taxi

The water taxi was the only real time I touched the surface of the town.

It was very fast in the way that an old style Mini coupe seems fast because of the closeness to the road. In this case the speed was both spatial and temporal, because I don't think we'd have got from the harbour to the restaurant in even four times as long by road.

It turns out I wasn't the only one that hadn't been here before. Other than the local folk, it was a first for almost all of us, except my travelling colleague who'd approached the place from the sea, and carrying armaments.

The grey mists didn't help to get a sense of the geography. I could see a few cranes and tall buildings in the medium distance, and was aware that the area near where I was staying had been modernised. But apart from the evening restaurant, I didn't get a sense of the location before I bundled back into a taxi and out via a distant airport.