San Francisco, CA

-- like all other cities of note, has a very distinctive smell – pretzel salt and overnight grease, smut and smog, Vietnamese cooking and vagabond stink. Less menacing that Manhattan, San Francisco neither embraces nor harasses you; it is, as far as cities go, demure, confidently metropolitan. No need for flash or glamour, just quiet presence, gentle ushering. I enjoy making trips there – but only on my own, sans pressure and the urgent demands to go tearing from shop to shop, participants in a race to see as much as possible in the confines of the day. Rushing around is an insult to SF – but so is the casual stroll (more appropriate, perhaps, for pseudo-cities like Nowheresville, Ohio). Ones approach to SF must be moderate – midway between purposeful and apathetic, savoring its culture while respecting its urban-ness.

This jaunt was a little different from previous ones. Taboo purchases suddenly became justified by the fact that I’m leaving the U.S. for a while, (which of course makes every Banana Republic in the country strike up the “Buy Something From Me” cantata in sixteen-part harmony). Unfettered from thrift, the plundering began. (To save the parents from heartache, I won’t go into the particulars of all that I bought, although I will say that Circuit City had Return of The King on offer - so please, could members of my family not go and buy a $2 bootlegged copy from Johor Bahru like you did last time? Thank you.) Went up Market, down Powell, and then on to side streets with x-rated video stores standing hip to hip with Radio Shack and Urban Outfitters. Lunch was quiche and salad with a tasty vinaigrette, and there was reading (Mr Ives’ Christmas - Oscar Hijuelos) over cappuccino – a whole book from cover to cover! – which I may book blog about if I find the time.

That’s it for new U.S. cities – and that’s also almost it for new entries (for a bit). We’ll be leaving Shaun’s apartment on Friday and staying at his aunt’s for a couple of days before Paris and wherever else the winds take us. I’ll post short bits and pieces when I get the chance over the next couple of days, and then…well, I’ll have my laptop but who knows when and where we’ll find Internet access, so don’t nobody be holding their breath or nothing. Take it easy everyone.