Robinson Kreutznear (Crusoe)

"I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea ... there seemed to be something fatal in that propension of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me".

              Robinson Crusoe.

I've not yet clarified in my mind whether here Crusoe is saying jos life was a misery because of his " propension of nature" or whether this was merely the fear of his mother & friends. 

In the wake of shelling out a good deal of my savings for a boat which is pretty but too lively & wet under sail, & a greater amount on another sailboat, just two months later, both boats purchased before actually seeing them, I do wonder about my prepensities. Certainly, in my darkest minutes it does seem like a misery. But them, I fashion a repair, or make an improvement, the wind backs to come more abeam, or the sun casts a warmth, & my miseries are forgotten. Well at least until I lay my head for rest & the dark buzz of judgmental admonishments crowds out all romantic thoughts. Perhaps that is the misery? The fact that we are continually subjected to the wrath of conformists & builders of wealth. 

I suspect that every time a small community has taken up residence by the sea, there has always been a lunatic on the fringe taking time off from their wealth building to gaze the horizon & dream of what might be. Or perhaps they just found something floaty & climbed aboard for the thrill of weightless or the lure of the gentle rocking motion upon the water. They've then fallen into a dream or deep slumber only to fond themselves cast upon a dreamlike scene, a blue sea heaving with a lazy swell  & gentle breeze, or perhaps a landlocked cove surrounded by  verdant forest on all sides.

 Nor did he bother about the sweep of the sheerline, the rake of it's mast, more so the fact that she floated & made way.