After I killed my feet with brand-new shoes, as a man with lots of
experience and wisdom I didn't brake them in slowly, no I went straight
city street walking for hours for two days, my blisters begged me to
give them a rest. So I bought a MUNI day ticket, MUNI is the public
transport system in San Francisco, I first rode a couple of times the
old trams, beautifully restored machines from old times, rolling
legends. For lunch, I went to a Vietnamese restaurant, *Aux Delices* on Polk. For desert, I rode out by trolleybus to ocean beach. When I saw the
beach, my pulse went wild. I almost run down to the beach, passing Cliff
House in a hurry, which hangs on a great out looking spot over the Pacific. And finally my toes could dip the pacific water after 9 years
waiting. It felt good, I also splashed my face with cool pacific water. In the last 9 years I have been in seawater just once in England,
Ludlow Cove in Dorset. Oh! And the weather is so great, just shorts and
sandals, as a wage I bought for my feet sandals. On the sand I walked
barefoot, mostly in the water. This natural foot massage felt good. My
feet cried of joy. On the beach walk, I looked out for sand dollars, but
they were all broken. After a half hour, I hit a spot and there I found
about 20 sand dollars, I struck it rich. They are all in my hotel room
now, drying. I walked for more than an hour to Pacheba, when at already
5pm was my first powerful sunset since many years, then very moved I
boarded buses back to downtown, while the Rolling Stones and Metallica
blasted their rock concert nearby on the bay, probably very loud. Official ticket prices were from $150 up to $2000..... ! In the sixties I
was a Rolling Stones fan, I still adore their early stuff with
Brian Jones, I saw them live in London, in the Royal Albert Hall about
1965 with the Yardbirds, Ike & Tina Turner, today I prefer: Patty
Smith, the day before she played at the *American Music Hall* to honor
30 years of *Horses*, (*Born To Run* by Bruce Springsteen is also 30
years old). Now this is a concert I wish I could have heard, it was sold
out long ago. She even gave a rare poetry reading at the *Balboa Café* some
days ago.hANS bOLLI :: pAINTER
15nov05
