Second Impressions

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Speakers Corner

Second Impressions

Tuesday, 19 February 2008 07:06

It is nigh on a year since I wrote my first article for Margaret and Jeff’s unique little newspaper.
“First Impressions” recounted how my wife and I happened to come to reside in this delightful spot and to summarise our initial impressions. For those of you who have the fortitude to want to read this article it can be found on our web site, www.lcweekly.com, under ‘Columns’ and then ‘Speakers Corner’.

Much has taken place during the past twelve months and I am reminded of the quotation from Virgil, “Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparable tempus”.   “Meanwhile time is flying – flying never to return.” Oh how true this is as is the other quotation from I know not whom, “time flies when you are having fun” and I am pleased to say we certainly are having fun!
    One of the reasons we are having so much fun is, and as I mentioned in my original article, that there is so much to do in Beaufort and its environs. I do not know of another small town that offers so much by way of ready made entertainment or the chance to pursue ones hobby’s, both sporting and otherwise.
    True, Beaufort does not have the depth of theatre of cities such as Charleston or Savannah, which in themselves are not too far away, but we are most fortunate to have our very own Beaufort Performing Arts Inc. at the local campus of The University of South Carolina.
We have attended a number of BPA productions ranging from The Claremont Trio, three very talented young lady musicians, to The Nutcracker by The Columbia City Ballet. I confess I am really looking forward to “Drum,” the next production on Feb 14th.
    For those of you not familiar with BPA I would urge you to visit their web site or call the Executive Director, Dee Dee Sandt, or her assistant, Stacy Whitmore, at 843 521 4145.
In addition to BPA we are also most fortunate to have the Arts Council of Beaufort County and The Beaufort Orchestra.
    One of the many things I was looking forward to doing when I came to the Lowcountry was to go sailing with my son.
    I got into sailing out of deference to my children when we lived in Connecticut those many years ago. I confess at the time I was a rather selfish and chauvinistic person and spent most of my leisure time, away from my family, on the golf course. Fortunately I realised the error of my ways and also recognised the opportunity that living along the Connecticut coast offered for water related activities.
    Whilst my wife and daughter enjoyed being on the water they did not appreciate my attempts at becoming the reincarnation of Captain Bligh. Quite rightly they mutinied leaving our infinitely more tolerant son and me to sail by ourselves most of the time. Thanks largely to some friends who were expert sailors and who took my son out on their yachts he developed a love and some considerable knowledge of coastal sailing. It was one of his ambitions, having qualified as a physician, to own a sail boat and take his aging ‘pater’ out on the ‘briny’. So it has come to pass and as I am also getting my fair share of golf again I really am a lucky man.
    Sailors in the UK somewhat irreverently call motor boaters “stink potters”. In return motor boaters call sailors “rag-a-muffins”. Albeit a modest sailor I never expected to join the other camp. However, such are the delights of our superb local waters, especially during the summer when the winds for big boat sailing can be somewhat fickle, that I bought a small stink pot and am now blessed with being able to enjoy sailing, pottering and fishing.
    One of the other attributes of our small town and the surrounding area is the relative abundance and variety of good eating places. In my original piece I rued not being able to get Thai food here in Beaufort itself. My prayers must have been heard by the gourmet gods as now there is ‘Yes Thai Indeed’, an excellent little restaurant, on Boundary Street.
    For those of us who believe that it is “never too late to ‘teach an old dog new tricks’, or never to late to learn, I was delighted to discover as a result of an advertisement in this newspaper the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USC Beaufort, OLLI, as it is known. It has a most extensive curriculum and a visit to www.uscb.edu will reveal all far better than I am able.
    In addition to their curriculum OLLI presents a semi annual Distinguished Lecture Symposium. It was the advert for the 2007 fall lecture entitled “Islam and the West: The Roots of the Conflict and What Next” that first attracted my attention. David Grimland, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, was the most able and fascinating lecturer and he certainly piqued my interest regarding this most complex subject. Perhaps I will dare to attempt to debate David’s views and those of my own, which I am in the process of formulating, in a future article.
    Least you think that I view Beaufort through rose coloured spectacles I do, with the benefit of residing here for nearly two years, have some criticisms.
    Whilst the people are friendly and generally well mannered on and off the roads the standard of driving is such that if they lived in the UK many of our motorists would either be broke from imposed fines or have had their licenses suspended.
     I am particularly appalled at the use of hand held mobile phones and the rather lax use of seat belts. The latter is of course against the law, as it should be, and the former should be so embraced.
    The other law which is absent in our State is that of motor cyclists being required to wear helmets. I am astonished that The Governor, no doubt a man of wisdom and good intent, is apparently opposed to such a law.
    The medical fraternity apparently have mixed feelings on this subject. On the one hand the numerous fatalities from victims of non helmet wearing motor cycle accidents does provide for a continuing supply of organs for transplant surgery. Indeed I am told that they refer to motor cycles as ‘donor cycles’! On the other hand those non fatal but seriously brain injured victims are more often than not destined to a life as vegetables with the attendant burden on family and society alike.
    I am not one for excessive nanny state legislation but I do think that the use of hand held phones and the wearing of helmets should be given further serious consideration.
My final comment and gripe is one which causes me some mystery given the otherwise excellent manners of the Southern populace. It is the lack of response to written communication which I have experienced. Perhaps I am too much from the old school, but I was taught that a letter of commendation, criticism or suggestion to a business or professional deserved at least an acknowledgement. I am amazed that at least a half dozen such letters from me in the past as many months to for example, a local cleric, county official and business operators have gone unanswered. Maybe tempus is not fugitting enough and I have too much time on my hands to ponder such things!

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