JUST TWO BLOCKS ...

The fog had long blown off and the temperature outside was warmer than when I returned from work. When I got home earlier, my apartment mate was asleep in her room -- after two days of volunteer work and watching medical crap on youtube, she must have been exhausted -- and in the twilight I had strong coffee before taking a three hour nap.

During the day Neil had been by to smoke a pipe, and though we were rather hoping that Martin would join us, he may have been enjoying the warm welcoming arms of his new female companion, much like that high school classmate who is never seen again once he has a girlfriend.

Slow day at work. Two bowls of Virginia, one Rocky Patel 1990.

Tonnes of hot tea. Wired to the living gills.



Shortly after midnight I heated up some dumplings, then filled a pipe with Elizabethan Mixture and headed to a nearby public house two blocks away. Eric was behind the bar, sober as a judge, not hung-over after the wedding shenanigans the previous night (only one glass of champagne, and none of the coke that I hear was being shared in both bathrooms OR the pot smoked outside), and the three other people there from nearby steak houses were restrained and very human.

[Elizathan Mixture: Neil had given the tin to Martin to try, and Martin did not find it to his liking, so gave it to me. It is one of my favourites, so I am more than happy to smoke the rest of it.]

After finishing my smoke I had a second drink. I am Spartan in my habit; equal parts Scotch and water, one bowl of tobacco per drink. Which means that I seldom go beyond a second Scotch, as I only carry two briars with me when I head out. I filled the second one with Old Gowrie when I headed home.

[Wikipedia: "Gowrie (Scottish Gaelic: Gobharaidh) is a region and ancient province of Scotland, covering the eastern sliver of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, and originally included the area around Perth (and the ancient Scottish royal sites of Scone), though that was later detached as Perthia. Its chief settlement is the city of Perth. Today it is most often associated with the Carse of Gowrie, the part of Gowrie south of the Sidlaw Hills running east of Perth to Dundee."]

A crazy person shared the datum with the three of us outside the bar that "he" (an imaginary person) was killing "her" (a second imaginary person) further up the block. "yeah I know him" Eric admitted after he had passed, , and while blowing smoke clouds we listened to the violent argument further up the street between the unstable blond man and his invisible demon. After I left, he came walking by in the opposite direction, screaming "kill her, nigger, kill her!"
Normally he sleeps on the sidewalk between the Episcopal church and the Buddhist centre on Van Ness. He's the reason why parents wait with their toddlers till the childcare facility lets everybody in.


When I was nearly home I counted the last of three people with trouser issues. First one: the blond guy previously mentioned. Second one: an English man talking about "weird diseases" with a young lady, belt undone and jeans around his knees. Third one: someone with his pants down at his his ankles, texting intently outside the hip drinking hole which had closed. Those were really ugly knees.

Finished my smoke on the front steps, facing towards Mr. Siew's corner apartment across the street. Sounds of tumult from at least one street away, and a distant police siren. A small insectivorous bat joined me briefly, flitted around snatching bugs in flight, then circled the nearest lantern before heading further up the block.



Neil had given me some Dunhill Dark Flake that he had experimentally shredded in an antique device. I had one bowl of it yesterday, and smoked another today. Seeing as Dunhill pipe tobaccos are no longer going to be made, I have already stashed a half-years supply, of the Dark Flake and am still hunting around for more of it. I have a sufficiency of other Dunhill tobaccos and need not worry about running out before I croak.
My apartment mate thinks that I am completely insane.
She watches dermatological youtube videos.
And has Asperger syndrome.
Me, odd?




When I was on the bus back from Marin earlier, a young East Asian lady with a lovely face got off at Union Street, telling the driver "thank you so much, goodbye". There was something about the way she said it. Sweet, warm, very sincere. One of those people who don't throw up a wall under normal circumstances, but their heart comes out with every utterance.
The old fart she was with was probably her husband.
I rather envy that man.





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