today i visited the hiram m chittenden locks and jumped in i was very certainly not supposed to do that lake union is separated from the puget sound by a waterway in this waterway there is a locks system to negotiate a change in water levels i m not positive because i didn t read the placards but i imagine this is necessary because otherwise the canal would be a currented river that flowed out to sea and boats would be hard pressed to make it east back into the lake union and in turn lake washington i could be totally wrong though regardless the locks are one of the strangest of man made phenomena i have ever seen in action the boats are channeled into a sort of holding tank large metal doors shut behind them watertight then some bells begin to ring and quicker than you might imagine the boats float upwards towards you whenever i take a bath which these days is not often enough i enjoy sitting in the tub as it is filling up and even more when the water is draining out and some layer of my body is going down the pipes with it i jumped over the railing today because i wanted to feel what it was like to swim in water that was rising aside from being difficult in my jeans and hooded sweatshirt and shockingly cold the feeling was no different than swimming in a stable body of water the pay off though was when the bells stopped ringing and the door opened and i felt like i had been ushered through by some sentry to a new city like venice that floats on water