The guy with the flute and I had agreed on our meeting at the Scotts Valley transit station, or rather, the Tony & Alba's Pizza restaurant next door, at noon.
Last night, after entertaining Ken and winding down for the day, I noticed the water coming out of the tap in the bathroom was a trickle compared to how it usually is. I figured either they're working on the pipes somewhere, or something's going on and there may not be water tomorrow. So I filled up three gallon jugs of water, enough to wash up in the morning and get through my day, and give me time to make other arrangements. That took a little time.
So I went to bed at a bit past 2AM and I wanted to get up at 8. The flute guy called me at 7:30 and it's a good thing I'd just woken up on my own. I left here at 10.
I rode over to Whole Foods and locked the bike up and walked over to Diridon Station and had about a half-hour wait. I just had to get a $2 bag of popcorn and sat at a bench in the shade that had a guy sitting there with a pack and bedroll and skateboard etc. He asked if there was food there and if it was just vending machines etc. and I said it was a little store sort of thing. He said he hadn't eaten, and had had only a sandwich last night.
He packed his stuff up and left, and came back in a few minutes. He couldn't find it. I got up and went to the little store and looked around, assuming I'm a hungry skateboarding guy. There were burritos and stuff. I asked the lady if there was a way to heat up the burritos and she said there was. I went back and told the guy "Saddle up; I'll show you in" and he grabbed his stuff again and I showed him where the little store was and left him to figure it out.
He came back to the bench after a short while and said he's eaten, but not one of the burritos because they were $8. The cups of ramen were $2.50 which was also crazy. I wonder if he'd just settled for a cup of ramen, and should have offered him a couple dollars. He said he just travels around the West Coast, I guess meeting up with people he knows and skateboards. It makes as much sense as a way to live as anything else, these days.
The bus came and I bought a day pass for $14. The bus didn't take much time at all to get to Scotts Valley, as it's not the weekend and the traffic wasn't bad at all. As the bus passed the summit the flute guy called me and I said I'm at the summit and will be there soon.
I got off at the transit center and walked over to Tony & Alba's. The only minivan there was him. I looked the flute over and it looked to be in really nice shape. The case, also. I'd gotten the flute listings on Craig's List mixed up and for a bit though this flute was $200 but then had looked at the ad again and the guy only wanted $100. So I said something like, "It's $100, right?" and he said yes and I handed over a $100 bill and then we talked about instruments for a bit - he was from a sax background and making the change to trumpet.
Business done with, I checked out the coffee shop at the transit center. Lots of sugary stuff for fat housewives. I got a butter croissant and it was pretty good. Presently a #35 bus came, and I asked if it goes to Santa Cruz, which it does, and the day pass worked fine. I got off at the Santa Cruz transit center and noticed the Vietnamese noodle place there is gone. There's a little convenience store type place in there with trashy people milling around and a very skeptical looking clerk.
I did a tour of Pacific Avenue, where some things have changed and some places are still there. Starving Musician is there in place of the old music store, and Book Shop Santa Cruz is the only book store left. There were a few street vendors, of jewelry and things and one guy had record albums. There were also a few street musicians, notably a really good sax player. I had some deviled eggs from the little Italian deli/sandwich shop, and walked past the restaurant "Chocolat" as the violin guy was setting up. He told me he's working three jobs, has a place to live in a "gated, senior park" and a car, out of which someone stole his old violin which I'd asked about as he was playing a different one.
I walked back to the transit center where a #17 bus was there but it was a "hurry up and wait" situation for some reason. Eventually we got on and the ride back to Diridon Station was uneventful.
I walked back over to Whole Foods and got a few things, and rode down to Willow Glen to look around a little because I still had lots of day left. Willow Glen seems to have a little bit of what downtown San Jose had: street musicians and people sitting at tables having actual conversations. The guitar guy was there, cranky as ever too but so far I'm on his good side.
I rode back downtown, went by the Amazon place to pick up the Vicorinox "rescue" knife I'd ordered and a bunch of bubble mailers. And had plenty of time to get some things at Nijiya.
I felt tired, I don't know why riding a bus is tiring but it sure can be, and treated myself to some O'Doul's near-beer from TAK Market on my way back here. The wind was really strong riding home.
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