Thursday, April 2, 2020

Lilith meets a boat pilot


Ran into a neighbor from down the road whose small terrier has very erect and fuzzy brown ears. A knitted red rose graces her neck. I ask him how isolation is going. He says he's still working; he pilots the boats that guide Matson ships into Honolulu harbor. "Keep the toilet paper coming," I say, and we laugh.

* I got a correction from a friend: It isn't the pilot boat that guides the ship in; it's the pilot himself, who travels by boat to the ship and is picked up or dropped off at the harbor entrance. Go down to Sand Island and you can see the process. See also The Pirates of Penzance and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropping_the_Pilot

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