Went round the corner for breakfast as the hotel restaurant is pricey. Initially they brought me the wrong meal, but this was soon corrected and it was delicious. I then went to Union Square and caught the "drop on / off" open-top bus, which takes you on a two-hour trip round the city. We went through the Tenderloin district, so named because the police had to be given extra money to patrol it, and they would spend this on better-quality meat ! I stayed on until we reached the Natural History museum in Golden Gate Park.
I went into the museum. There were some extraordinary fish tanks with creatures of all different shapes and colours. I was reminded of Ringo's "Octopuses' Garden" off Abbey Road. There was some very well-presented material on evolution - all totally fallacious of course as everyone knows that God created all the species simultaneously 4000 years ago, but well-presented nevertheless. That reminds me - yesterday at Fisherman's Wharf there were some Christians selling Bible Study pamphlets. Now I am fascinated by The Bible and know it pretty well, so I got talking to them about the book of Revelation (one of my faves). We had a good old chat about the pre-millenium Rapture. As I went off I passed the usual down-and-outs that you see round here - and it bothered me that I didn't stop and try to help them. These deadbeats would once have been innocent young boys playing with their mates and looking forward to what life has to offer. It doesn't take much for someone to slip into homelessness over here, and England is pretty much just as bad. I also reflected (with sadness, guilt, and anger) that my own children are now the products of a broken home. One of my aims when I get back is to find better ways of helping the disadvantaged in our society.
Back to today - after leaving the museum I had lunch and read for a bit, before making my way to Haight Ashbury and Amoeba records. There I bought 2 Galaxie 500 CDs, plus Robyn Hitchcock's Respect, Randy Newman's Trouble In Paradise, and a Quicksilver Messenger Service live 1968 double CD. I popped into Land Of The Sun, where I get my San Fran t-shirts, but nothing caught my fancy. I then bought a Patterson Hood solo album in Rasputin - the album is all about his divorce, so I should have a good time with that one !
Having completed my purchases I walked all the way back to the hotel, which took 1.5 hours. This gave me a chance to see streets I haven't visited before - I really do know my way around here pretty well now. The architecture here never fails to yield new pleasures.
Tomorrow is my last full day. It is great to be in 'Frisco but I doubt whether I will return unless it is with a partner. One slightly unfortunate aspect of it is that I'm not in the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf - when you're there breakfast is thrown in as part of the deal and you meet people. This hotel is more of a business facility and I haven't really got talking to anyone. One the plus side, the room is very high-tech and has a fridge. In general I am feeling homesick for England now, which didn't happen on previous trips. I take this as a sign of progress in my recovery from the last two terrible years - when I was over here before it was such an escape from things at home, but now my own life is starting to come together a bit.
I'm going to have a great last day tomorrow - the "As" are playing tomorrow lunchtime and I'm going along. It's due to be raining here, so going to watch the baseball will round things off perfectly.
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