crawl song swims into my head ‘As the Manly Ferry, makes its way to circular Key’, but I’m going the other way – to Manly. The engines vibrate and chudder away somewhere in the soul of the ship and we are spirited over the glittering waters of Sydney harbour. I stand out the back with the other tourists watching the turbulent whitewashed trail left by the boat and the pointy sails of the Opera House dissolving to a blur as we round one of the many points on the journey.
The outer deck rings the ship and some folks are sat down watching the landscape filter by, while others have moved more adventurously to the front where the wind is pummeling faces like the buffing machine for a car. I wonder will they come away with their teeth shining and white and there skin a soft muted collection, all the distinguishing marks sand-papered by the scissoring wind. I stand here too watching the bow cut through the slow rolling waves that pulse toward the ship. They start to get heavier as we cross the gap near the heads and the boat starts a slow steady roll, pitching between the coarse troughs we now are encountering. The smell and taste of salty spray flies up from the keel as it smashes into the waves.
The manly pier becomes a vaudeville sideshow we aim for once we’re through the heads, it’s almost as if there’s a ferris wheel and coloured light shows waiting for us , but in reality it’s a mall of ice creameries and food purveyors all eager for your business. The docking procedure is elaborate and performed like a well rehearsed stage show – whoa! – even then I just had a momentary back flip to that dipping/dropping sensation as the boat is still going across the heads in my unconscious memory, my feet temporarily disabled! Funny with my dad being in the navy 27 years I have no sea legs. Back to the docking – ropes as thick as the rubbery arms of the deck hands are thrown and secured, the lugs on the pier threaded like a needle and then figure-eighted ……….