About Me

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Guildford, Hampshire, United Kingdom
I am a 47 year old (2011) first generation Caribbean Black British woman. I have a 30 year old daughter and a 23 year old son. I am single and work full-time as Air Cabin Crew on long-haul. My first book (my auto-biography) called 'Shoy' was published in Feb 2004. Currently I am looking for an agent to represent me or publishers for the various projects I am working on such as a play, children's story, love story and the sequel to Shoy.

Sunday 31 October 2010

San Francisco - California

Hello again everyone and thank you for coming back for the next epic installment.  To start with today (Sunday - scary Halloween - 31st October 2010) I am suffering again, this cold or whatever it is, just will not go and I have had the dog just staring at me as I cough and sneeze my head off - so tonight will see me medicating myself up for a good nights sleep ready for my travels tomorrow - oh that reminds me I have to pack.  Anyway moving on, I was just going for the sympathy there.

San Francisco - what can I say?  To me its one of the most interesting places in America.  It is so diverse with all the different ethic areas, nightlife, great restaurants some with amazing views of the bay, great walks/biking or Segway trails and of course, you can do it all by arranged tours or hire a car and see it properly at your leisure.  I wish I had the courage to hire a car and do it myself, but driving on the other side of the road - Oooo maybe not and then of course there is the navigating - mind you most cars these days have sat nav so that should not pose too much of a problem, but I bet you I would still get lost.

On my first visit to San Fran, the aerial views were amazing, even though a bit misty and I could not wait to land and explore.

Whenever I have been to San Francisco, the weather has been glorious and very hot.  San Francisco has always been one of those places that I have wanted to visit, so when I got there, again I could not believe it.  I went out on my own having plotted the places I wanted to see, and of course there was no way I was going to fit it all in on one visit - but its one of those places that never disappoints.

I decided (having applied layers of sunblock) to walk some of it and take a tram ride.  So I set off - the hotel being in a great location in that the tram stop where the trams would rotate in a full circle to start their journey again, was just a street away, so I thought that would be a good way to end the days outing as I was sure to be tired.  I headed down to the harbour and having arrived looking out across the water, what was I going to do now?  I headed right and down to Pier 39.  There were so many people, I stopped for a bit and just soaked it all up, watching the dynamics of the people that came into view and how they interacted with the people they were with and around them - I could just sit and watch for hours, drawing inspiration from them and I took out my little trusted notebook and jotted down character ideas from what I was witnessing - fantastic.  I moved on and was drawn to an area where there was obviously some sort of attraction just from the sheer numbers in the area.  Being vertically challenged, I edged my way into the crowd, tip-toeing and sliding under peoples arms and there they were - the famous seals of Pier 39 and loads of them and of course they come with their own aroma.  They were just laying there, some picking fights with one another, some crawling over others whilst they slept, and some just chatting away to each other.  You could see the obvious characters amongst them - it was great.


From this area you could see the all famous Alcatraz.  I was not sure about a visit over there, and that certainly was not going to take place today.  The thought of visiting a prison (and me being claustrophobic) was not sitting well and even now thinking about it is making me a bit breathless, so I move on.
 

In the following picture you can see the monument of Coit Tower which was a gift to the city from the very eccentric Lillie Hitchcock Coit who was famed for her love of firemen (and who could blame her eh).  Even though the tower does resemble the top of a fire hose, the architects say not - we won't argue will we!


The hills in San Fran are very steep and some are very very steep, walking up them is a struggle and you do wonder how the people in the area do this day in day out - who needs to go to the gym for a workout when you can walk around San Fran?

The electric trams and the rail trams are seen about the city and of course you have to experience a ride on one.  I was so surprised how powerful these things are as they have to negotiate some of the city's very steep hills.  They wind their way through some of the most beautiful areas and of course you hop on and off where you like - I love it.  You get chatting to all sorts of people and there is always someone willing to take a snap of you with a memorable backdrop.



On one of my now many visits, I took a boat tour which takes you out in the harbour pinpointing all the sites of the city and beyond and of course you go around Alcatraz - still not sure about that visit - maybe next time eh - but most amazingly to see, is the Golden Gate Bridge in all her splendour.  The boat takes you right under it and you can see the structure close up, the amount of steel involved and of course that iconic red colour.  You stand on the deck in awe of her.  Sometimes I really have to pinch myself to think that my job gives me all this.




Another attraction that California has for me, is that of the Giant Sequoia forests.  I love these giant, majestic trees.  (I am not quite a tree hugger, so no raising of eyebrows please!).  On this particular tour I went to the Muir Woods National Park and Oh My Life what a place.  These trees are as huge as they say and then some.  In this particular Park, to do the tours that splinter off in different directions with markers telling you how long the trail would take you to get to the end and back, range from one to four hours and the draw back to the tour I was on, we only had an hour and that was no-where long enough to really appreciate the Park for what it offers.  I was rushing through as much of the one hour trail, wanting to capture as many images as I could, but it was nowhere enough.  The other trails had bigger and better trees to be seen (so maybe one day I will hire that car and go).




I apologise that this blog is a long one (and it could be longer) and I had thought of splitting it in two, but then that would just make me go on for longer.  As you can imagine, I have a collection of great photos of this place and I would never tire of it.  The people of San Francisco are very friendly and if you go down to the harbour to the wharf in the early morning, you meet the local fishermen with their lines cast adrift over the edge and they sit and chat about their past, present and future lives and you get to join in, they even offer you a cup of their tea and sandwiches - what a life!

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