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Published: August 28th 2006
Oh, I love this city…something very Melbourne about it altho’ they don’t have the same competitive issues, playing the heart-and-soul to LA’s superficial glitz that Melbourne does with Sydney!
OK I have had some requests for pix of San francisco...the words have dried up...maybe I need another bike?...but it's short....and reflects some of my fond thoughts of this fair city....it's nearly midnight and the occasional screams still break thru' into my little room...
Lots of archaeo-tectural building facades, Victorian era carved-faced edifices still hanging in, and glorious, amongst the high risers of concrete and glass….and a constant stark contrast between the crowded derro filled areas just near my hotel and only a block or two away, the ritzy galleries, restaurants, high-end boutiques, name brand stores, parks and museums…the heart of the tourist area it seems….I wonder what will happen if there’s some big event here…will they trans-ship all the homeless beggar class cripples, misfits, drugged out deros off to some distant ‘burb?…..
I’m only a dropkick from the end of the cable car, a tourista flashback to the last century, totally cool, scary and sufficiently oldy worldy to have every passenger seriously considering their fate as it crests the
cityscape3
San Franciscorise, the spare driver runs to the back and hauls back on a huge mechanical lever to assist the brakes as it hurtles off down what appears to be a vertical descent…the crew all participate in the production, yelling stern warnings, clanging the bell to warn motorists of our unstoppable status, for such an over-governed state such as California, I can’t believe they still allow this to run, let alone with people legally hanging off the sides…it’s a madhouse….
Often times the city is half shrouded in misty fog, a product of the freezing Atlantic currents, the tops of the taller buildings at night glow ghostly thru’ the mist, very spooky stuff…at street level, as I get back to the hotel, groups of local homeless huddle in doorways, sleeping on the sidewalks, secretly making deals, sharing bottles and joints, the smell of dope and piss always strong in the air….always asking for change or smokes but many of them flashing big wads of notes…welfare checks or deal money?…from my room on the fourth floor I hear, all night the yells and ranting of the crazies, screams and cries of the damaged, plaintive wailings of the dispossessed…..
One of my favourite
walks is down to the Museum of Modern Art, I pass thru’ the Buena Yerga Gardens, a tranquil grassy acre with bandstand, trees to lie under and an infinity pool that drops off to an unnatural waterfall over the Martin Luther King Jr memorial…all very powerful, similar to that vibe you feel in cathedrals and temples, all those places where people of conviction go to practise their faith….very moving experience…..ahhh, there I go again, if it’s not politics it’s esoterics that turns off half my fickle blogees…hey…lo siento!….tranquillo….!
And just to test the steepness of the hills here in the city, and my lungs, I walked up to the top of Powell to look down over Fisherman’s Wharf…and yes…puff, pant, it is really fcuking steep!…and coming down was worse, trying to avoid breaking into a breakneck stumbling scramble, knees jarring, hot and sweaty, just made it to one of the few sidewalk bars where I can drink a cleansing ale or three and smoke..oops…and also, by twisting my chair around watch the golf, the Pommie soccer and peripherally keep an eye on the passing mannequin parade…ahh, like Melbourne in the spring…delectable!
And today my good mate George, with whom I
my street
San Francisco rode to Prudhoe Bay in the north of Alaska, came down from Sacremento with his girlfriend Rebecca for breakfast....really good to catch up with them and reminisce about our travels. After Alaska he rode off East, thru' New York, where Rebecca jumped on the back, then down the east coast, across to San Diego, down to Baja and back to Sacrmento....quite a long haul!!.....I look forward to seeing them in Oz some day...soon?....
OK a Monday arvo spell from the workaday grind....at least you get lots of pix this time.....and it looks like maybe a party on the 1st Oct....see you then....
Chau, besos.....
omg....I just never know when to stop....do I?
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