One might assume from my lack of posts that I have not been walking but that assumption would be erroneous. I am walking like crazy to get here and there because I’m a fool for not taking the bus. As in "Fool For Love." Fool for Not Bussing. (That can be spelled with one S or two, incidentally. I choose two.)
I took the bus yesterday and a man sat in front of me and talked his way across town. Not to me – exactly – although now and again he did direct his stream of consciousness chatter my way and, whenever a gust of air came through the open windows, some very, very strong and very, very stale eau de beer would shoot my way. I’m not saying it came from him, but it might have. This does not deter me from riding the bus, or does it? There is the inevitable dash of inner eye roll (I think it’s inner) and a smidgen of compassion and a bucket of patience and those fifteen imperfect minutes are over before you know it. Still, it’s possible that at some point I might decide to get a car again. I gave my last car away almost seven years ago. I lived in Portland, which is an excellent biking and not a bad walking town. And if ever there was a town that was a good place to not have a car, San Francisco is one. Yet... now and then... and not purely for aromatical reasons... because sometimes I’d just like to hop in the car and drive an hour north to see my niece. Or yes, fine, okay – my mommy.
But I digress.
Walking hither and yon to get around. I traversed half the city one day this week: errands in the Mission, tea in the Lower Haight, dinner with a friend in the Inner Richmond. I didn’t walk all of that, but I did walk a lot of it. By the way? Tea. I realize that coffee is the It beverage and one must largely cater to the Its to make a living, but people, people, people. Tea lovers have needs too and so little is done for us. What is with the two bucks for a crappy little tea bag in a cup that goes cold faster than a –er, what's something really fast – ? Sure, there are some very fine places, whose proprietors know their tea and how to do it justice, but it’s not every day I want to spend $9 for the pleasure. So why is there so little available in the middle? The middle, to my mind, is this: a decent sized pot, enough loose leaf tea to more than color the water placed to order in a tea ball or bag that I can remove when it has steeped to my desired strength, served with a small cup that I refill as I go, so that the bulk of it stays hot. Charge me just two or three bucks for this (what does it really cost you, anyway?) and I just might get a scone or biscotti to go with it. Okay, yes, la di da, do I know how much you can get for a double shot cappuccino latte espresso Americano? Si, but listen up: tea drinkers have friends. Who drink coffee. And we meet up in cafes. Regularly. I’m just saying.
By the way, I probably made that drink up. I drink tea.
What was I saying? Yes, well, it probably wasn’t all that important. I did have fried catfish and mashed potatoes subbed for fries for dinner that night, I remember that much.
The Walk: 6.6 miles
The Mashed Potatoes: heck yes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment