Antwerp - Ireland - Antwerp
DAY 7

- by Ward Hulselmans

- Wednesday 22 May 2019

The first look through the porthole scares the hell out of me. The huge wall of a Chinese container ship slides past my window. It says "Yang Ming", in letters as high as the whole Elbfeeder. We're approaching Antwerp and this confrontation comes hard. I gather my things. I want to disembark as soon as possible. I really don't feel like writing down how great it is to enter our proud port. It IS great and all, but you can find out for yourselves what it feels like. I'll put an end to this.

I just want to hold on to one more thing: the feeling I had just yesterday; the intense satisfaction of being able to sail on the free sea, distracted by nothing, away from the world, alone, but far from lonely. How lucky I was last week!

"I grew up in the sea and poverty was a beauty, then I lost the sea and all luxury seemed to me, the sorrow unbearable. I've been waiting ever since. I wait for the boats of the return, the house that is the water, the transparent day. I practice patience, I remain polite with all my might. What else can I do if I have only one image to remember? At last, they force me to say who I am. "Nothing yet, nothing yet..."

- DAY 6
21 May 2019

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