From: "Philip Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>

Date: Tue May 07, 2002 04:51:45 AM Etc/GMT

Subject: The Streets of San Francisco

Hi from SF!

Having arrived here and checked in to the hostel Saturday was largely a day of getting the essentials done. The Hostel is on the hill occupied by Fort Mason, am ex-army barracks, and is a basic but good place. It does not have any individual rooms, but dorms only from 4 to 12+ beds. I ended up in a 4 bed room. However the place has 3 great advantages: Location, Location & Location! It is on a hill, surrounded by parkland to the south and overlooking the bay to the north! So from the road just behind it you can see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz!

In the hostel on Saturday was a school group for some weekend activity. These were African American children (with perhaps one exception) about 13 years old. They were in one or two of the big dorms but in mine was one of the staff and one of the boys. The staff member was ex-army from the Korean war so he felt at home in the barracks!! Why just one young lad was in with him and me I don't know, but as a teacher I have some ideas as to why!! Anyway, I spoke to this lad (Bobby) a few times and so my English accent became a bit of a novelty! I put on my old exaggerated English accent saying: "I say old bean that really is jolly good". This amused him so he went and got his mates so they could hear it. This happened more than once so I became a bit of a tourist attraction!

They moved out early on Sunday Morning. I went down to the pier to find out about trips to Alcatraz. None today but plenty tomorrow, so I booked a trip for Monday morning. From there I walked up to the Coit Tower, one of SF's most famous landmarks. From the top you get good view of much of the city and the bay. Coit Tower is on Telegraph Hill at one end of Lombard Street. A few blocks along Lombard is the famous zig-zag section built because it was too steep to do in a straight line. Then from there back down the steep roads of Russian Hill to the Fisherman's Wharf area on the North shore.

Stopped for Lunch in a bar with 84 beers, including Bass, Newcastle Brown, Tetleys and Boddingtons!! So Lunch was a steak sandwich with one each of the first two! Then to one of the main things I had come here to do: ride a cable car. I joined the car at the start of the line and it worked its way up the hills. For a while it was travelling along Columbus so you got a good view of the TransAmerica pyramid stright ahead.

It then turned off. A few blocks later it made a scheduled halt at a stop. The stops are just past the road junctions, I think for technical reasons to do with how the car operates. We stopped to let someone off. As we went to start again it rolled back at the most a couple of feet (0.6m) and there was a bump! A car had stopped right behind and we had rolled back into it! My second rear end in 8 days!!! So we had to go through the insurance rigmarole. The car was a hire car driven by a couple who looked Korean. He was a very intense person! Our "Gripman" (the guy who controls the cable car) was not totally unresemblant of Riddick Bowe, former World Heavyweight Champion! So 'Riddick' had to get on the radio to the control to get someone out to deal with this. Eventually said person arrives. When comparing notes, while looking at the driver's license 'Riddick' remarks: "This is you when you were 13 years old!". All the cable car passengers were sympathetic with our man as they, and especially the locals, knew that it was silly to follow a cable car that close! Damage to the car: a slightly squashed license plate, damage to the cable car: None at all!

However, while all this was going on we were still half way across the road junction. By then the next cable car has caught us up. So by now there was not much room for the crossing traffic to get through. Then we heard all sorts of shouting. A cab had crossed behind us and was trying to head up the hill. Nose to nose, almost touching, was another car facing the wrong way!! The cabbie was yelling "Get out of my bloody way!" and in the end she had to get out and shout it even closer! In all cites all around the world taxi drivers are NEVER wrong!! In this case she was most definitely in the right! Eventually the said driver backed out and pulled out into the constricted flow caused by the two cable cars! This was causing all of us on my car great amusement! What's more I got most of it on video!! Eventually we got going. 'Riddick' had put the brake on so hard that the conductor couldn't undo it! So 'Riddick' had to release it again, to a great cheer from all the passengers!

After that the rest of the journey was pretty routine. The end of the line is at the big San Francisco shopping mall on Market street, so a quick look around in there. They have curved escalators! However the shops were a bit up-market, so I restricted myself to a Haagen-Daas ice cream! On the journey back down I took the other route down to the North Shore. Apart from a big fire truck having to pass us to turn round and come back all was uneventful. The gripman this time however was just as humorous about the traffic getting in the way. These guys definitely have a distinctive sense of humour. After all they really are the kings of the road here, even the fire truck had to go round the cable car!

In the evening I went for a walk from the Hostel along the shore to the bridge. However it was a bit further than it looked: nearly 3 miles! By then it was getting cold in a strong wind. However it was worth it as the sun set beneath the bridge!

That is all for now, I am running out of money again. Also I have an early start for the train to LA.

Share & Enjoy

Phil