So no takers. I am surprised. Considering the source, yesterday’s quote may be the most astounding I have ever encountered. It was made on April 27, 1945 by that great humanitarian, beloved for his kindness, Adolf Hitler.
My source is an extremely interesting and long—1140 pages—book, MODERN TIMES: THE WORLD FROM THE TWENTIES TO THE NINETIES by Paul Johnson. I am up to the Sixties. 290 pages to go.
While no one offered a guess about the quote, several readers sent me links to articles about the deadly alligator attack on Hilton Head Island two days ago. It is obvious where your interests lie.
I had already read of it. There was even a piece in THE LONDON TIMES this morning which inaccurately said the attack took place on the island’s east side. Hilton Head Island runs NE-SW and doesn’t actually have an east side. The incident took place near the inland side of the island which faces northwest about four miles from our condo. Reportedly the woman was walking her dog. Much has been made of the death by alligator last year of a woman on the mainland fifteen miles away and that another woman was killed two or three years ago at the other end of the island. She, too, was walking her dog. In both dog walking incidents, the dogs survived. And in another part of the island fishing has been prohibited for several months after a gator chased a fisherman.
On the bike ride to one of the supermarkets I pass four ponds in which I have seen alligators, though none recently. I do not linger and have never felt threatened.
While I realize that alligators do not have access to most of the population of this country, only those of us who live in parts of the south, I read that there were at least 17 mass shootings in the U.S. over the Fourth of July weekend, leaving at least 20 dead and 126 injured. I prefer my chances with gators.
2 comments:
Hi Webb, I agree with you about the gators! There is a lot of talk about Sharks too! I am a long time surfer and sailor with no shark bites to speak of. I would like to know if you have any shark encounters of note?
There is a project that tags Great White sharks off Hilton Head Island, but I have never seen one and don’t recall the last time I saw any shark. Decades ago when entering a cove in New Zealand I went forward to prepare the anchor and found myself looking down at a hammerhead swimming easily alongside, perhaps hoping I would fall overboard, but I didn’t. No significant encounters.
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