Jan 07 2002
Foggy day
Today’s soundtrack was brought to me by the Ramones. Nothing like Joey and the boys to get you moving on a dark and foggy Monday morning. Side note: why is Joey Ramone gone, while Barry Manilow and Yanni live on, inflicting their mediocrity on the general populace?
San Francisco is famous for its fog, but today is extreme. I could only see about half a city block in front of me — I must be a city girl at heart, because I think in terms of blocks, whereas my country-livin’ brother thinks in terms of miles — so people would suddenly appear out of the mist like ghosts. My vision with my glasses on was much like it is without my glasses on, which I described when I was a child as “blurzy”. The fog reached the ground and swathed the tops of buildings and hills in fog so they were completely invisible. Cars appeared as mysterious glowing lights before finally breaking through the mist. All in all, a cinema noir kind of day.
Although both fog and rain hide the sun with an SPF factor of about a thousand, I don’t find fog the mood depressant that I do rain. When I lived in places that had snow, I didn’t find snow depressing, either. I found it magical and beautiful, at least until it degenerated into slush and blackened snowbanks in February, by which time it was pretty much lacking in all appeal. One of the great things about living here is that you can jump in the car and visit the snow after just a couple of hours’ drive, but you don’t have to live with it.
But if you live in the city, you do have to live with the fog. I think it makes everything look prettier, like a soft focus on an aging actress. And I love the deep voice of the fog horns. It’s the sound of home.
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