Spring in SF
By Paul Lyons
The west wind picked up about a month ago and did not let up. The ocean waters where completely white-capped and temperatures dropped to the high forties and surf was less than desirable. Until today. Offshore winds. Wimpy six-foot swell. All the usual suspects out sharing the joy. This time of year you have to look for the silver linings. But is that not like life?
Commuting by bicycle has been a new world. It is actually a lot easier than most think. One can often cover more ground, faster on a bike than a car. It is a new world where one sees what great quantities of glass there are on the streets of San Francisco. A bit here. A bit there. A pile there, where someone was but another victim of a car break-in. Let’s dodge that one. By Tuesday evening I have often covered more than twenty-five miles. It keeps the kids from hearing me tell them how many miles I walked to school, as they simply smell me at the dinner table.
I always thought the timing of the stoplights in this city was a bit off. Forty minutes to get across town with 340 horses under the hood seems a bit strange. But then it came to me. The timing of the stoplights is to slow you down! It turns green and the next turns red. It turns green and the next turns red. For a bicyclist it works out so that there a few times where you simply haul-ass and make the light and other times when you need to lay back and pedal as slowly as possible in order to make the next light.
But no matter what you read in the papers, the real news around here is that PG&E is digging up all the streets and putting in new gas lines. Replacing all the nice copper pipes with flexible plastic stuff. Five, Six guys with hard hats on staring into a hole is the usual scene. The new plastic stuff is yellow and it all sounds like a good idea in terms of earthquakes. The new stuff is flexible and would not be as susceptible to leaks when there is a big tremor. But one must ask a few questions. How long will the plastic stuff last? Is PG&E simply digging out their copper for other reasons? The price of copper is through the roof. Not to be cynical, but the world these days simply brings it on.
Well, that’s the spring report. The Oakland A’s baseball team, full of scrappy kids in there early twenties are looking good. The Giants have but a great stadium and will go nowhere. San Francisco is simply crawling with festivals, street fairs and great events. Come and visit. The fog will be in next week. Bring your winter jacket.
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