Still in San Francisco...

Randomnesses.

* Spent most of the day yesterday visiting with a SF friend whom we first met *before we got married*, at the party where rdeck and I first met each other in person - this was now a decade ago, and all I could clearly remember about this woman was that she had dark hair - and that was the only thing that was actually likely to have -you know - CHANGED over the past decade. Well, yes, she was a little greyer - but it wasn't hard to recognise her at all. She and her husband live on Telegraph Hill - so we got to watch the sun set and turn Berkeley gold from her balcony, and we saw and heard the famous Telegraph Hill parrots - they weren't exactly photographically cooperative but hey we SAW them. So there. And then they helped us plot out the rest of the trip. We got a secret password to a nice restaurant in Fort Bragg where we are to go and eat, and tell the owner that our friends sent us. They also told us where to go and see redwoods which aren't obscured by tourists and where it's possible to have a quiet and personal encounter with the big trees. That's all for next week, though.

*This morning, checked out of the Hotel Majestic and took a cab with all our impedimenta out to Borderlands Books on Valencia, where we left said impedimenta in Alan's care and sailed off down the street to explore. I am writing this epistle on a tiny rickety table in perilous proximity to rdeck's orange and carrot juice (which was made right there in front of me and contains FOUR large carrots...) in a cafe called Javalencia. Which has WiFi. Civilised city. Hello, world - I am connected...

*Our cab driver told us that this was the hottest November that he can remember in 36 years which is how long he has lived here. "Whether that is a cause for concern," he said, "remains to be seen..."

*There's a night club across the street from Borderlands Books called "Amnesia". That is presumably where you go when you leave the other neighbourhood nightclub, called "Delirium"...

*The famous Ripley was not yet in residence but I was promised that I could meet him a little later. From his pictures, which I've seen online in several places, it is going to be an interesting experience for someone used to a fluffpuff like Boboko. Whom I will of course start missing fearfully as soon as I see another cat...

* This place is FULL of funky architecture. I've had to restrain myself severely from taking SCADS of photographs, just because something catches my eye. Because EVERYTHING is catching my eye,

* I didn't make it Berkeley this time. Again. I swear, next time I get here I have to basically plan to go there FIRST...

Off to finish my latte. God, I'm such a Yuppie.

Hope to see a few friends at the reading later.

And then it's bye bye City on the Bay, hello Northern California, HELLO Big Trees.

More later.

Got photos to take.

Making choices

It was drive out of SF tonight and get to Sebastopol (which by all accounts is less than 2 hours from here) and crash there, or crash near the airport tonight and drive out in the morning. In one sense, it was no choice at all when you grasp the fact that the drive out of SF involves crossing the Presidio park and then the Golden Gate. Why waste that on pitch dark when you can see it all in glorious technicolour in the morning?...

So here we are, ensconced in a hotel close to the airport (VERY close, the airplanes sound like they're taking off directly over us) and we shall make our way to the road out of the city tomorrow morning after a good night's sleep and a cup of coffee. We should get to Sebastopol in plenty of good time and we can tool around there for a bit before the reading - and then we'll find a place to sleep, and be on our merry redwood way on Monday morning. At least that's the current plan.

Following the end of the previous post - we left the WiFi place to walk to what sounded like something fairly close by, two blocks over and two down. But the street we had started on was level. The street two blocks over was a vicious hill. rdeck had a bit of a time getting down it, and didn't really have the opportunity to enjoy the view across the street which was a lovely sunny park into which the warm day had lured what looked like hundreds of babes in bikini tops... Anyway, we made it to our little restaurant, had a bite to eat, enjoyed the spectacle of a couple of gay guys swanning down the street dressed respectively in full bridal regalia (a good-looking layered confection of an off-the-shoulder white gown with long fitted sleeves which must have been hotter than hell to be stuck in out there in the hot sunlight...) and a full crinoline of a rainbow skirt over a skinny rainbow singlet, met a bunch of great dogs (San Francisco has some WONDERFUL dogs!) and barely made it back in time for the reading. Which went well, complete with Ripley the cat in the audience. Well, okay, he slept through most of it but he was in attendance, anyway... And in the aftermath, signed a bunch of books, and accepted an offer of a ride to the airport by brooksmoses which was greatly appreciated. Finding Hertz at the airport proved to be a slightly bigger puzzle but we did it and then swanned out in our white Camry to conquer California. I wanted to go somewhere, the car decided to take us somewhere else, suffice it to say we are in a nearby hotel with the Internets so it's all good. And it looks like the car knows what it was about, anyway, because the map shows that we can just drive on down the road and join the 280 a little ways down the line without having to backtrack any, which if correct will make me very happy tomorrow morning.

See you in Sebastopol.