Day 4: Insurance for the Voyage of the Basset
Day four: Write a story/excerpt to include the line, “Sorry, we can’t insure you for a journey like that.”
One of my favourite books was also written by my favourite artist (no offence Grandma, you come a very very close second.) James Christensen has a marvellous imagination and I am always in awe of the detail and vibrant colours.
This is a painting of " The College of Magical Knowledge" which is one of the many places visited in the book The Voyage of the Basset a play on Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle in which he logged many species of animal and their evolutions. In this book, a Professor sets out on a mythical journey to find proof for why we need legends and myth; why imagination and stories have a place in the modern world of science and discovery. It is a fantastic read featuring many beautiful paintings to illustrate the marvellous and beings and creatures they meet and learn from.
The part I want to draw inspiration from for today's topic is something a mystery in the story. The Professor happens to walk by the docks in a which a boat with a curious crew of dwarves is ready to set sail. They say they have been waiting for him and once he's aboard, the journey begins. This miss matched group of dwarves is a delight and I often wonder how they managed to get permission to set off on this voyage and what their poor insurance company has to endure from them once they return. After all, I can't imagine the risk involved in a journey where the passengers are magical creatures.
" I'm sorry Captain Malachi, how many passengers will be aboard your vessel?" The rather pinched face insurance agent asked the rosy-cheeked dwarf.
" Well counting my crew and the gremlins with three initial passengers....." He pulled out a notepad from his jacket and tallied up the numbers. " With the heavy possibility of more passengers of varying species and size to be picked up, perhaps as many as thirty-five."
"Hmmmm.... the policy for the H. M. S. Basset only covers up to twenty passengers and only those of humanoid species under two-hundred and ten pounds." He said squinting through his very thick spectacles. "Besides, your vessel is only authorised to travel within the local seas, you are not equipped to travel transcontinentally."
" But it is not across oceans we are travelling, but the geography of the imagination, which we plan to chart and document. Surely there is an exception for discovery and scientific voyages." Malachi nudged.
" I'm sorry, we can't insure you for a voyage like that." The agent sniffed and closed the files. Then leant across the desk and whispered, " but if you go downstairs to marketing and tell them they can put their name on your napkins and dinnerware they will probably pay you enough to cover and damages received on your journey."
" But don't we need insurance to legally sail?" Malachi whispered back.
The agent settled back in his chair, " I don't know of any law saying you have to be insured to sail the geography of imagination, just the seas of reality. Just be sure to have everyone sign a waiver about taking their safety into their own hands before they board and you should be fine."
One of my favourite books was also written by my favourite artist (no offence Grandma, you come a very very close second.) James Christensen has a marvellous imagination and I am always in awe of the detail and vibrant colours.
This is a painting of " The College of Magical Knowledge" which is one of the many places visited in the book The Voyage of the Basset a play on Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle in which he logged many species of animal and their evolutions. In this book, a Professor sets out on a mythical journey to find proof for why we need legends and myth; why imagination and stories have a place in the modern world of science and discovery. It is a fantastic read featuring many beautiful paintings to illustrate the marvellous and beings and creatures they meet and learn from.
The part I want to draw inspiration from for today's topic is something a mystery in the story. The Professor happens to walk by the docks in a which a boat with a curious crew of dwarves is ready to set sail. They say they have been waiting for him and once he's aboard, the journey begins. This miss matched group of dwarves is a delight and I often wonder how they managed to get permission to set off on this voyage and what their poor insurance company has to endure from them once they return. After all, I can't imagine the risk involved in a journey where the passengers are magical creatures.
" I'm sorry Captain Malachi, how many passengers will be aboard your vessel?" The rather pinched face insurance agent asked the rosy-cheeked dwarf.
" Well counting my crew and the gremlins with three initial passengers....." He pulled out a notepad from his jacket and tallied up the numbers. " With the heavy possibility of more passengers of varying species and size to be picked up, perhaps as many as thirty-five."
"Hmmmm.... the policy for the H. M. S. Basset only covers up to twenty passengers and only those of humanoid species under two-hundred and ten pounds." He said squinting through his very thick spectacles. "Besides, your vessel is only authorised to travel within the local seas, you are not equipped to travel transcontinentally."
" But it is not across oceans we are travelling, but the geography of the imagination, which we plan to chart and document. Surely there is an exception for discovery and scientific voyages." Malachi nudged.
" I'm sorry, we can't insure you for a voyage like that." The agent sniffed and closed the files. Then leant across the desk and whispered, " but if you go downstairs to marketing and tell them they can put their name on your napkins and dinnerware they will probably pay you enough to cover and damages received on your journey."
" But don't we need insurance to legally sail?" Malachi whispered back.
The agent settled back in his chair, " I don't know of any law saying you have to be insured to sail the geography of imagination, just the seas of reality. Just be sure to have everyone sign a waiver about taking their safety into their own hands before they board and you should be fine."
No insurance needed in the imaginary because no matter what disaster befalls we can imagine our way out or in deeper. Anything is possible. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”--Einstein Just beware of going so deep that the darkness crushes and the stars go out. R.I.P. J.C.C.
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