my life

It was my Mum’s birthday today but I couldn’t even get in touch with her!

I had to call her in the morining too because morning is night for the UK here in San Francisco.

I left a message on the answer machine though. I hope she gets it.

James came to Sandra’s today so we could update the diary together – Sandra’s got a little laptop hooked up to the net so it was a good (and cheap) way to catch up on so many days we hadn’t updated it.

So most of the day was spent doing that.

When Sandra got back from work we were still at it (the diary). And she suggested that we go out and have a bite to eat and few drinks. Good idea.

Esther, also from the GT bus, was meeting up with us and we all went to a Mexican restuarant for something to eat and to catch up with each other.

We had some nice food there, and a few beers too. After the meal, we went on to a bar with a big dog. Just sitting there it was, watching everyone.

BIG bloody dog it was – just sitting there, watching.

Anyway, we played a bit of pool together (with each other, not the dog) and had some more to drink.

After much more drinking and many more games of pool, It was getting late so James went back to the hostel, Esther went back to the house she was staying at and me and Sanrdra went back to hers.

Ahh, a lovely sleep in was had by me today! It was sooo nice having my own bed (double too) which, a) didn’t move, and b) didn’t have loads of people in the room clattering about, rusteling plasitc bags and clinking stuff late at night. Bliss.

I took this opportunity (while Sandra was at work) to finally clean out my backpack, which was full of Grand Canyon and stuff.

It was a great relief (simple though it seems to you right now I imagine) to actually get everything out and give it all a good clean, then put it all back again. The little things eh!

After the mass backpack cleaning session, I went out into the city to see what was about in my new surroundings.

Nothing much really (we’re in a subburb) apart from lots of Mexicans on street corners looking for work wherever they can get it. People just come by in trucks, stop and ask them to help with their decorating and things.

And apparently, they just stay on the street corner until someone comes and asks them to do something for them.

When I got back, I decided to cook something different for tonight’s meal: Kedgeree was on tonight’s menu. I am the Kedgeree master!

When Sandra got back fom work, we ate the meal I’d prepeard and went to get a video from the local Blockbuster.

Amilie. A good film if you’ve not seen it yet.

After more wine and some chocolate ice cream we found in the freezer, Sandra showed me some fitness training moves, (she’s a personal trainer at one of San Francisco’s top gyms).

I fully intend on getting rid of that beer belly I have earned during the last few months of travelling.

After our party the night before, it was time to leave our beloved Green Tortoise hostel.

I had previously asked Sandra (you know, the girl from the Green Tortoise Bus) if I could stay with her for the next week, as money was a bit tight and James would be cavorting with Krista (who was coming to stay for a week before we went to Oz). She agreed and I was sorted for a place to stay.

We got up early to check out of the Green Tortoise, went to our regular mexican haunt and picked up one of those tasty Mexican burritos we were so fond of. Mmmm, nice!

As it was out last day with Giv, Woz and the the rest of the GT posse, a few of us decieded to take a trip to Haight and Ashubry (the stoner area of San Francisco).

While there, I bought a workman style jacket with “Nalley Carolina” and “Charlie” written on it. Very random but nice all the same.

James bought a shirt which proudly said “Rooster Channel Jumpers – Atlanta Unit 414 – Frank”. NICE!

None of which made sense, but all geniune American workwear all the same.

I went back to Sandra’s house which was going to be my home for the next week, determined to make a good impression – I was going to be that person my Mum had tried to mould me into for so many years. Cooking and cleaning and just being generally nice, you know.

I arrived at the flat, a cosy and well designed place (albeit very small) at around 5pm. I alredy had tonight’s meal sorted and, as Sandra had been at work all day, I decided to get the cooking on as soon as I got there.

Pasta. Not very imaginative, but tasty all the same.

After the meal (which Sandra commented on being very tasty), we watched Pearl Harbour, chatted about our good times on the Green Tortoise Bus and the people on there, drank some wine and went to sleep. Two very tired people.

James writes…

After spending the day wandering the streets of Haight and Ashbury buying such wonderful items as the 1991 Utah Saints album, and shirts which seemed to make sense and fashionable at the time, we went back to the hostel.

Gav left to go and stay at Sandra’s for the week so me Giv, Woz and Darran had a few drinks (as was usual). After a few games of pool and general merriment, I retired to bed.

After about an hour the guy who worked the front desk (Matt) and a guy who was staying in my room returned. They were both very drunk and I was the only person in the room.

During the next 10 minutes or so Matt tried to persuade the guy in my room that they should spend the night together. The other guy, however, was adament that he only went for ‘older men’.

As you could imagine this was quite an uncomfortable situation. Whilst trying to weigh up the pros and cons of getting out of bed and leaving, and silently hoping someone else would enter the room, they started chasing each other about.

After a while it became clear that Matt was not going to get his way.

The next comment that I heard was “what a nice back”. I was sleeping with my back to them both, with my sleeping bag half way down my back. Trying to ignore the commment as best I could, I heard Matt approaching the bed behind me.

When he got within a few feet and again said, “ohh, what a nice back” I pulled up my sleeping bag over my head.

He then muttered about me “not being worth it anyway” and left the room.

Shortly after I fell asleep relieved that, what could have been a very awkward situation, had passed.

We were all woken up pretty early due to us stopping at Bakersfield to let Caoimhe and Nora off the bus, and after we’d all said our goodbyes we set off for San Francisco and back to the Green Tortoise Hostel.

On the way, we stopped off at a truck stop for a breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and burnt smokey bacon before continuing our journey for a further 7 hours.

The way back was spent chatting about the times we’d had and exchanging email addresses with each other.

The trip was nearly over and everyone seemed very tired and chilled out.

We were looking forward to spending a night in a bed which didn’t move and where you could actually bend your legs without fear of kicking some poor soul.

The Green Tortoise hostel had organised a party for our return – another free beer and free food affair.

We arrived back at about 6pm, checked into our rooms and went for a shower.

My room was a mixed room and sharing it with me was a girl from Australia called Shona – and she was a hairdresser!

As soon as she told us, we had the clippers out (you know, the ones we had bought in Toronto) and there was a line to the door for her services, which she seemed all to pleased to give freely.

After myself, James, Giv, Woz and Dan had all had our hair cut, Giv went down to see if he could borrow a vacuum cleaner to clean up the hairs from the floor.

Now they weren’t very happy about this – lending out their Ghostbuster style vacuum cleaners – oh, no!

The vacuuming girl was ordered to acompany their beloved vacuum cleaner to the room and she wasn’t very happy about it either.

She insisted that we weren’t able to clean up the hairs and that she must do it. So we let her. Ghostbusters style!

The party was great fun! After the free food we set to work on the free Stella Artois.

There were loads of people there – everyone from our bus, everyone from the other bus and everyone who was staying at the hostel.

I decided to organise another pool competition – bigger and better than the other one.

The stake was $2 per person and the prize fund was $64 – better than a kick in the teeth for a lot of backpackers.

After plenty of rallying around we had the players sorted out – 16 doubles teams.

Quite controversially, me and my team mate Rich (who could possibly be the best player in the whole room) were out. Rich potted the black by mistake and it was anyone’s money.

After about 5 hours and a lot of hassle the winners were decided – Giv and Woz on a black ball game.

After plently more Stella (and 2 bottles of Sambuka) it was bed time for a lot of worn out people to hit the sack.

We said our last goodbyes to the people not staying at the hostel and stumbled off to our rooms.