英語雑記：イルカが跳ねてペンギンが歩く世界
この三連休、ひさしぶりに家族で一泊旅行に行きました。初日は登別のマリンパークで、室蘭に一泊して、二日目にルスツリゾート。室蘭を拠点として、水族館と遊園地を一気に回るという強行軍でしたが、結論から言うと、どちらか片方にしておけばよかったなと心の底から思いました。めちゃめちゃ疲れますし、めちゃめちゃお金使いますし、4歳の子供の記憶的にも、あちこち行きすぎても整理つかないまま帰ってきてる感じで、欲張ってもダメなんだなと。
そんな享楽主義的な旅程にした代償か何なのかわかりませんが、雑記を買いてみたところ妙に内省的な雰囲気になってしまいました・・・
Now we back from a trip. One night stay at the hotel in Muroran. An huge amusement park in the first day, and an huge aquarium in second day. Rusutsu resort and Noboribetsu marine park. I was really exhausted by consuming too much of...what to say. Well, the bright side of trip is, of course there is, a lof of fun my son seemed to had. Roller coaster, ferris wheel, go-karts, haunted house, tea cup ride, merry-go-round, mirror maze, log flume, swinging octopus...every rides made him happy. It was the first time he got to amusement park. I was even kind of surprised to see him so that pleasant. At the aquarium, inspite of a series of boring attitude during a walk between the marine lives, the dolphin show won all of his attention and acclaim. And the hotel. It's not a luxuary one, but just one of neat and clean hotel chains, Dormy inn. He likes to stay at the hotel which I don't know why exactly. He sung an original hotel song before we get there, and cried after checked out of there. So considering these factors, this trip is pretty successfull for him.
But, there is always shadow behind the light. Long boring mountain drives and long boring gueues before the rides. All that effort. I'm a man who always choose to up the staircase instead of line up in front of the elevator. So it was a kind of disaster for me to stand 30 minutes for nothing to do except listening cheerful screaming from the roller coaster. 30 minutes waiting, 3 minutes rides, and another 30 minutes waiting, and another 3 minutes...beside, I can't ride those thrilled vehicles like roller coaster. I don't like speed and height. So most of rides, my wife took her son along together, then I took picture of them. Only the things like merry-go-round is what I can handle with. I was like an free-hired personal asisstant in amusement park. Or could it become a job, lining on the queue instead of parents, taking pictures for them, buying an icecream and tickets for the chinese noodle? Might be. Anyway, I was really exhausted. But at least, I got little things for my own.
They were two landscapes. One is sardines. And the other is rocks.
I met a flock of sardines at the aquarium. A few hundreds of silver fishes swimming round and round in the huge water tank. Putting my face to glass almost touching its surface, those beautiful little fishes came and passed in just right front of my eyes. They neared, and left. Neared, and left. There's no conversation, relationship. I was just there on my side, they were just there on their side, and there was a sheer border between us which can never be mingled nor crossed. I was watching those silver bodies and thinking what had been happened on us each side.
Another landscape. We went to the cape. The viewing spot on the high cliff looking down the sea. It was very crowded with people looking over the sea and wanted to take picture. I also looking down the cliff and found some rocks showing a part of it upon the sea's surface. Rocks had been washing by the wave time after time. The wave came slowly, splashes and bubbles, and another wave... It was like a scene in the film. I had been looking down those rocks for time being, untill my son called out. I don't know why, but I couldn't take my eyes off of rocks just like they were part of me or anything.
Sardines and rocks. Why do I remember those scenes as well? Hmm, Maybe I was jus tired, too exhausted to see something capital like dolphin jump or penguin walk. Sardines doesn't flatter. Rocks doesn't flatter. So it might came to catch my attention as an exit from a capitalistic world. A fleeting rest. Then I got back the world where dolphin jumps and penguin walk.
もともと、帰ってから、この旅行のことを書くときは、ゴーカートのことを書こうと思ってたんです。小さい頃、遊園地で一番好きだったのがゴーカートでした。足でアクセルボタンを踏んで、ハンドルで車を動かして、好きなところに行ける・・・あの圧倒的な自由を手に入れた感じが格別でした。いろんな遊園地に行ったし、いろんな乗り物に乗りましたが、あの初めてゴーカートに乗った遊園地で、暗くなるまでずっと何回も何回も乗っていたときのことは強烈で、まるで昨日のことように覚えてます（疲れてただろうに何度も乗せてくれた親に感謝だなぁ）。
・・・っていう感傷的なことを書こうと思っていたんですけど、いざPCに向かってみると、こんな反資本主義的な文章になってしまいました。疲れてた、というのと、あと、ちょっと前に構造主義関連の本に混ざってマルクス主義のことをすこし齧ったせいだと思います。それにしても、書こうと思っていたことを、書こうと思っていた通りに書けなかったというのは、まさに構造主義的ですね！