My jet-lagged, back window view

Oh, jet lag.

Wide awake at 3 AM after passing out at 8 PM. I’ll try and avoid cliches, and it may be an inauspicious return to the land of LJ, but I do love being up and awake while the rest of the city sleeps. I don’t think that even my housemates know how much I enjoy sitting in the dark looking out our big back window when I can’t sleep at night.

I’ll never get tired of watching the fog roll in. It was what I missed the most really about living in upstate New York for the few years that I did. Well, that and a nearby ocean, sourdough bread, and my beloved California accents.

When the fog comes in fast like it’s doing tonight it’s like a monster movie or art film time lapse photography, except it’s real life. I’ve been timing it tonight. Only about 30 seconds to go by the entire bay window. Very apocalyptic. Or something.

I’m kneeling backwards on my couch, looking into the back yards of 3-story subdivided Victorians* like the one I live in. The only lights on are institutional: The old folks home down the block, the US Mint just up the hill, the ‘50s red Safeway sign on Market and the straight lines of streetlights. The wind is blowing the trees hard. If you didn’t know summer in San Francisco, you’d swear it was a winter storm. The fog is pinkish and the small circles of sky that become visible as the fog moves are navy blue/gray. This is a city, there are no stars. But who needs ‘em with all this ?

Must try and go back to sleep . . . .



*Most likely they’re Edwardians, but that just doesn’t sound as good.

The good and the bad

(This list is undoubtedly incomplete)

Good things:

+ legally drinking in public, including on the trains!
+ being able to order/being offered tea by people who actually know how to make it. (no luke warm water and a bag delivered to the table)
+ neighborhood pubs
+ weird "American" t-shirts that are never quite right: "South Dakota High School Cows", "New York City National Champion 1979" etc. Quite trendy.
+ Flamingo 50 @ the Arts Café
+When I said I went to the "Stolen Art Museum" not a single person didn’t understand I meant the British Museum’s Greek and Egyptian collections. (The Americas section was closed. I hear there are more Native American artifacts there than anywhere else in the world.)
+ Cheese tour at Neal’s Yard Dairy
+ Not working
+ My Friends who are living there. Including an acquaintance African-American guy who was truly annoying the Brits by saying he lived in "Pimplico". They’d correct him, saying properly, "No, it’s Pimlico" and he’d respond, "Now that I’m there, it’s Pimplico".
+ East End accents
+ People saying "Blimey" with absolutely no irony.
+ Trying to teach Londoners to say "Whatevs".
+ The TV show "YFOM"*


Bad things:

- Police/ambulance sirens now sound just like the USA. All those great punks songs ("White Riot", "Babylon’s Burning" etc.) just wouldn’t have sounded the same.
- "Ragtime", the musical.
- Pubs close too early.
- Tube shuts down too early.
- Bank holiday Monday in Brighton. At least I got to see a friend who would have been working otherwise, but you’ve never seen so many bad tattoos on pasty skin.
- English fashion. I thought London would be a better dressed city.
- My friend Betty’s insane dog, Zane, aka Bastard. Serious foot fetish. Into foot licking, which isn’t so bad, but also into foot biting if you try and get away. Will hump your leg at any opportunity. English bull terrier: all muscle and teeth.
- Too short a trip


*This deserves its own post so I’ll explain it, don’t worry.