Rafting

Went rafting on the Bow. First we rode the bus to my old stomping grounds in Bowness. We were discussing where to pick up beer and some teenagers on the bus told us where to get off and how to get to the liquor store. God bless 'em. Once we were there, my friend recognized one of the multimillion dollar riverfront houses. He'd done some concrete flooring in it a few times for work. So we took the liberty of blowing up our raft in the back yard.

On the river we sang John Prine songs. We were singing "Christmas in Prison" and my friend pointed out that the song is about a guy in jail whacking off to thoughts of his absent sweetheart. I then observed that another Prine song, "Donald & Lydia", is also about masturbation. I have my tickets to see John Prine play at the Jack Singer in October. It's gonna be a gooder!

We brought our life jackets but they stayed on the floor of the raft. Fortunately the river patrol has a very loud boat so we heard them coming before they got close. When we stopped at Edworthy park for a toilet break, we heard some drumming and shouting coming from behind the trees. Sounded like hippies. I investigated and they weren't hippies at all, but Africans. Back in the boat we discussed young hippies. It seems like young people these days (twentyish) are bright and optimistic and lack the cynicism and slackerdom of people my age (thirtyish). Or maybe that's just me. Anyways...I grew up in the shadow of Gen X, grunge, the painfully ironic postmodern age. But today's young people were babies when Kurt Cobain offed himself. They're the Obama generation. They want to learn everything and love everyone and save the world while they do it.

Here's to nouveau hippies, trespassing and flouting city bylaws.