Six days ago, Maggie and I caught the
bus to Ragusa Ibla. I brought my favourite Panama Jack hat that has
a wide brim and mesh crown. Hats are very important on a boat
because it is difficult to hide from the sun otherwise. I put my hat
up on the rack for the short trip. We weren't sure exactly where we
should get off once we reached town, but the bus driver gave us a
sign and we hopped off – without my hat. I mourned my hat all that
day because I bought it in the Bahamas, inexpensively, two winters
ago.
Maggie suggested checking with the lost
and found but I rejected all such futile efforts to recover it;
surely a hat like that would not last long on a rack in the bus. I
gave it up as lost, moved on and bought a cheap straw hat from a kid
selling stuff on the beach.
Yesterday, we caught the bus back to
Ragusa because we had to transfer there to catch the bus to Siracusa.
I checked the rack where I left my hat (as though this was the only
bus that runs that route) and faintly hoped to see it there, but it
wasn't. After all, it was five days later. Maggie chuckled at my
foolishness and jokingly suggested that I check the hat that was on
the rack up front. I jumped up and had a closer look. And there was
my hat! It had been riding the bus for five days and just happened
to be on the same bus that we caught the one and only time that we
would take it again. It was a good start to the day, and it just got
better because Siracusa is a beautiful, ancient city on the Sicilian
coast. Once our transmission is fixed we hope to come and anchor in
the harbour and spend a few more days exploring.
I suppose because we are sitting here
paying money in a marina and about to incur a significant repair
expense, the hat incident has taken on more importance than it might
otherwise. I have absolutely no complaints about the life we are
living, but it sure felt good catching a break on my $30 hat.
Branko
