I ended up going towards Fillmore. I was up that way last summer when I spent the weekend in the city with my family, but it’s always worth a trip. I fancied doing a sketch from on high, so I headed up the steep way to Alta Plaza Park. By this time of the day, it was really very windy. Alta Plaza Park had some nice views, not as dramatic as Dolores Park or Alamo Square, but worth the hike. I was still listening to all of Belle and Sebastian, though my back was still aching, and the wind was going right through me. I like a big observation piece when I come to the city, like the view from Coit Tower or the view from the downtown Hilton. I walked down and bought an expensive donut at a trendy donut shop, that I waved for the train ride home. I needn’t have bothered, the donut was bland and tasted of nothing, not an uncommon thing these days (as I was reminded when I went to France recently, when every pain au chocolat or escargot de raisins at the morning boulangerie tasted a million times better than anything over here). I spent a lot of time in Paper Source, a shop I used to be obsessed with when I had the idea of making my own notecards years ago (it wasn’t worth the effort), and then spent a good half hour in Browser Books, which I had drawn last year, and keep thinking is called Bowser Books. I like this little store, and really browsed a lot. I even looked through some magazines, including one which an old friend of mine works for; I haven’t seen him in many years, and there was a small picture of him in there that for some reason took me by surprise, the same guy but older and sharper. I don’t know why it surprised me so much. The years move fast, I wonder how I would look to someone who knew me only as a much younger face, thinner and less sun-blasted, and I found myself suddenly worrying about age and time. I went to the music section, and picked up a small book about Pulp, who were a band I loved in the 90s (so, not worrying about age or time any more then). I had recently bought tickets to go and see Pulp right here in San Francisco this coming September, having never been able to catch them back in the old days; I honestly can’t wait. The guy behind the counter, it turned out, was a fellow Pulp fan and asked if I was going to see them. He had seen them in SF last year when they were here. The book was about This Is Hardcore, and album I really loved, though it was the sound of a changing time for me, mid university years, a comedown from the fist-pumping mid-90s when I could stay up all night long and not even be tired the next day, and everything was possible. Were age and time were getting to me even then?

After spending some of my age and time in the shops and streets of Fillmore I took the bus down towards Union Square. My back was still hurting. When I got there, I still had a bit of time before my Amtrak bus was going to leave, but I did need to sit down. I decided to sketch Sam’s Cable Car Lounge, which I must have passed a bunch of times before and always thought was a liquor store. It looks old, and the thing about places like this is that they are disappearing, so in my mission as the recorder of places I stood opposite and drew it, as best my tired fingers could manage. I think the motivation for sketching this part of the city has waned over the years, and it shows. Many of the big shops around Union Square are closing, there were so many large empty spaces where once there had been big stores, and the number of shoppers looked a lot less than in recent years. I heard that the large Macy’s flagship store on Union Square, a place I visited on my first ever trip here (going up to the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor) was going to close, with nothing to replace it. It feels bleaker around there. I couldn’t get too far before I just had to go and sit down, so I popped in for a beer. It’s an interesting enough interior, with the front of a cable car sticking out of the wall behind the bar, and the staff kept offering me popcorn. I ordered a beer without popcorn and sat sketching. As I sketched I got the news that the Amtrak bus was cancelled, and I’d have to take the BART out to Richmond to catch my train. An annoyance but not a huge inconvenience. The bar got a little busier as I sketched, I think mostly with the pre-theatre crowd.  Anyway I think the staff liked my drawing, because when I ordered a second beer they said it was on the house. I got my bill; sure the second drink was free, but the first one was pretty expensive, about $14 with tax for a beer? Even in London these days that’d be a lot. I didn’t even finish my second beer. I handed over my card to the waitress, and she came back with the bill to sign, but no card. I went up and asked where my card was, they said maybe I dropped it. I hadn’t, it was never returned. They said they would look for it; ten minutes later, still no card. I was having to go to the BART soon. Perhaps I need to call the police, has someone here pocketed it? I could see them with flashlights looking all over the bar area. Eventually, the waitress came back and handed me my card, which had ‘fallen on the floor’. Strange they had not found it more quickly. I was very suspicious of that and have been keeping an eye on the card transactions since, but I won’t be going there again, and not only because of the beer prices. Still, I’ve sketched it now. I made the long, long journey back to Davis, tired and not completely sure if the day out was worth it, but I added a few more drawings and walks to the experience box. And when I got back to Davis, I discovered my bike had a flat tyre, so I had to walk all the way back from the train station. I rested well next day. I still like San Francisco, but after so many years I’m not feeling quite the same about it as I do about, for example, London, which I always want to go to. But I’m still glad it is (sort of) nearby, and has some interesting neighbourhoods.