Headed down to Alki Beach (pronounced Al Kye) which is about a 15 min stroll downhill from our place. Another perfect day and there was a big crowd both on the beach and along the esplanade not dissimilar to Beaconsfield Parade. The beach wasn’t that nice, more Altona than Lorne but the view was to die for. The snow-capped mountains in the distance belied the 25-degree blistering sunshine. As we arrived a band was blaring out “Born to be Wild” thereby laying down the theme of what we were about to be confronted with. Pirates. That’s right, everything “piratee” you could think of was on display.
We wandered around taking some photos before heading to a donut shop where the young bloke behind the counter informed us that today is Pirates Landing Day, commemorating the first immigrant landing in Seattle. When I asked him who the immigrants were he said he didn’t know. It’s just an excuse to be pirates for a day! How good’s that?
So back on the beach the scene is turning into something only the Simpsons could script. You would think if there was a pirate landing, there would be some form of wooden ship containing nasty pirates sailing around near the beach provoking the crowds. Well this vessel had loud cannon-like explosions emanating from it for sure, but it was an industrial vessel, more like a barge borrowed from the Seattle dockyards. On it were a bunch of locals yelling and pointing plastic cutlass’ at the now bemused audience on the beach. You could hear people saying, “isn’t that Terry from Accounts? Oh my, that’s Brad from Marketing and his brother Max, you know Max the Assistant Manager at Starbucks East Seattle!”
The vessel landed only to be greeted by the Mayor, no not Quimby but it may as well have been, and the pirates handover a plethora of lollies for the kids to get high on for the next few hours. We kept walking down the Esplanade for a few kms to where the water taxi takes you across Elliot Bay to the CBD. The views were awesome and there were plenty of people about including a beautiful black man on roller skates, no shirt, cut, and doing tricks and dancing at full speed deliberately reminding me of my pale mediocre self.
Alki Beach got us thinking about Australia Day and the fact it’s made up (the 26th Jan), it’s non-inclusive and it encourages bigots and rednecks. So why don’t we make Australia Day a day for all Australians on another date that actually resonates with everyone, and make Jan 26 Pirates Day! That would be so much funnier and meaningful than what we currently have.
Seattle is the home of Starbucks, Sub Pop Records and Boeing Industries. Just to advise my boss Drew who often dismisses and castigates my 6-year military record as an aircraft mechanic, that I have been asked by Boeing to present the keynote address at their mid-year ball tomorrow night. The subject will be “How any imbecile can be let loose to work on precision equipment, therefore, endangering the lives of many innocent people”. Looking forward to it. Tickets sales have been slow at this point however we’re expecting a late rush.
Seattle is also home to Microsoft and the king of nerds himself Bill Gates. Now Bill and his wife Melissa do amazing philanthropic deeds particularly in Africa, but we need him to come a little closer to home, namely the Seattle public transport system. The Seattle public transport could be a lot better especially when there are no trains and the local version of a travel card, Orca, sucks. Orca makes our Myki look cutting edge. I’ll never criticize Myki again believe me.
Once we reached the CBD we walked down the foreshore where there are shops and food galore. Stopped for a hotdog and bought the girls a couple of things. The atmosphere was very vibrant and we then headed off to the famous Pike St Markets. Now, these markets were the best markets I’ve personally ever seen but for Lynda they were special. You see when Lynda was teaching on Phillip Island the school principal in the early days was run by a megalomaniac and when he left, his legacy was a very fractured team culture. The incoming principal decided she had to do something and implemented learnings from a fishmonger in the Pike St Market. The shop simply designed a strong set of values and behaviours which have been translated across the world to schools, business etc. Lynda met one of the guys today Taho and he was chuffed to hear Lynda’s story from the other side of the world. Check out this website which provides some background and the mission.
https://www.pikeplacefish.com/blogs/meet-the-mongers
The market is sensational and it was packed. We were a little perturbed to hear a local passerby say “I’ve been here when it wasn’t as quiet as this!” Could have spent hours there but needed to head back west. We got off the bus at the intersection of where we needed to connect to another bus (I’m tellin’ ya Gates, pull your finger out!) and right on the corner is Easy St Records. There were people spewing out into the street listening to a live show inside. One local said the musician Ayron Jones may well be the next big thing from Seattle. He sounded great. Obviously inspired by Hendrix and Prince he had the crowd right where he wanted them. Easy Street Records covers 2 shop fronts and has a mezzanine level which was full of punters, a bar and café also. It’s seriously cool and again we had to drag ourselves out of there forcefully. Lynda bought a book about the making of Patti Smith’s “Horses” and I bought Ayron’s cd. There was so much going on in there but what was noticeable was a tribute to Pearl Jam for just being inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and a shop front dedicated to one of our favourites, Mark Lanegan and his new album Gargoyle. Cracking shop.
Another day down and despite the frustration with public transport, it’s been a hoot. Off to bed and off to the ballpark tomorrow. I love you St Kilda.
