Frankenstein - According to

which braces my
nerves and warms my swannicles. Do you understand these feelings? If not, feel
yourself in bed tonight. I try in vain to be persuaded that the North Pole is
the seat of God and his angels, tho they must wear warm clothes; it ever
presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight and
McDonald's. There, Margaret, the sun is very low in the sky, but if you go
upstairs and stand on the chair you will be able to see it although, like my
bank balance, it has almost disappeared. If only my bank balance would rise on
the horizon every morning, oh how happy I would be. However, I have trust in
the preceding navigators. We are preceded by about a dozen in a small boat. One
claims to be Henry of Navarre. I think he's a bloody liar, his name is actually
Dick Smith.
    The
snow and frost are banished and we are sailing over a calm sea. We may be
wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto
discovered on the habitable globe. There is the phenomena of the heavenly
bodies. When I think of heavenly bodies I think of Doris Riter's body of 36
Roseland Road, Catford. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
Well, for a start it never gets dark. I may have discovered the wondrous power
which attracts the needle. I may go to parts of the world where no human eye
has ever set foot. These are my enticements, to conquer all fear of danger or
death. If the latter should happen, I will stop immediately. I feel the joy a
young boy feels when he embarks in a little boat with his holiday mates on an
expedition of discovery up a native river. If I remember correctly, that is how
Livingston died.
    I
shall find the secret of the magnet and I will become admired far and wide [he
speaks well of himself]. I feel an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for
nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as does a steady purpose,
or Valium. It is regret which I had felt as a child on learning that my
father's injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark on a seafaring
life. Fuck him. I'll do as I please.
     
    I must go down to the sea again
    To the lonely sea and the sky
    And all I ask is a tall ship
    And a star to steet her by.
     
    One
day my name will go down beside Drake's and Nelson's. In fact I believe some
people can't wait for me to join them.
    Six
years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. (He was an
undertaker as well as a sailor.) I remember how I prepared for this enterprise.
    I
stripped naked and covered my body with bear's grease. I accompanied the
whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea, and several times I fell
into it. I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst and want of sleep and did
it all in the comfort of my hotel room because I just couldn't keep up with the
sailors.
    I
hired myself as a mate on a Greenland whaler and acquitted myself to the
admiration of the crew, except that during the whole voyage I was violently
seasick. I must own to feeling a little proud when the captain offered me a
boat to row back home.
     
    I'm now a fisherman
    I strip naked and cover myself in
bear's grease
    I dive over the side, I nearly
bloody freeze
    I catch fish with my teeth
    Alas, I foundered on a reef
     
    Dear
Margaret, I now deserve to accomplish some great purpose — become Admiral,
Field Marshal or manager of Boots. My life has been passed in ease and luxury,
and in being seasick. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the
affirmative.
    This
is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly quickly over
the snow in their sledges. Some have difficulty stopping the horses which seem
to go on and on and they are never seen again. The cold is not excessive if you
are wrapped up in furs with an electric heater attached. It would need to be
full on. The difficulty is carrying the heavy batteries under your arm. This is
a dress which I have already adopted, but carrying the batteries has given me a
hernia — this too is electrically heated. There is a great difference between
walking the deck and remaining seated, motionless for hours. The latter people
freeze to death and have to be thrown overboard. I have no ambition to be
thrown overboard so I walk continuously, backwards and forwards, holding my
heated hernia in place.
    I
shall depart from this town in a fortnight or three weeks; my intention is to
hire a ship, which can be easily done by slipping the hawsers off when the
owner is not