July 25, 2004

The following is a transcript of notes made on July 18, the fourth day of my trip:

Alysia’s backyard on a sunny Sunday afternoon feels like an isolated tropical island where I have to relearn all the games of survival like washing clothes in the lake with a soap bar; shaving without shaving cream; and opening sardine cans with a Swiss knife. Performing these tasks made me feel fantastic.

So I went into the city to find Kat, whom I first saw the night before during our dark ritual, but instead I found petrochemical plants and jumping people. The plants look obscene and monstrous in the afternoon with their smoke stacks that touch the skies. I feel transported back to Blake’s England and its “dark Satanic mills.”

And I ran away from the tormenting vision of Sarnia to find boys and girls a mile upstream flinging themselves into waves.

“Wanna see me jump from that pillar?” the boy with strong arms asked, pointing into the distance.

He swam out into the river and after climbing the pillar he flung himself into the waves while I took his pictures.

“Take my picture,” the girl next to me said, “I’m glamorous,” and she too plunged into the incredibly blue abyss. The boy with strong arms came back smiling, and continued to climb other impossible heights in Sarnia’s abandoned port and then jumping into the air.

“These are my jumping people,” I thought. “I shall know their velocity.”

But I left them without plunging into the azure waters, without taking their plunge.

And that’s when Kat found me through a wonderful process of deduction just as I was about to call her. In the daylight she seemed even more vibrant than on the night before, so we went swimming in the lake until we shivered, and ran back to her place to grab wine and showers on our way to a potluck dinner.

And then she showed me bridges spanning two countries; in return, I feed her fries and we watches ships drift down the river.

The potluck was even better than the fries we shared under the bridge: wine, good food, marvellously talented people. Satiated, we returned to Alysia’s backyard to wait for her in my tent by candlelight. And we talked for fantastically long hours, letting the candles burn until early in the morning. I think she found out everything about me.

“You’re full of shit,” she finally said laughing, and I told her about my constipation problem.

We shook hands in front of Tim Horton’s at 2 in the morning — I had the urge to hug her, but the seatbelt restrained me. Sarnia is full of marvellous creatures and I’m leaving them all tomorrow.