They speak english here - Shel and Ben in North America - July '06

You say goodbye and I say hello

1502 days ago — by Ben

I haven’t posted about San Francisco ‘cause I haven’t really known what to say… it really is defying all attempts at my cheesy generalisations (see all earlier posts for reference).

It’s the kind of place where you can find a wee stretch of fantastic cafes, bars, restaurants and shops and then you walk to the next block and you’re suddenly in (at least feel like you are in) mortal danger. Downtown is fine, the tourist areas are fine, but the sections where real San Franciscans go about their daily lives are made up of this strange kind of patchwork.

There’s a really visible and substantial homeless population on the streets, something that is in total contrast to New York. We can’t figure out if it’s because the weather is good or because of the city’s hippy past but it’s really noticeable.

Apart from that… I love it. You can see from the pic above (note that Shel may have snapped something in background that shouldn’t have been snapped) that we even went to the beach and I even had a body surf in the micro waves. It was cold. Really cold. Which makes the nudists on the beach all the more brave if you ask me.

There’s a long list of things I love about this city:

1. We saw Pedro the Lion (now David Bazan ) do a solo live show at the Bottom of the Hill ... so cool I nearly wet myself.
2. The bookshops here are some of the best we’ve ever seen.
3. Chinatown is amazing and beautiful and welcoming.
4. The victorian architecture is beautiful.
5. The air smells clean here.
6. North Beach is unreal and has street names like “Kenneth Rexroth Lane” and “Jack Kerouac Drive”.
7. The bars and pubs here are like old speakeasys.
8. There are so many literary journals and small presses it’s ridiculous.
9. The laid-back hippy mentality.
10. The cabbies are friendly.
11. The coffee here is not bad at all (although the soy milk is really sugary.
12. The buses and cable cars are easy to understand and navigate.
13. Oh yeah – we saw Pedro the Lion!

In addition to all those things (which we both love), there’s a level of energy, excitement and just acceptance of nerdy things here that I’ve never experienced. People chat about new web apps on the bus, investors hand over cheques at the next table in the cafes, people (even people not involved) just talk about nerdy stuff a lot!

It makes a nerdy person like myself feel at home and inspired and like anything is possible. Which is a great reason to love this city even if I am a little afraid of it at times. With good weather, surf, a fantastic music scene and a love for all things nerdy… it only seems to be missing a few things. My family and friends… and Les… we’ve really missed Les.

Cheesy enough for ya?

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