Bus Report #600
Late last week I met up with The Teacher's Pet in North Beach.
My original plan was to take the 10 Townsend to Sacramento Street and walk from there, but it was Giants opening day and the schedule for the 10 was completely messed up.
NextBus predicted 15 minutes and 45 minutes right before I put on my coat, and then as I was about to leave work it changed to 35 minutes and 78 minutes. Nice.
I tried the 19 Polk, thinking I would just take anything headed down Market and then walk. Another no go. it was running every 20 minutes, except for the next couple buses, 1 minute and 39 minutes.
So I got on the 22 and rode out to Market Street, where I planned to switch to the F Market.
As luck would have it, a bright orange F Market streetcar rattled into the stop and I got on. Everyone was crowded in the front, as often happens with a bus full of tourists, so I patiently made my way through the crush to the back of the train.
Where a very smelly, very twitchy guy was pacing, mumbling, opening and closing windows, and throwing trash out of the windows.
Great!
I sat as far away from him as I could, near an open window.
The F slowly headed towards downtown. The crazy guy got out at Van Ness.
A very old man in a suit and tie got on at the next stop and sat beside me.
I started worrying about the time; we were supposed to meet at six and it was already quarter to. The F stopped at Third and Market and got out, and booked it down a crowded Kearny Street.
There are so many reasons to love San Francisco, and one of them, to me, is walking down Kearny, going from the financial district to the edge of Chinatown, to North Beach. People in suits and dressy shoes going one way, tourists and shoppers headed in the opposite direction. Jack Kerouac Alley connecting Grant Street in Chinatown to Columbus Ave. in North Beach.
The girl playing accordion outside City Lights Books.
Me, inside the bookstore, smiling at the spine of a familiar book, an old friend I haven't thought of in a while.
The Teacher's Pet found me in the back room at City Lights. We were both right on time.
My original plan was to take the 10 Townsend to Sacramento Street and walk from there, but it was Giants opening day and the schedule for the 10 was completely messed up.
NextBus predicted 15 minutes and 45 minutes right before I put on my coat, and then as I was about to leave work it changed to 35 minutes and 78 minutes. Nice.
I tried the 19 Polk, thinking I would just take anything headed down Market and then walk. Another no go. it was running every 20 minutes, except for the next couple buses, 1 minute and 39 minutes.
So I got on the 22 and rode out to Market Street, where I planned to switch to the F Market.
As luck would have it, a bright orange F Market streetcar rattled into the stop and I got on. Everyone was crowded in the front, as often happens with a bus full of tourists, so I patiently made my way through the crush to the back of the train.
Where a very smelly, very twitchy guy was pacing, mumbling, opening and closing windows, and throwing trash out of the windows.
Great!
I sat as far away from him as I could, near an open window.
The F slowly headed towards downtown. The crazy guy got out at Van Ness.
A very old man in a suit and tie got on at the next stop and sat beside me.
I started worrying about the time; we were supposed to meet at six and it was already quarter to. The F stopped at Third and Market and got out, and booked it down a crowded Kearny Street.
There are so many reasons to love San Francisco, and one of them, to me, is walking down Kearny, going from the financial district to the edge of Chinatown, to North Beach. People in suits and dressy shoes going one way, tourists and shoppers headed in the opposite direction. Jack Kerouac Alley connecting Grant Street in Chinatown to Columbus Ave. in North Beach.
The girl playing accordion outside City Lights Books.
Me, inside the bookstore, smiling at the spine of a familiar book, an old friend I haven't thought of in a while.
The Teacher's Pet found me in the back room at City Lights. We were both right on time.
posted by Rachel at 1:10 PM
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