Aug 07 2002
Summer in the City
Here in the land of eternal spring, where any variance of the “normal” 40 degree temperature span (rarely lower than 40° or higher than 80°) sends its spoiled denizens into a tizzy, it’s harder to tell that it’s summer than it is in places with actual seasons. But I have noticed these tell-tale signs of summer in the city:
Just forget about taking the cable car. No matter which one you want, it will be packed to the gills at the end of the line, making getting on an impossibility. At times like this, I toy with the idea of having one or two an hour that are exclusively for San Francisco residents. We would still have to pay the $2 fare, but only those with ID showing they spend an arm and a leg on taxes, rent, and/or mortgages for the privilege of living here could get on. I might even be really, really magnanimous and open this up to all Bay Area residents, not just those who reside in the Magic Kingdom of the City & County. Yes, this is the real magic kingdom, not that stupid Disney crap. (Disney Land/World is my idea of hell on earth, and don’t even get me started on the appalling pastiche of the Disney Winnie the Pooh drawings. It’s E.H. Shepard or nothing, as far as I’m concerned.)
It’s beautifully, romantically foggy in the morning. You feel like you’re the heroine of a noir film, or a Raymond Chandler novel. You look fabulous, because the fog acts as soft-focus on the lens of life. And once you get to be as vintage as I am, you need all the help you can get. At night, you can lie in bed and listen to the deep voice of the fog horns. It’s one of the sounds that I miss the most when I’m away from home.
Streets in tourist-attracting locations are full of people standing around and looking, or walking slowly and looking, or looking in puzzlement at maps (the international sign for “tourist”), or in horror at the hills, so it’s hard to walk as quickly as I would like to. At this time of year, I am stopped at least once a day by people asking for directions, and I’m always happy to help and hope they are enjoying visiting here as much as I love living here. Many are from other countries, and I wonder if they find our accents charming as I find theirs. Somehow, I doubt it.
One Response to “Summer in the City”
Your writing keeps putting me right there with you. No matter how much I hated the Saint John Fog.