WE'RE LESS WELCOMING THAN MEETS THE EYE

The place where I bought herbal medicine a few times before my insurance kicked in is now a general grocery store. The old gentleman must have retired. I had intended to have lunch at an eatery run by a family from Toisan, but because they're closed Thursdays, I went further down, and had an enjoyable meal in a familiar place. Most of them are familiar places.
This one had roast pork and rice (燒五花腩飯 'siu ng faa naam fan').
Which was absolutely delicious.

That eatery is opposite the old fellow's herb shop.
Last time I was there was six months ago.

Pipe, then late tea at a bakery.
Pleasant conversations.

Another pipe, and a stroll down to Clay and Battery for the bus home.

Which, please understand, meant grumpiness. Not only was it delayed, and I knew it was going to be rerouted (no surprise there), but because California Street had been blocked off, several of us ended up ten or twelve blocks away from where we would have disembarked. In the rain. With up and down slopes in between there and our destinations.

Instead of my walking stick, I had an umbrella.
One old fellow had a walker.



Okay, we've had a week of many out-of-towners being very important, and others rioting. Go home, all of you. And take those loud narco-terrorist visitors on Grant Avenue along.
As well as the giddy Mandarin-speakers who invaded the bakery.
Portland or Berkeley, es iz mir ganz sheissegal.

[Giddy Mandarin-speakers: Why giddy? Well, imagine that you've spent the entire last five days surrounded by crude narco-state diplomats and their business men, as well as obsequious yet ignorant Anglos (and even more businessmen), and you've politely eaten strange muck in surroundings which are both expensive and vulgar, while angry Berkeleyites a block away were howling something unintelligible. Then, quite by accident, you stumble into a very nice Chinese bakery. Where everyone looks familiar. And they have the same things that you snack on back home. Things you know. And little signs in understandable language that identify stuff. Charsiu sou, daan taat, lo po beng, and so forth. 叉燒酥、蛋撻、老婆餠，同其他。 "Oh! My snackies! At last, familiar turf, my snackies! How wonderful! How utterly lovely! Waaaaaah!"]

On second thought, don't take the Mandarin speakers with you. They've had to put up with you lot all week, they've suffered. They are ferklempt. They need a break.



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