Plunging ahead
Whether you call it “taking a chance” or you call it “having faith everything will turn out okay”, I’m going for it.
Finances have become a little since March when I first announced my coming trip to the AA International Convention next weekend.
Secondly, whether or not the ferry would be running has been a big question. Today, they officially announced the thing would resume passenger service on June 30. I booked my tickets.
Background:
- The original firm running the ferry went bust in early September last year. As is not uncommon with new ventures, they’d underestimated expenses and overestimated revenue.
- The City of Rochester bought the boat at foreclosure in February. Given the way the mayor pushed everything through, opponents now call him Commodore Johnson and refer to it as Billy’s Boat.
- The city hired a Canadian firm, Bay Ferries Ltd. of Nova Scotia to run the boat and the service.
- When the boat went to Hamilton, Ontario to have some hull damage repaired (from a winter storm), the old logos painted over and new ones done, it fell off the blocks in drydock.
- Returning from Hamilton, it developed propulsion systems trouble attributed to software glitches. (Or perhaps it runs under Windows.)
- Returning to Rochester, it was scheduled for engine repairs. Apparently the Germans aren’t very good at head gaskets for very large diesels.
- Sailing dates through the end of June were cancelled, tickets refunded.
Business has picked up in the past week, still I waited until today’s announcement before making the decision. I’m going, but for four days instead of seven, and I’m staying with Willie rather than at the B&B.
