Brisbane, QLD - Australia
A few dollars changed hands as I sat down for a cup of tea with my shipping agent a few minutes ago. He makes sure the 55 gallon drums of rough Koroit opal that I toil to collect make it all the way from Australia to my place in the USA. We chatted and laughed a bit. He told me the drums I had sent him on Monday (and was told would be delivered to his office on Wednesday) had not yet arrived (today is Thursday) and after he had made a few phone calls nobody could tell him where they were and one person went so far as to make the rather extreme metaphysical claim that they did not even exist. I really do not want to digress into a discussion of existence, theories of epistemology, certainty and wanderings into the oh-so-attractive quagmire of solipsism, so, please pardon my rather bold claim . . . I know they exist. I'm also rather confident they'll be found in the next day or two and soon will be on a ship heading across the Pacific.
He also mentioned rather politely that based on his limited experience, it seemed to him that "some of the people people involved in opal mining were a bit strange". Of course I laughed and let him know almost everyone involved is at least a bit strange. It is a collection of curious characters and curious adventures and misadventures.
Tomorrow I will be on the plane back to the USA.
My apologies for not posting more entries during this trip. I was busy mining and sorting and had little spare time. Yes, there were some experiences I hope to share with you faithful reader (Are you really there? Is anyone really reading this stuff?) . . . and a few photos I will post once I return to the USA. . . . and maybe some details about my transcendent experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment