San Francisco

A couple of days before New Years we packed up warm clothes, tissues and a lot of cold and flu drugs and drove to Oakland. In Jack London Square there is a hotel with the dubious distinction of offering the noisiest bed in the world - mine. With working ports in every direction the heavy marine traffic communicates throughout the night with an astonishing array of honks, whistles, hoots, toots, ding-a-lings and sustained bongs. Several times I was awoken from peaceful coughing to a version of the following conversation between two vessels:

Big ship: HOOOOONNNNKKK!
(long pause)
HOOOOONNNNKKK!
(pause)
HONK! HONK! HONK!

Smaller vessel: Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling!

I gradually learned to recognise this as a routine exchange of niceties approximately equivalent to “Coming through” and “Oh shit”. However, during the early part of the night I was repeatedly startled awake with the sudden conviction that a container ship was about to reverse over my pillow.

The unofficial guide for our exploration of San Francisco the following day was a Thai taxi driver named Chot who gave us a charming driving tour of the important landmarks of San Francisco. These notably include an island ex-prison famous for birdmen and movies:


A big red bridge famous for getting variously blown up or (nearly) jumped off in Hollywood movies.


Trams, including “novelty trams” from around the world like this one from Melbourne.


Big hills that make for awesome car chases.


And indigenous musicians – seriously, born and bred in San Francisco.


San Francisco is such a delight for tourists that even on duty cops can’t resist getting a snapshot of the sights.


Parts of the city are just gorgeous and even at this time of year the weather was reasonably temperate. Check out the sun-dappled lake on this clear winter day.


San Francisco has a distinctive architectural style, but there are a few surprises.


We also saw sea lions, street performers, galleries and a whole bunch of other fun stuff that I either can’t be bothered blogging, couldn’t be bothered photographing, or photographed so badly that I’m pretending it never happened.

All in all, I’m sold and have decided that I want to live in San Francisco. I’ve even found my future home. I’ll be moving in just as soon as I have enough money to buy it, or someone volunteers to buy for me. Any potential purchasers of this home should contact me as soon as possible, day or night, to discuss the arrangements.