Yesterday I'd photo'd 25 small things, listed 13 of them in the afternoon, then switched to packing FedEx things, and did a run to FedEx to ship them off and collected a few boxes and bags and things for shipping on the way back.
Once back, I futzed around a bit and then cooked some dinner and ate, then fought to keep myself awake while I listed the remaining 12 of the things. I'd gone to bed a bit after midnight.
I woke up around 8 or 9, and finished reading "Boy" by Roald Dahl. Great book and while it's considered a kids' book Dahl never talks down to anyone and I'd say that, like the works of Mark Twain, it's all-ages. "Boy" is sure to be banned by the right-wingers too if they have their way, as Dahl describes fagging and his time as a fag. This means the subservient position of lower-ranking boys who could be called on to do all kinds of menial tasks, by higher-ranking boys, in the English public school we went to.
It was nice to be all comfy in bed, able to read a book without hurrying. I got out of bed around 10, and by noon I'd: Given the bike as good a cleaning as one can with Windex and many paper towels, brushed and flossed my teeth (too tired to do that last night) re-installed my tired all pannier set, rounded up a bag of trash, and of course had my beloved chicory coffee and nuts.
I rode through Japantown, dropping the trash off at one can I use often, and then to Whole Foods. There are Christmas trees all over the place now, and there was a guy with some charity scam going, and tons of little single-serving sized pies, one presumes pumpkin, on his table. As well as pamphlets and a nice little banner attached to his table with the Jesusfish on it, which tells me it's a scam. The pieces were identical and perfect, which means they'd been bought at CostCo or someplace like that. I guess the idea is, you buy a pie and it helps the kids he's theoretically helping or something. He was right in close to the bike racks too.
I locked the bike and was pleasant to Mr. Bother, used the loo, and got myself some beef and broccoli that's supposedly "spicy" (there was a very, very slight hint of spice, and tons of grease which is just right) on top of a few tortellini, and a near-beer. This cold weather has me hungry for more substantial food. I also got cash back and then went back in after eating for some olives and did cash back again so I'd have plenty of cash on hand.
The idea was that I'd see if Upshift has the same bag/pannier set I do and if so, I'd buy a new one. If not, I'd ride down to Offramp and if they have one, buy it. If they don't have one either, I'd come back to Upshift and order one.
Upshift didn't have 'em. So I rode up to Offramp and wow, that's a lot longer ride than a thought. Past Scott, which is where I went to the new-to-met Target. Whew! And I kept being rained on. It was rainy and gloomy all through the day. At one point I ducked into a Bank Of America and hung out under their roof while I waited for the squall to pass.
I finally got down there, and they had exactly my bag, and for only $50-odd. Except - it didn't have the fold-out panniers. One nice thing about going down that far, though, is I saw that there's a really huge Indian market that's not that far from Patel Brothers, so I'll have to check that out some time.
On the ride back at one point it started raining again and I ducked into a place that turned out to be the "Euro Grill" which was next to the "Euro Market" so I parked the bike under the roof and went in. All of these markets, of whatever nationality, seem to have about 99% stuff that I should not have like cookies, cakes, candy, chips, etc. I picked out a piece of smoked beef that looked interesting though, and when the guy said it was about $20 I shrugged and indicated I'd get it.
The guy in there was very friendly. He grabbed a couple of candy bars from the display by the register and put them in the bag too, and seeing a hazelnut one, I offered to trade the two for that one, and he insisted I take it too and keep all three. The market itself was ... spicy and it wasn't due to spices, it was due to the guy's B.O. But if you're polite you don't indicate you are bothered by things like that, that are personal. It's probably the norm in Serba and Croatia that you bathe every day, but maybe don't use deodorant and if you're a working guy you have B.O. by the afternoon.
The rain had stopped and off I went with my beef and candy bars. I stopped in at Upshift and they can get the pannier set but their wholesaler is out of stock, and the guy said that my bags really don't look bad at all, to check in after the first of the year and they'll be back in stock and the bags I've got will last fine another month. I agreed. Plus we had a great time talking about "I minus D" a bike shop that was here for a while, Marxism-Leninism, the band The Dead Milkmen, etc.
I stopped next across the street at Recycle Book Store as having finished reading "Boy" I was hungry for more and I was fairly certain Roald Dahl had written a sequel. So I went in and told them as much and the owner of the store himself took me over there the Dahl books are (the kids' ones anyway) and there was a copy of "Going Solo" right there, in new condition. They only wanted $3 for it. And I had $2 store credit so I only had to fork over a dollar.
Next was the paint store where I picked up two of those little sander-sponge things. You can't buy one, you have to buy two. But the guy discounted them so it only cost $3 instead of more than $4. Those things are great for keeping fingernails in shape.
I went by the Amazon place for some bubble mailers, then over to Nijiya. I got some fish both freshly cooked and in a can.
Then back here. It had been rainy off and on all day. It's funny that the National Weather Service had it being sunny, while National Public Radio said it was going to rain and was dead-on. I've long noticed this, that NPR's weather forecasts are dead-on. The Weather Service site is good for pretty radar maps though.
I also thought, on my ride home, that this was a real Saturday. Up by 8 or 9, out doing things, seeing the middle of the day. On a regular daytime schedule, weekends can really feel like weekends.
I'd passed through San Pedro Square on my way to Whole Foods and there was something going on, booths set up with people selling jewelry and dog collars/leashes and various things. It's supposed to be a farmer's market or ... was ... I think the farmer's market moved and is over for the year so who knows what this was, but there were people walking around.
No comments:
Post a Comment