Route Without a Number The sailboats often go from Halifax to Mahone or St. Margaret's Bay. It's a trip of half a day when all goes well. And most are mindful of the weather and all indeed goes well. Only now and again something happens. And this is not Route 66 or one with any other number or roadside assistance. The odds are good but the ocean and the odds are sometimes at odds. So we live with uncertainty. Like yesterday I was swallowing some pills. Supplements, they were, although I feed myself with some idea of health in mind. Anyway, the pills are too many to bother swallowing one by one, so I gulped a handful as I usually do. Only this time they stuck halfway down. To shorten the story there was something near panic, then searching online for what help I might find, then having patience and doing the dishes while the remedy prevailed. So today a bruised throat is all the outcome and not an obituary. But it's like I say. You never know. Because really life is a route without a number. Until your number comes up. And then it's back to zero. Tally ho! 8 October 2024 Texas Jim Prospect, Nova Scotia www.granitecoast.ca