(01:48 Local time)
Time for a big catch up:
The flight out seemed very long - a sensation only heightened by the hour and twenty minutes we sat on board before take-off due to a problem with one of the doors (Thank you, 'The World's Favourite'....
Anyway, I ate crap food, drank cheap alcohol, and watched Enigma, America's Sweethearts and Disney's Alantis, so I was thoroughly brain-deadened by the time we arrived in San Francisco.
Happily, heading straight out for a wander up Market Street to the bay for beer and seafood brightened the prospect considerably, and the views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges are always special.
Day two dawned rather grey and miserable, and shortly after, the heavens opened, and most of the rest of the day was spent ducking from one doorway to another avoiding the rain. So we did what anyone confronted with this miserable scene would do, and went *shopping*. By the time we'd dropped off bags of stuff back at the hotel the sun was vaguely showing, and a trip to The Castro was on the cards. The original plan was to have a quick wander round, get our bearings, and then head back to get ready for a night out. And yet....we got settled in, started trying a few bars, and before you know it, it was midnight, and we were just getting back to the hotel....
Sunday, a day of glorious sunshine and warm California breezes, I was up and about relatively early, as we'd booked a rental car for a couple of days - I walked up to the car rental place, but found myself there before they opened, so I had to retire to the Starbucks on the corner, where too very earnest young men discussing the bible gave me a chance to use in practice a line that I owe 100% to Buffy:
One of them said to me: "Have you made a space in your life for God?"
I said, "You know, I meant to, but then I just got really busy...."
Anyway, car collected, we took a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, feted in word, song, and porn video, past Half Moon Bay and down to Sainta Cruz, then on to Monterey, where we discovered the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is absolutely the best aquarium I've ever seen. As well as their ongoing Sea Otter conservation project, and the active tidal pool that you can literally see changing through the course of the day, they have outstanding educational areas for kids, an astonishing permanent exhibition of sea horses (ever since I worked on a TV programme piece on a programme about them I've been a big supporter of Project Seahorse), they also have one exhibition I could have stood and watched all day: a circular tank of anchovies, which school together in the most astonishing sychronisation, and being so amazingly silver, they're utterly hypnotising.
With good food and a cool drive back through the mountains, what more could you want from a day?
Today, or yesterday, really, was another beautiful day, and we drove north, across the Golden Gate, and into Marin county to Muir Woods, a redwood preservation area, and walked through these amazing thousand-year-old groves and the Redwood Creek, which runs through the middle of the woods. I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed. Even with a little fog on the hills making it chillier among the redwoods than it was on the road, it was one of the most remarkable and calming experiences I've ever had. When the delegates met in San Francisco in 1945 to start the process that led to the creation of the United Nations, they were taken to Muir Woods, to mark the passing of FDR and to contemplate the way a love of nature should bring all humanity together.
This evening, we've had a quiet evening, as we want to be up in time to pack in the morning - we're moving hotels. This one if okay, though not in the ideal location, but we've found another in North Beach which seems ideal. It's very, very Tales of the City, and we're going to stay in the room on the roof (just like the apartment on the roof of Mrs Madrigal's), and we're contemplating just spending afternoons at a time sitting up there, quietly reading or just regarding the view.
Something of note so far:
Today, we were in the town of Point Reyes - tiny place, middle of nowhere - when we saw a wall display headed 'Wargasm'. I was amazed that some of the strongest questions I've yet heard about the 'war in terrorism' were just freely on display for anyone and everyone to read and comment on. At leat 80% of the comments were conspicoulsly aggressive towards the US, its policy, and certain individuals, and yet it was still there.
I was amazed that they felt able to post this stuff up in public, often signed, and available to deface and destroy at will, yet it remained more or less exactly as intended. Maybe at least in Point Reyes, the concept of free speech is really taken seriously.
Tired now - more soon.
Right - I'm packed, except for a few shirts I don't want to crease too much that I'll put in at the last minute.
I'm off on my holiday, and I'm intending to enjoy it. I'll be posting some, as previously mentioned, but I'm not sure how much. Try not to miss me too much.
Happy Trails.
True story:
There's a new Captain Britain trade paperback collection out. (I've just put up a review of it in Opinion.) I was telling someone about it the other day, and they asked if I could try and get hold of a copy for them (as they don't have a comic shop near them). So - I do some checking:
Me on the 'phone to Forbidden Planet:
"Hi, I was just checking whether you have any of the new Captain Britain trade paperback in stock."
"Just a second, I'll check." (Pause) "Yeah, we have it in stock. But we've sold out."
Right, after tomorrow I don't know how much I'll be posting for the next week, as I'll be somewhere near the Pacific Ocean. Rest assured, I *will* be posting, but I'm not sure what or when.
So, as I've been meaning to do this for a while - I've completely revamped the Links section of the site to break them up into categories, with a pick-and-mix front page of miscellaneous stuff to whet your appetite.
I've also updated the People page to add in more people who link to me, other blogs I read, and the previously-mentioned Lara's site.
And, as you've all been *so* good - here's a lovely new colour scheme.
Do I spoil you, or what?
I've been doing some research on ethical trading recently (you know, the way I do), and I came across this man and his views (from 1998). Now, I certainly don't feel qualified to enter into discourse with the (possibly former) James S Coleman Professor of International Development Studies, University of California, LA, but a few things struck me as I read it:
1) I don't like moral absolutism - it can be extremely dangerous, to say the least, but still a little voice was piping up in the back of my head "But some things are just inherently wrong." I should be worried about that, but I'm also somewhat reassured by it.
2) He starts out by saying that ethical trading 'threatens the future prosperity of developing countries', but actually never expands on what exactly this threat is, prefering to head off an a spirited defence of child labour, as if it's the only issue on which ethical trading standards are applied.
3) He condemns the assumption of the existence of basic human rights, yet casually uses expressions like "the partial ownership rights that parents have in their children" as part of his argument, without justifying why they should exist - inconsistent, to say the least. And Professor or no, I will vehemently argue with anyone who claims *any* 'right of ownership' of one human being by another, including children.
I find the whole thing very disturbing. Am I the only one?
Quick news round-up:
I can't find it online, but there was a story on the London news this morning about Matrons being re-introduced today at Whipps Cross hospital. Hattie Jacques would be so proud. (Actually, here is an item from last year announcing that they were being brought back.)
Amazon in 'making money' shock!
Goodbye, Peggy Lee.
And finally, "The race was on last night to save the Queenís Golden Jubilee from being a flop." says The Sun. My word - calamity looms....
Rufus and I were on a train earlier, and the Guard suddenly announced that we would be delayed at the next station because he had to get the police on board. He expleined that there was someone in a toilet not responding to his knocking, and he was worried that something might have happened to them. So the police would be coming on to break down the toilet door.
This, I think, is a radical, and probably highly effective, tack to try on fare-dodgers (which I rather suspect the person in the toilet was....)
Three days to San Francisco! Weh-hey! I'm really looking forward to it, I must say. It's been a long time since I was there, and it's such a great place. Chris is particularly excited, as he's never seen the Pacific before, so maybe while he's looking at it, I should take a moment to Damn It.
(If you don't get that reference, then you clearly haven't discovered one of the best Blogs around - go - check it out - Lane and Stu are together in Raleigh, but only for another week.)