'Frisco
2 posts in as many days ! This be because there'll be a temporary radio silence from me. Cf. Final paragraph...
In the meantime - a review of my flash holiday in San Francisco.
Day 1:
I'll be alone in saying the following, but I've been honest with you so far (Largely. Half. OK fine, a little honest. I've been a little honest.) San Francisco is the first place I've visited in the states that I wouldn't want to live in. I suppose this is actually a blessing given you have to sell 60% of your bodily organs to get a 5m squared apartment here. But all the same I was hoping I'd feel the same way about SF as every other human bean. Have I already spent all my love throughout the other states ?? Was it not what I expected ? I've taken myself aside to have a good hard think about why it might be that I'm being so obstinate about an evidently, and according to all popular opinion, delightful city. Here's what I can conclude:
The fog.
Is there a MORE oppressive thing in the whole of existence ? Anything that makes you feel SO helpless ? I feel like I've finally reached total and complete understanding of what it would be like to be in the presence of Death Eaters - 9am in San Francisco. That's exactly what it's like. But the fog doesn't just hang around for breakfast LIKE I WAS PROMISED. It's there til lunch or longer if you're not blessed with a windy day. I am too climatically sensitive for this. Some people are so philosophical about it: "but you know it'll pass sooner or later" (uhh, I could say the same about the Death Eaters. Didn't help Harry, did it ??) or even "but it doesn't matter next to the beauty of SF". This is true - San Francisco is a very beautiful place. In parts. Until you look up. And can't see ANYTHING.
In an attempt to distract myself from the skies, I hired a bike and cycled across the Golden Gate. It was a fun and definitely worthwhile cycle. But just when, in all of time and space, are the people on the front of all these leaflets and brochures taking these photos where that iconic rusty red pops against a speckless and shockingly blue sky ?? My photos of GGB were 100% nonexistent. Not because I didn't take them. I did. By the hopeful hundredfold. But because the bridge was literally nonexistent, hidden behind the duvet of grey. I'll just have to get on Google images and photoshop myself into their stock pictures. This must be how San Franners have been living for millenia: photoshop.
Day 2:
You should never leave a place with less than 2 days in your pocket, a lesson I continue to learn. My second day of my short San Franciscan stay, I turned left instead of right and found myself in the city I was hoping I'd find. Reminded once more that downtown is often the most void of a city's character, I found myself in the much more 'me' Castro and Mission neighbourhoods. This is Harvey Milk turf and a historically loaded area. Arriving on the back of Pride week was particularly great as I got the added decoration and regalia of what are already beautiful, colourful streets. The vibe was less harried, the people more mellow, and let's give the weather its dues - there was sun. Praise. The. Lord. I think if nothing else we've learnt that light is everything and I should never move to the Orkney Isles. A further sparkle of these barrios was that in all the places I went - cafés, bookshops, parks - Spanish was the primary language being spoken. It was a little boost to remind me that I've got an exciting future beyond this magical trip.
Tomorrow I set off into the extreme wilderness of Northern Cali - I'll be in the middle of a forest in the middle of anther forest on the edge of the sea: an area called The Lost Coast as the terrain became so difficult to build roads on that hard core infrastructure was abandoned and everyone travels by horse and cart. Obviously not quite. But it's rural to the max. Hopefully my living in outback Wiltshire for many years will have been the training I need to pull through. I've stocked up on peanut butter and SOS flares in preparation. However, legend has it that there is no Internet in my home for 2 weeks, so granted those ugly rumours are true, I'll be off grid for a while. Hopefully, if I'm not converted by some woodland cult, I'll actually exit the woods a New Woman. Be, like, totally zen and whole and content with the world... Jury's out.
In the meantime - a review of my flash holiday in San Francisco.
Day 1:
I'll be alone in saying the following, but I've been honest with you so far (Largely. Half. OK fine, a little honest. I've been a little honest.) San Francisco is the first place I've visited in the states that I wouldn't want to live in. I suppose this is actually a blessing given you have to sell 60% of your bodily organs to get a 5m squared apartment here. But all the same I was hoping I'd feel the same way about SF as every other human bean. Have I already spent all my love throughout the other states ?? Was it not what I expected ? I've taken myself aside to have a good hard think about why it might be that I'm being so obstinate about an evidently, and according to all popular opinion, delightful city. Here's what I can conclude:
The fog.
Is there a MORE oppressive thing in the whole of existence ? Anything that makes you feel SO helpless ? I feel like I've finally reached total and complete understanding of what it would be like to be in the presence of Death Eaters - 9am in San Francisco. That's exactly what it's like. But the fog doesn't just hang around for breakfast LIKE I WAS PROMISED. It's there til lunch or longer if you're not blessed with a windy day. I am too climatically sensitive for this. Some people are so philosophical about it: "but you know it'll pass sooner or later" (uhh, I could say the same about the Death Eaters. Didn't help Harry, did it ??) or even "but it doesn't matter next to the beauty of SF". This is true - San Francisco is a very beautiful place. In parts. Until you look up. And can't see ANYTHING.
In an attempt to distract myself from the skies, I hired a bike and cycled across the Golden Gate. It was a fun and definitely worthwhile cycle. But just when, in all of time and space, are the people on the front of all these leaflets and brochures taking these photos where that iconic rusty red pops against a speckless and shockingly blue sky ?? My photos of GGB were 100% nonexistent. Not because I didn't take them. I did. By the hopeful hundredfold. But because the bridge was literally nonexistent, hidden behind the duvet of grey. I'll just have to get on Google images and photoshop myself into their stock pictures. This must be how San Franners have been living for millenia: photoshop.
Day 2:
You should never leave a place with less than 2 days in your pocket, a lesson I continue to learn. My second day of my short San Franciscan stay, I turned left instead of right and found myself in the city I was hoping I'd find. Reminded once more that downtown is often the most void of a city's character, I found myself in the much more 'me' Castro and Mission neighbourhoods. This is Harvey Milk turf and a historically loaded area. Arriving on the back of Pride week was particularly great as I got the added decoration and regalia of what are already beautiful, colourful streets. The vibe was less harried, the people more mellow, and let's give the weather its dues - there was sun. Praise. The. Lord. I think if nothing else we've learnt that light is everything and I should never move to the Orkney Isles. A further sparkle of these barrios was that in all the places I went - cafés, bookshops, parks - Spanish was the primary language being spoken. It was a little boost to remind me that I've got an exciting future beyond this magical trip.
Tomorrow I set off into the extreme wilderness of Northern Cali - I'll be in the middle of a forest in the middle of anther forest on the edge of the sea: an area called The Lost Coast as the terrain became so difficult to build roads on that hard core infrastructure was abandoned and everyone travels by horse and cart. Obviously not quite. But it's rural to the max. Hopefully my living in outback Wiltshire for many years will have been the training I need to pull through. I've stocked up on peanut butter and SOS flares in preparation. However, legend has it that there is no Internet in my home for 2 weeks, so granted those ugly rumours are true, I'll be off grid for a while. Hopefully, if I'm not converted by some woodland cult, I'll actually exit the woods a New Woman. Be, like, totally zen and whole and content with the world... Jury's out.
Been loving reading your posts. We went to San Francisco and loved it. All those trams and trolley buses and music everywhere! But it was cold (in August)and we never saw the bridge either, even right underneath it on a boat and Paul turned round halfway across with some Harley riders as he was scared not being able to see the road! Stay safe on you journey north. X
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