The boat of wishes

A pier is always a place of surprises that capture the imagination. For example, this boat, discovered during a chance stroll along the rail, is unmissable. The contrast between its color and that of the water on which it balances immediately captures the eye.

Alone in a small boat on the high seas... it can't be pleasant. But imagining myself on that boat, right there near the dock, rowing along the railing, is tempting. A boat like that can be a refuge, a leap from the everyday.

When I'm in the middle of the city, on these intensely hot days, sometimes this image comes to mind and I dream of sitting there at the stern, flirting with the bench in front, the cool water caressing us, free from noise, without distractions.

The boat came to mind when, in the middle of traffic, I was stuck in a traffic jam, wedged between two cars, and I looked to the side of the road to my left. Inside, a couple in their thirties, driving a new, well-designed car, each with a smartphone in hand, both staring at their screens, not speaking to each other, as if they were strangers on a bus sitting on nearby benches. Their world was limited to their phones; there was nothing there, not the other cars, not the traffic around them, not even themselves, perhaps. They were isolated from reality, immersed in who knows what.

When the traffic light changed, two or three cars ahead of them didn't notice anything—they were only awakened by the insistent honking of some drivers behind them who wanted to move but couldn't. They frowned at being distracted from their screens.

I shrug, my thoughts returning to the boat that seems to be calling to those passing by. I just want to tell it to stay where it is, feeding my desire.

Communication strategies // Manuel Falcão writes every Friday for SAPO