Night, without the lights of streetlamps and nearby dwellings, is pitch-black. A few moments ago the bugs were racketing, now they've fallen silent and many other noises from far off will come to the fore.
There are insects in the fields, as well as frogs.
Did something nearby just slither?
Or am I imagining things?
Sometimes there is a heady fragrance: night blooming jasmine.
The hot tea in the thermos flasks on the kitchen table is weak, but has changed from pale yellow to a pinkish hue, because it was made much earlier, and some of the leaves were poured in also.
One should not drink the water unboiled.
Weak tea is always better.
Things smell different in a humid hot climate, almost everything ferments. One does not notice it while there, but it is distinctly missing elsewhere.
San Francisco also has "fragrances". No, this isn't a hot humid climate, more like a temperate part of the cold zone. But every intersection in the downtown area seems to reflect a different version of the Roman sewer system.
There are bus stops I seldom use, because they remind me of foul things and unsanitary accidents. Mostly in the flat zone near the Embarcadero, where the water is stagnant. Someone once remarked that the dominant stink of the city is urine, but he was wrong. It is a much richer spectrum of effluvium, with a malevolent depth and breadth.
Plus briny hints from the bay.
THE BACK OF NOB HILL
Once you get uphill the odour changes. Here grow mayten, cajeput, magnolia, water gum, cherry plum, Australian tea tree, brisbane box, sweet michelia, Chinese banyan, and cow itch. They have smells.
But very subtle. The aromas of cooking are barely shaded.
There are growths of crimson-purple bougainvillea in late summer.
Hyde Street between Clay and Broadway is a leafy dark hollow during the day, cool in warm weather, and a glowing tunnel under the trees at night, comforting.
Seven small restaurants. Two of which are wine bars (Cafe Meuse, Seven Hills), two Chinese eateries (
Excepting Nook, all are great places for food.
The last one is also, for Vegans.
I've heard it's good.
Never tried.
[NOTE REGARDING U-LEE: Alas, it has closed after thirty years, because of the usual San Francisco reason, that being that their lease went through the roof. It is VERY tempting for San Francisco landlords to jack up the rent on commercial property, in the hopes of making obscene profits, and really, who cares? There are so many outsiders coming in that even a grotty backroom in an unmaintained building uphill may seem like a potential gold mine.
U-Lee is planning to re-open out on Balboa.]
The Cablecar turns at Jackson and Hyde.
It runs often, but is filled with tourists.
Best just to walk over the hill.
LA RUE VIEILLE DU TOISHAN
I rather like the ride on the Pacific buses, which from Stockton to Hyde have Chinese moms and their children, old gentlemen who play chess down in Portsmouth Square, college kids, and very frazzled office workers who resent the presence of all these yellow people.
It is far too packed to read text messages!
Oh, the frustration!
There used to be raccoons who lived in this neighborhood. I haven't seen them in a while, maybe they passed away. There are crows, still, and one can often hear parrots making a racket as they fly overhead.
Sometimes a cat slinks by late at night.
When it rains, you should be here at three o'clock in the morning.
It's very beautiful at that time.
Fresh, fragrant.
Quiet.
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