My friend Julie will be moving back to Washington in about a month, and that means I am losing my bff! I have wanted a best friend and sister for over 2 decades. I am very grateful we met, just a year ago, but will be very sad to see her go :-( Yes, we now have a special friendship and we can both visit. But what's funny about our friendship, we are like teenagers texting all the time about nonsense, and talking on the phone. Along with her husband, Loren, we are each other's family. And no one has ever made me laugh like Julie. She is hilarious, and has a very clever sense of humor. It is hard to explain but I will give one hilarious example.
We were playing Mahjongg, which we have done most Thursday afternoons for about 10 months. A fascinating game, very involved and creative, and I have never been a fan of games. Google it if you are curious. One of the ladies won a game very quickly, we were all astonished, and giving her high praise. (With Mahjongg there are stands like Scrabble, to accommodate the tiles. Except the stands are about twice as long.) Julie stood up, grabbed her stand holding it in front of the winner, as if it were a microphone, and she said "Tell us how you did it!!!" OMG!! I still howl with laughter over this. I hope this humorous story comes off in my prose. That is my friend and sister Julie. I hope everyone has a Julie in their life!
Yesterday was Thursday and we didn't have 4 people to play Mahjongg, it was mid 70's and sunny everywhere, so we headed for San Francisco. With work schedules, we have not been able to do tourist stuff in SF. Everything worked perfectly - Loren working late (he is a wonderful, hard working husband), great weather, Turbo their little furry buddy was cared for, and it was only lunch time. We drove to BART, our subway a half hour away, and parked my car. She got to experience our noisy but very convenient subway. I don't use BART often, so paying for parking and tickets is always nerve wracking. We usually end up laughing hard :-) if we don't know what the heck we are doing! Transit employees aren't usually the most patient people either. Which of course makes us nervous to ask anything. We experienced many miracles that day and the first one being, it only took us 15 minutes to get our tickets - not including all giggling. Try to make a pitstop before you arrive at a BART station - the bathroom was nasty.
The ride was uneventful, arriving at Powell station about 15 minutes later. If you have not visited SF, you will want to stand at Powell and Market streets and take a cable car ride. Lots of characters and a fun way to see many SF attractions. My preference is the Hyde line, because you pass right in front of Lombard Street (the most crooked street in the world). When you get to the top of Lombard Street, you ride down a big hill, toward Ghirardelli Square (a chocolate factory) with Alcatraz Island in the back ground. A few blocks later we got off and walked toward the bay, right in front of Ghirardelli. With the gorgeous, warm weather, lots of people were out, and even a few nut cases swimming. San Francisco does have beautiful weather occasionally, but it never has warm water. It is like ice water!
We did a quick tour of Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory and the adjoining businesses. (We had decided not to indulge in a sundae :-) Only 4-5 blocks away is the middle of Fisherman's Wharf. We walked and people watched and of course decided to have dinner. We went to Scoma's, a well known Italian restaurant. The food was delicious, the waiters and all the staff were exceptional, the atmosphere was great, and my Sangiovese wine was perfect. Julie had a New York steak and I had pasta with chicken. Delicioso!! We had a relaxing dinner and headed back to the cable car.
After our 45 minute wait, we boarded. Half way through our trip, we stopped suddenly and were told "There are VIP's in town and we were going to have to get off the cable car!" There were many very unhappy people grumbling in China Town - including us. However, we got great advice and took a bus that was only 2 blocks away and heading in the exact direction we needed. I wonder what politicians were the VIP's?? Or whomever??
Life is full of colorful people - thank God! Especially in big cities like San Francisco! But on Thursday we got more than we bargained for. At the bus stop was a man about mid-30's, clean cut, talkative, and definitely eccentric. When he heard us asking about the fare, he told us this long story of why we should not pay. He said if we pay, we will insult those who get on for free. He went on to say many people go through the back door without paying, or some just carry an old transfer and never seem to get asked to pay. Needless to say we did not like that idea! Can't you see the headlines: Two women from the SF coast try to ride our dear Muni bus lines without paying. How dare they come here to our fair city, women who can certainly pay their own way!
I'm just getting started with the characters. There were 2 vacant seats near the driver - which is usually my first choice in an unfamiliar setting. I sat next to a homeless guy, who definitely had not taken his meds in a long time, and had not bathed in weeks. He ranted and raved about anything that came into his mind. He was obviously bright with a great vocabulary. But he took offense at any laughter and got more angry as we approached our stop. Julie and I headed for the back door. He walked up to the driver and started yelling at him, pushing into him, threatening to dump his soda on his head, and telling him why doesn't he eat American food like french fries! I was hoping it was over when we see the driver getting out of the bus. The guy put down his bag and the two of them get in that stance "going to fisticuffs" (getting ready to fight).
Well I am horrified and my instinct to help the driver kicks in. NO...I did not get between them...but I did walk a little closer (guessing maybe 20+feet away) and I yelled "Don't hit him, get back into the bus, you might lose your job"!! By now Julie is freaking out and telling me to get back with her. Then two ladies, who are apparently seasoned SF bus riders, said if anyone hits a bus driver, they would get into serious trouble. In the mean time, the homeless guy decided the driver would probably knock him out, because the last thing we saw was the guy picking up his bag and walking away.
The rest of our trip, to the subway and subsequently my car, was easy. Were we tired? You bet, but we had fun making memories. And I would do it all over again. I am not the type of person to walk away from injustice, and I will always stop to help. Do I sometimes speak before thinking? Yes, but God always seems to protect me.
Have a great day, and God Bless! Aleta
"There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship." Thomas Aquinas - 1225-1274, theologian and philosopher
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