True Story: Robert Redford Woke Up to Me

Did I ever tell you about the time Robert Redford woke up to me?  True story!

Before I get to that, let me tell you about the French sailor who gave me the shirt off his back.  It was the whitest of white linens, with a classic nautical square neckline, trimmed in navy blue, and a stylish ship's anchor embroidered on the front pocket.  Whenever I wore it, I thought of him, smoking his Gitanes...that morning. 

He had just arrived in Vancouver - a port of call for sailors around the world.  The next morning, he woke up in my bed.  I remember studying the angles of his face in the daylight, the wisps of smoke rising from the Gitanes, as he puffed the cigarettes, between sips of coffee, and conversation.  We saw each other a few times after that.  Before saying goodbye, he gave me his French sailor's shirt - just because.

I'd make a fortune as a National Enquirer writer!  Do you want to know what REALLY happened?  He was a gay friend of a close family friend, and needed a place to stay for a few days.  I was married (the first time), and had moved away from home, so, my Mum gave him my old room, and empty bed.

I dropped in to visit my Mum, a few times that week, and mentioned how much I admired his authentic French navy shirt.  He had been a chef in the French navy, and had long since done his service.  So, he very kindly gave it to me!  Just because.  The acrid scent of his French cigarettes lingered on the clothing.

All this, to illustrate that there's truth, and then there's TRUTH.  The first story is completely true.  Every.  Single.  Word.  Yet, it's so misleading, that it verges on being dishonest.  It's part of what we all deal with every day, in print, television, and on-line:  fake news.
 

Even the photographs which I've chosen for this post, are "fake".  I've enhanced each photograph, altering the image on the computer, to create a whole new image, that is nothing like the original, yet the original image can still be seen.  It's not extreme - more like a little lipstick and mascara, rather than cosmetic surgery.  Altered truth all the same. 

Which brings me to Robert Redford, me...and a bathtub.

For a few wonderful Summers in the late '70s, my friends and I would enter a tub in the great Nanaimo to Vancouver Bathtub Race.  Our boyfriends would spend weeks creating a fibreglass bathtub shell, and attaching it to an outboard motor for the perilous 58 Kilometre (36 mile) race across Georgia Strait, in the Salish Sea (the course has since been changed).

One of the guys (usually, whoever was lightest that year) would be the tubber, and remain crouched inside the tub, while cranking the outboard motor full throttle across the sea.  The rest of us would be safely in a boat, racing alongside our little tub.  It was chaos on the water, with hundreds of little tubs, and escort boats racing to Vancouver.

Once he made it to the Vancouver finish line, the tubber would "leap" out of the tub with all the agility of someone whose legs have been bent under them for over an hour, and struggle up the beach to ring the finish line bell.  It was all over by lunchtime.

One year, we rented a boat big enough for a few dozen friends and a live band!  We continued the party, cruising Burrard Inlet, to the far end of Indian Arm, where we dove off the deck, and swam in the salt water of the inlet, from lunch until dinner time.  By early evening, we were ready to head back to the city, dancing on deck the whole journey back.

There is something exhilarating about turning up the amps on a live band, and dancing, as you cruise into the port of Vancouver...past the industrial terminals, past the city skyline, all the way to the dock at the prestigeous Bayshore Inn.  No one wanted the party to end.

The police officers were very polite.  They said, that Robert Redford had called the hotel desk to complain about the noise, that woke him up...he had an early night, because he had to be up early the next morning.

Robert Redford woke up to me!  That's Ruth's truth.

Not everything is in black and white. 

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.