MERRY FESTIVE NON-DENOMINATIONAL CELEBRATORY HOLIDAY GREETINGS

57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
Skype: nadinemellor

Dearest Family and Friends

‘Tis the season and we have been having a jolly December with lots of parties and (despite having neither tree nor decorations) getting into the Christmas spirit. We’ve been making friends and getting out and about culturally – no change there then…

Christmas in San Francisco is a big deal despite the lack of snow and the mild temperatures (days, like today, are mostly cloudless and beautiful - this is the dawn breaking over SF from our window). As soon as Thanksgiving ended, trees, fairy lights, decorations, and retail opportunities proliferated.

Curiously, despite much Christmas awareness and a high Church going attendance, the word Christmas is not much heard. Few people say “Merry Christmas”, preferring the more PC “Happy Holidays”. Shops and restaurants are careful not to nail their colours to any particular tribal totem pole – you can have a tree decorated to the nines but nothing that refers to the little baby Jesus. A rabbi in Seattle complained there was no menorah at the airport so the authorities removed the Christmas tree, on the grounds that it may offend Jewish people (it was reinstated after protest); the SF Symphony Hall had Celebratory Trees sponsored by various businesses, rather than Christmas trees; we went last weekend to a ‘Trimming the Non-Denominational Holiday Shrub’ party (irony and delicious food - yum!).

How Not to Party Experience of the Month
I was looking forward to the Yahoo! Xmas party, I hadn’t been dancing in the US yet and it was time to shake a tail feather. 5000 guests were expected. For once it poured with rain all day and as the party was miles away (between Silicon Valley and SF) we dressed up in all our finery (pictured) and took a taxi to the train station through lashing rain. Colman confidently predicted when we got off at San Mateo 45 minutes south we would see other Yahoos disembark to meet the shuttle buses taking revellers to the party. But instead we found a deserted station, empty town and no other Yahoos in sight, nor any coaches.

By dint of near hara-kiri Colman persuaded a taxi on his way to collect a fare to stop. It soon transpired we had got off at the wrong train stop and were in fact destined for the Expo Centre some miles down the freeway. The driver, cursing have picked us up, dropped us near enough for us to walk the remainder.

We finally arrived to a colossal space filled with decorations on a vaguely Middle Eastern feel including belly dancers adorned with snake on podiums surrounded by masses of food including sushi and oysters, a large casino space which was very popular, and free drink. There was a charity auction at which the founders of Yahoo (alarmingly young) and CEO made appearances on the stage. We spent the rest of our time at the party trying to find a lift back to SF, to no avail.

The first band’s final number was We Are Family, so, undaunted by a vast empty dance floor, I got up to get down in fine style, cameras tracking every hip wiggle and boob boogie, Yahoos applauding, finishing with a flourish with the splits. Disaster! My heel wrenched off. Forced to leave at 10.30 to catch the last train home, we then caught a taxi back in SF (still cats and dogs) to head to the Red Devil Lounge to meet friends where hopefully, even without a heel, I could get to do some dancing. We arrived with great aplomb, the music sounded great, all looking good until disaster struck again as they requested to see my ID, which naturally I don’t carry being British. Fuming, I went home in the rain.

Christmas Festivities
December has seen us getting out and about and meeting the locals. Mostly a well-mannered, intelligent and friendly collection. It is easy to get invited to parties as everybody sends out Evites, which get forwarded on to collect a wider crowd. Party themes and high quality food seem to be in vogue here; this is us at a Scarface party. We crashed the Google after-Xmas-party in a nightclub, which was fun – it resembled a high school Prom with all the girls dressed to the nines, boys in matching ensembles, and an intriguing ethnic mix – lots of folk from the sub-continent and Asian-Americans seem to gravitate towards the Double O behemoths (Google and Yahoo - there’s a friendly rivalry between the two). The DJ did a good Hip Hop Mash Up which saw Rob and I trying to beat each other to the intro.

I’m honoured to have joined the DLG – Drinking Ladies Group – who meet every Thursday either in someone’s home or in a bar, and are a group of warm-hearted, funny, welcoming girls, about 10 years younger than me (so good to party) and it has been very nice hanging out with locals rather than ex-pats..

We had Secret Santa last week – my lack of credentials to join the group were clear when my present was revealed – a bottle of tequila! A lively bunch, I can see us socialising with them quite a bit: Michelle had a birthday party last week – afterwards we FINALLY went dancing which was good fun (this is Colman and I in Pink nightclub), Debra hosted a Hanukah party last Sunday complete with home made jam doughnuts (sorry jelly donuts) and I am looking forward to spending more time with them all in 2007.

Cultural Experience of the Month
Checked out the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, newly redesigned by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron of Tate Modern fame. A gorgeous building with a distinctive copper-patina, it aims to integrate art, architecture and natural landscape. Its almost trapizoidal tower has an observation deck at the top offering spectacular views of the park, the city and the Golden Gate Bridge. And the contemporary art was quite good too!

Seasonal Event of the Month
A few choices here: I took Colman to see an all female Tango troupe which was very sexy; and went with Adam to see Aimee Mann’s first annual Christmas show in Bimbo’s 365 – a fabulous venue resembling a 50s casino from Vegas with little tables, velvet curtains and waitress service.

But the prize goes to the Blind Boys of Alabama’s Christmas Show at the beautiful Davies Symphony Hall (pictured - completed in 1980 but with a cool post-war retro feel to it). Formed in 1939, (yes really) the Blind Boys have won 5 Grammies over the last few years as they’ve taken their soul-gospel mojo to more contemporary material; their breakthrough hit was Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.

Now an 8 piece band, half of whom are blind, their infectious energy and life force got the whole auditorium dancing in the aisles, hands in the air praising the Lord. We were informed that despite the present ‘turbulent times’ especially in the Middle East, everything was going to be alright as ‘God is still in control’. Well there’s nothing like blind faith…

San Francisco Moment of the Month
To landmark Castro Theatre (sorry Theater) for Singalonga Grease with new friends Adam (Sydney) and Brian (London). What fun. The building dubbed ‘San Francisco’s Historic Movie Palace’ dates from 1922, and is a lavish space, with art deco mouldings (sorry moldings), original murals and a resplendent organ which played all the hits of Grease for us before sinking into the floor with a flourish on ‘We’ll Always Be Together’.

The costume competition saw 9 year old boys dressed as Greasers win; the film had us all singing, clapping, cheering, cat calling, and laughing – genius. And seeing it in the Castro revealed all those hitherto unnoticed homoerotic moments…

Anthropological Moment of the Month
Early one Sunday morning we were waiting for the tram beside Mission Dolores Park (pictured) – yet another gorgeous day and hazy mist clearing – examining our fellow travellers at the stop. The homeless chap with sores on his face was rolling cigarettes from dog ends on the platform while discussing his parasites with a Franciscan monk. An almost medieval juxtaposition. Bettered only by the monks themselves discussing the various fabric and tailoring options available for their habits.

Earthquake of the Month
My first one! Measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, its epicentre was a few miles away in Berkeley – no damage and noone hurt. It was at 7.12pm Wednesday 20th Dec and felt as if a giant had given the whole building a hard shove. The antenna on the TV wobbled alarmingly. It felt very disconcerting afterwards. And er, that’s it.

Taxi Driver of the Month
Classic old geezer from Costa Rica. He hadn’t been to the cinema for 20 years (2 hours too long to sit in one place) and was amazed when I told him they were on to the 7th James Bond. He informed me that this country is going to the dogs, the US are a declining nation – for any passenger who argued this he had the ultimate test: he’d give them $50 if they were wearing anything at all – glasses, watch, underwear, clothes – made in the US. He hasn’t lost a challenge yet.

Mural of the Month
This is the pool where I swim 2-3 times a week; the other days I practice yoga (lengthy Sanskrit chanting, heated practice rooms, few inversions and continual music even during Sivasana are the go). We've been exploring our cool neighbourhood (sorry neighborhood) happily located between the Latino Mission, upscale Noe Valley and gay Castro district – sampling the local restaurants of every stripe is one of our NY resolutions. Second hand clothes, furniture and bookshops abound.

Wine of the Month by Mission Boy
Riesling Auslese,
Emrich Schonleber,
Nahe, Germany 2000
Forget your prejudices. All through the Blue Nun years the Germans continued to make gorgeous, ethereal wines that could stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with the best in the world.
Forget also the conventional concept of a wine as either dry or sweet. The magic of the German Riesling is that it combines mouthfilling, expansive, rich (and, yes, sweet) flavours, with a piercing palette-cleansing freshness which prevents cloying.
In a young, light example the effect can be a little like grown-up fruit juice. In an older, richer wine, like todays, the scene is set for a panoply of slatey, flintey, smokey, limey flavours that will change your mind about the Huns and sweet wine too.
The difficulty lies in identifying a good one. German appellation rules are baffling. More information can be found right here.

Restaurant of the Month
Chez Spencer, inner Mission. Warehouse space with soaring ceilings and polished concrete and stone hidden behind a high fence scrawled with ‘Chez Spencer’ in an unprepossessing part of town. High quality French menu with classic dishes given contemporary twists: black olive tapenade on seabass on bed of slow roasted aubergine for me; turbot on mushrooms delicately flavoured with Bearnaise sauce for Colman. Gorgeous wine, blind piano player tinkling standards infused with chromatic jazz sensibilities, sublime ‘middle course’ of smoked duck breast topped with lardons and poached egg. Full of interesting clientele – arty, Eurocentric, movers and shakers.

Bird of the Month
Western Scrub Jay Aphelocoma californica – a large friendly bird who sits on the wire outside my window and alights distinctively by flourishing his tail on tree tops all over the state before gliding with stiff wing beats to the next perch. Blue head, wings and tail with a cream belly and white throat and eyebrow.

Stencil of the Month
SF is a pretty clean city, with seemingly little graffiti and vandalism, despite the hordes of homeless and dogs; in our area the pavements (sorry sidewalks) have cryptic stencilled messages on them – which range from the romantic (you are the one I’ve been looking for) to the political (end the death penalty) to the civic (protect the Bay, no dumping) to the philosophical (pictured) to the pornographic (not pictured).

Bumper Sticker of the Month
Fundamental Agnosticism: I don’t know if there is a God and neither do you

Missing you all very much – come and visit!

Love and hugs Nadine and Colman xxx

MISSION POSSIBLE

Dearest Family and Friends

57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
Skype: nadinemellor

Since our last communication there’s been a political sea change, the weather is a bit more autumnal but still wonderful pretty much every day. We’re feeling more settled here, especially in our new LOVELY apartment, which we’re hugely pleased about.

Our month in Soma was useful – department stores, art galleries, concert halls, shops, swimming pool on the roof and free yoga – but it was definitely time to create our own home and we got very impatient in the run up to the 17th November. Our shipping arrived and that weekend we frantically scrubbed the apartment and unpacked, marvelling at how many clothes we possessed we’d had no need of over the past 3 months – hmmm a lesson for us all there. For the first time in our relationship we went shopping together, particularly appreciative of the Art Deco and Modernist designer ware and furniture here. We did a lot more window shopping than actual purchasing and there is more to buy, but we were delighted with the 1957 desk and 60s Swedish bedside tables. By Tuesday everything was in its rightful place and we had bought a dining table and chairs, kitchen table and chairs so could entertain in time for Thanksgiving phew!

We have great views from the study and sitting room north-west-east to the city and downtown including the top of the Bay Bridge – this picture was taken at 7.30 this morning and is my view all day as I work – at night now it is all glittering lights. Our bedroom and kitchen are at the back with wooden fire escape stairs off the scullery going down into the beautifully kept garden below, although it gets pretty much no direct sunshine so the best sunbathing is outside the kitchen door on the top of the steps, from where we can almost see across the bay to the east. Our neighbours downstairs seem very nice, although in true urban fashion we’ve barely seen them so have invited them over for drinks this weekend.

What is really lovely is that although the houses on a particular street may date from the same time, there are no terraces. Every one is built individually so styles are mostly coherent and similar, but few are the same as their neighbour. Ours was built in 1910 and we have some charming details in the flat.

We are beside Mission Dolores park, a well-known landmark in these parts, between Dolores (noted for its long line of palm trees), which is parallel to Guerrero. We are two blocks from the myriad of restaurants of every stripe and vintage shops on Valencia, in the gentrifying Mission district that borders Noe Valley. Ethnically mixed and colourful, with apparently lots of bars and nightlife - clearly some field research is required... Mission is named after the first Mission settlement in the area, and just up the road is the original adobe church, built 1782, the oldest structure in SF. It is as if we are living on the border of Hackney (but Latino not Afro-Caribbean and Turkish) and Highgate. The more you venture into the heart of Mission colourful murals appear and Spanish is the lingua franca; the more into Noe Valley the ‘Victorians’ have been done up to within an inch of their lives with eight-tone paint jobs and gilt on the edges. As everything in SF is on a grid it really is impossible to get lost. The relentless straight lines are made more interesting by the hilly topography. To the east and north of us, it is flat and low, journeys to the south and west mean a good workout.

Our apartment is perfectly placed near the instant legend Tartine, a bakery and round the corner from Bi-rite (not shoes, but a mini Whole Foods supermarket). The size of the average corner shop this has gourmet groceries, a deli counter, an impressive wine selection, fresh meat and sustainable fish counter, over 100 cheeses, glorious displays of produce all organic and locally sourced, biodegradable bin bags, organic pet food (yes really), you name it. Cheap it isn’t of course. But it is very easy in SF to avoid the Starbucks/Fast Food Nation side to the US. There’s a culture of shopping locally and the vast majority of local shops are individually owned.

I’ve swapped the swimming pool on the roof for the public pool in Mission, which happens to be round the corner: no mean feat in a city where public amenities are generally run down – the curse of too much private enterprise as most people swim in their gyms. It is open air and feels very 70s; there are never more than 4 people swimming at one time.

And signed up for two different yoga centres nearby. The first one I was a little late for and was astonished to hear an organ underscoring the Ohmm chanting as I approached the room; it was a very spiritual class with much concentration on position and being in the now. The other concentrates on Vinyasa Flow in warm temperatures, but not Bikram heat thankfully, so you do sweat a lot but joints really open up, and is a very good workout. This class had tambourines and 10 minutes of Sanskrit chanting to start with.

The San Francisco lifestyle is very appealing – lots of tofu-munching right-on behaviour – the yoga centre has eco-friendly yoga mats for example, in fact there are four local yoga centres within 5 minutes walk as well as Chinese acupuncturist and herbs places, meditation and spiritual centres – only in SF! – with fearsome doorstep recycling initiatives and car pool lanes on the motorways (sorry freeways). So much so that in fact ‘San Francisco values’ played a large part in the recent election.

The Republicans, running scared, tried to whip up support at the last minute (flogging a dead horse, ed) by attacking Nancy Pelosi (now Speaker of Congress) and her ‘far-left’ values saying do we want them leading the culture war? Apparently these values consist of gay marriage, mocking Christianity, taxing the rich, and being an active threat to the ways of Washington. Well given the recent Republican sex scandals it does seem a bit rich for them to be chastising upright SF citizens for moral impropriety! Some have commented that SF values mean an uneasy guilt-ridden relationship with the homeless (it is quite an in your face issue here), while others have quipped Washington values are the real danger to developing minds. It seems it was a direct result of SF values that Bush won the last election as Ohio, a swing state, stayed Republican because they were relentlessly bombarded with information about the recent spate of gay marriages in SF, which the new Democratic Mayor had introduced in order to win the gay vote to beat the Green (the Republican candidate didn’t have a prayer). Anti-Bush slogans and sentiments are everywhere. There’s a campaign to prevent war by riding a bicycle so you don’t consume oil; in Russian River Valley we saw huge anti-Bush placards by the roadside; and there are posters saying peace is patriotic, and others saying if the US stops funding Israel, they’ll stop funding terrorism.

While examining all the sub-cultures that float past, I do stop to wonder if they’ve identified mine as well.

Gig of the Month
The Pet Shop Boys are old troopers nowadays and in truth could probably go on forever on autopilot – one never shows his face and expends minimal energy on stage, and the other doesn’t sing or dance. Simple and effective stage show, and it is extraordinary how one’s brain retains 80s lyrics to the comma. It was my first gig without cigarettes and what a relief, although someone was smoking a joint somewhere in the crowd; amusingly when the lighters-aloft moment arrived, people held up their mobile phones on torch mode instead!

We were in front of a row of chiselled young gay boys who were all exceedingly Tiggerishly excited to be watching such living legends – Colman told me to stop lusting after them as I’m old enough to be their mother – and the drainpipe-trousered post-punk cowboy-hipped swaggering Asians, but the sight of the night were the two Hayseed Homos whose outfits (denim dungarees, beards, hats) only lacked straw as a finishing touch.

Cultural Event of the Month
Sankai Juku are a Japanese butoh group based in France. The performance consisted of mesmeric controlled flowing movements showcasing incredible and delicate muscle strength to vibrant percussive music. Costumes of kimono style long tunics, bodies and shaved heads were dusted cream white all over, deadpan faces would sometimes silently laugh or look horrified. The audience was almost as good as the show – a good sprinkling of outré outfits, an upscale arty eccentric crowd.

Seasonal Event of the Month
Thanksgiving. It’s a big deal here. In fact worth repeating. It’s a big deal. Bet you didn’t know you could have pumpkin lattes, pumpkin ale (on special offer in our local shop) and pumpkin pie martinis. For once the relentless beat of commerce quietened, not stilled completely, but definitely slowed down, as many jaunted off to exotic climes or family gatherings.

Thanksgiving was another beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky all day. We christened our new French Art Deco table with a five course lengthy luncheon with three charming English boys (Rob works with Colman, my friend Luke drove up from LA and brought his friend Pete) – a very satisfactory ratio from my POV. We deliberately went anti-turkey and Colman created a wonderful lamb stew, I made my signature apple & pear crumble and a bean soup for an entrée. By the cheese course, we had run out of toasts and were starting to blither somewhat, which wasn’t surprising given the 6 and a half bottles of wine and half a bottle of port consumed…

Expedition of the Month
The next day, bright and sunny (again!), the five of us set off (slightly more sluggishly than planned) to the redwood hills and picture postcard wineries (renowned for chardonnay and pinot noir) of Russian River Valley, 1.5 hours North of San Francisco. We had booked possibly the cheapest accommodation you could find, a wooden two roomed cabin whose doors didn’t shut properly, in Guerneville (pictured), disturbingly reminiscent of Twin Peaks, dubbed Groinville for the preponderance of hairy bears visiting from SF in summer months.

Sadly we could report few such wildlife sightings but can submit detailed accounts of the various vineyards we strode then shuffled then staggered into as we drove along the Westside Road towards Healdsburg, our dinner destination.

Clean and shiny Healdsburg appeared to be a Christmassy version of the town in the Truman Show. A Christmas band and carol singers topped with Santa hats was playing on every corner; the woman selling her strange looking Boston terrier puppies seemed to dog our every footstep; dazzling parades of boutiques with alluring window displays selling nothing you want in very attractive packages; throngs of happy smiling all-American families crowded the pavements (sorry sidewalks). One turn around the square drove us into the nearest champagne/cocktail bar for respite, where we discovered we had just survived Black Friday – the biggest shopping day of the year.

After dinner, and by now increasingly raucous, banishing our newfound American good manners and reverting to boorish type, we went to a hotel bar where Pete and Colman played the piano together, sometimes in harmony, while I warbled. We looked up to see the other customers had melted away and the bar was closed. Nothing daunted we carried on to be refused entry at the next bar, before getting into the low rent one where Luke’s pool and dancing, and my splits were put to the test and Colman kept asking everybody if he was the drunkest person in the room. The evening still makes me laugh – on the drive home Rob kept a watchful eye on me as I spun the wheel while the others conked out in the back. Upon arrival Luke was convinced we had kidnapped him. He had no idea where he was..

The next morning saw us revisit the diner of the day before but in considerably worse fettle, to the waitress’ enjoyment. Refuelled, we set off for beautiful Armstrong Woods State Park. Two hours of ascent through pristine forests brought us to wonderful views in all directions and soaring skies. Voted best hangover cure. Later that afternoon we drove to Santa Rosa and saw Casino Royale - superb - and apt considering much gadget-speak all weekend. Next morning our final breakfast at the diner got us a 10% frequent flyer discount. Brilliant.

Quote of the Month
US chick: “Have you been to the British countryside?” Colman: “Er, yes, many times.” US chick: “Yes, I’ve been there!”

Hippy Dippy Moment of the Month
We went to see my old friend Seb in Marin County the first Saturday in November (another glorious day) and went walking around a lake and admired the vista, and visited, among other things, the world’s first organic supermarket, still going strong, in Fairfax. Among titles for sale in the newspaper stand was Macrobiotics Today; the noticeboard proclaimed the wonders of yoga against the Iraq war, and invited you to discover your soul through a bewildering variety of ways, means and chanting. Beatific thin bearded old men with faded blue eyes tried to canvas us for our vote outside. We finished our day with a Mexican meal on the outdoor terrace under a full moon.

Restaurant of the Month
Manka’s Inverness Lodge, Inverness, Marin County. Colman took me on a surprise weekend away to Point Reyes Seashore, an hour north of SF, which is not technically part of the continent of N.America as it is the other side of the San Andreas Fault. There’s a ruler straight thin inlet that marks the faultline, and different trees grow either side as the soil is different. The delightful thing about Marin is that you can go walking all day in gorgeous surroundings adjacent to the Pacific (windy it was, especially up at the lighthouse where the trees grow horizontally) with excellent birding to boot, and then every shop, café, diner and restaurant you happen across brims with tasty and wonderful organic dishes just waiting for you to fall onto like locusts. All outlets seem to sign up to the Marin Organic movement, where food is traced to Pete’s potato patch, Annabelle’s pumpkin farm or H Ranch’s beef.

Manka stands out for it’s set menu 5 course dinner party for $58 (!!) for which you show up between 7 & 8. The Lodge is a former hunting lodge with moose heads on the wall, flickering light from the hearth, wood panelled walls, and gay superefficient waiters with not so much as an eyebrow hair out of place. Sort of a cross between a posh Highlands Lodge with a Scene restaurant. We feasted on wild nettle soup (sublime), spinach and cauliflower (part hickory roasted), posh fish and chips (delicately flavoured), beef on pureed carrots (melted in the mouth) followed by pumpkin soufflé (yes it’s the season).

Wine of the Month by Mission Boy
Joseph Swan, Zinfandel
Mancini Ranch, Russian River, 1999
Ah now this is the real Californian thing. Built like a brick shit house. Its seven years old and still throwing punches. Sweet tears pour down the sides of the glass. The wine is nearly perfectly black (meaning it was black when it was originally made). Macerated black fruits and a great deal of volatility climb up your nose. Its almost unbearable and no secondary aromas (expected in a older wine) are yet discernable.

The first sip (no airing) seemed all talk and no trousers. A wall of tannin and hollow fruit. A few minutes in the glass gave a hint of something else however. Red fruits with banana behind on entry, a disjointed passage across the palate ending with a solid tasty sourness.

The next day the wine was a much friendlier and though still ballsy animal. The volatily has blown off and the tannins softened creating a smoother mouthfeel. 24 hours of air lets a wine like this show what it is capable of, and what more time in the cellar would offer.

Truly lovely and truly Californian, though some would say that this drink will kill any food it is served with. One for the fireside perhaps.

Bird of the Month
Four inch Anna’s Hummingbird calypte anna zips around like shiny green flying beetles on speed. I can hear them making sonar like sounds - szip stit - outside the apartment all day, and we saw them whirring past us and hovering in the air like jewelled moths in Russian River too, while thinking of the two Annas who were absent that weekend (Bolt and Gardener), and much missed.

Bumper Sticker of the Month
I Never Thought I’d Miss Nixon

Missing you all very much – come and visit!
Love and hugs Nadine and Colman xxx

IN LIMBO IN SOMA

Dearest Family and Friends

This is the first monthly epistle from quirky, friendly, beautiful, sunny San Francisco.


Contact Details:
57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110 (from 18th November)
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
Skype: nadinemellor

I only arrived here two weeks ago, having flown over melting Greenland (astonishing to see icebergs and the air is so thin it all looked very close) while watching An Inconvenient Truth followed by The Devil Wears Prada (life is full of such juxtapositions) sitting next to a jolly of Top Shop executives. After Greenland, cloud shrouded Canada and Washington State with just a few mountain tops protruding, so it wasn’t until half an hour to go I sighted my new home.

Luck has always found me (must remember to thank the universe more often), I was sitting on the left of the plane for a perfect bird’s eye view of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, then the Bay Bridge as we approached to land. Colman was overjoyed to see me – it had been the longest we’d ever been parted - but relax! I’ll refrain from sharing the details of our reconciliation (you can take the girl out of England but) – and drove to grandly-titled The Paramount - our corporate apartment home courtesy of Yahoo! We are staying in SOMA (south of market) beside the financial district, downtown. Best described as Woolloomooloo meets Holborn – corporate meets residential meets industrial. We are on the 11th floor overlooking the CBD but as the building reaches 42 storeys (well slightly less accounting for plant rooms, the lobby, and there’s no level 13) the only landmark we can see is the top of the Bay Bridge. The view from the rooftop is somewhat more spectacular – if you don’t suffer from vertigo and can bear to look at it – as this is one of the last skyscrapers as you travel south along the peninsula. The building is billed as luxury executive accommodation with everything the modern young couple just moved here from out of state could require (strangely no kettle though and the bed sags in the middle so I roll into Colman all night) although essentially soulless and compact. We are opposite the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society, and the Moscone Convention Centre which featured the Direct Marketing Association of America’s convention in our first week – the Customer is on a Journey, Be the Destination.

It took a while to recover from sheer core exhaustion having been so frenetic in the run up to leaving, as well as not sleeping for months (still not so but plus ca change), but all is restored now.

Extraordinary how one seeks out routine from the get go. I wake at 6.15, at work from 6.30 to dovetail with Europe as much as possible, breaking at lunch to swim in the side open air rooftop pool on the 5th floor – am now sporting freckles and cossie lines as the weather has been simply perfect since I got here (although rain is now forecast for the rest of the year until the end of February…)

I can go for a day or two without ever leaving the building – and when backstroking see only skyscrapers and blue skies. Late afternoons for on errands, music and the radio - am hooked on the fantastic eclectic Late Junction playlists on Listen Again on Radio 3 (today was Romanian singers, plain chants, Norwegian nu-folk, Moroccan beats and Spanish flamenco) and feeding my Archers addiction (I long predicted Ruth and Sam), reading (it really is 140 channels and nothing on TV) – almost unknown to have this quiet restorative time. Somewhat interrupted by the banshee wails of fire engine sirens.

Our first weekend we spent flat hunting – our first joint housing venture. One apartment had recently been finished to a high standard but overlooked a gun shop, so I said it was vetoed on those grounds and then agonized I’d been too bolshy in making such a stand. We found an apartment on Day 2 which was evidence of our desirability as tenants in a competitive (and expensive) market (no pets, no smokers, no kids, no waterbeds).

We will have 2 spacious bedrooms, sitting room with bay window, dining room (which converts to extra bedroom if required), large kitchen, share of beautifully kept garden, very nicely decorated, in the ideal part of town – funky Mission meets yuppie upscale Noe Valley right beside the only nice park around – Mission Dolores - and one block away from the pool. My old friend Bettina and her family are a ten minute walk away. Cafes and restaurants and a happening street scene round the corner, a few blocks from the Latino quarter, yet the flat is on a quiet residential road. Perfect. Only downsides are we share the garden with 2 other apartments, and don’t move in until 18th Nov. Marking time until then; living out of suitcases.

San Francisco is everything I had been told it would be and more: a stunning natural setting with varying microclimates; lots of neighbourhoods each a few blocks wide but with their own subtle character; street tableaux (lots and lots of homeless everywhere which is disconcerting, most are tramplike, a few have talent – witness the chap playing the buckets tunefully with gusto or the fellow playing Greensleeves hauntingly on the trumpet); gay-friendly; pet-friendly (Paul Mitchell has a dog shampoo range); sub-cultures abound; Latino influences; lively restaurant scenes; and all introductions have so far opened doors in a very welcoming fashion. More details in the next missive.

San Francisco Experience of the Month
Bikram yoga is big here. And what luck I thought, there’s a studio one street away! So eager beaver signed up for a month’s classes on day two. For the uninitiated, Bikram is when you do a series of 26 poses in 105F heat for 90 minutes.

“Easy”, thought I, conveniently ignoring the fact I’d not been to a class of any description for over six months, hadn’t practiced yoga for two, get headaches in saunas, and was fatigued to the core. Oh yes, and everybody else was wearing swimming costumes while I had long yoga trousers and sleeved T-shirt.

15 minutes in, I was gasping. The teacher having introduced me to the rest of the class, referred to me a few times during the Hades-like experience, and got the whole class to clap me at the end for enduring it! If I hadn’t already been puce in the face, I’d have blushed.

Colman came home that night to find me moaning feebly on the bed, poleaxed with a savage headache. And the studio sent me a friendly card exhorting me to return. Not on your nellie.

Looking forward to finding the right yoga studio for me when we move into the apartment – I’ve had some classes in this building which are nice, my fellow practitioner told me he was here to release his inner New York!

Anthropological Moment of the Month
Going to the Social Security office downtown was certainly an experience. The sign on the door says ‘It is a Federal Offense to Kill or Kidnap, or Maim an Employee of the United States Social Security Department’ which made sense when I saw the inhabitants of the waiting room. The guards had lots of patience and a gun each. A fortunate combination. The rich tapestry on show included the two welfare black queens with lovely nail varnish discussing their mutual friend in jail, the arsey beanie-wearing bejacketed types (lots of them did seem overdressed given our present clement weather) swearing at everybody, the white woman in a wheelchair with oxygen tubes to her nose whose hippy looking friend/helper/wheelchair pusher in shorts and sandals was cutting his toenails…

Seasonal Event of the Month
Has to be Halloween. What a to do it is here! Large shops along the main commercial drag dedicated to selling Halloween tat, fake cobwebs festooned over pristine topiared gardens, pumpkins and marrows gracing every business and restaurant with witches hanging off doors, skeletons grinning in every window, black fake birds adorning displays, and costumes on show for a week. The local adult entertainment shop had sexy Halloween costumes in the window display.

Last Saturday we went to dinner in Castro (main gay area) and were treated to nurses, Carmen Miranda outfits made out of orange mesh street netting, Mounties, policeman and his escaped prisoner boyfriend, dresses concocted of rubber gloves, an outfit inspired by bathroom items (the loo-plunger was the hat), the NZ rugby team, disco queen glitterballs with Commedia dell’Arte masks, brillo pad bikini, mermaid in a wheelchair, Friesians in drag, pirates, an eight strong stewardess routine repeated every 10 minutes, superheroes, geishas, and the usual fright parade of Halloween monsters.

On the 31st itself thousands converge on Castro and crowd control is always an issue apparently; 9 people were in fact shot (not killed) as the police tried to disperse crowds after the music was turned off at 2230 – the event may be cancelled next year it seems. I was safely in Noe Valley at a street party with hundreds of children trick or treating – my God the sugar rush their parents must have been dealing with all last night…

Expedition of the Month
Last weekend we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (its actually rust coloured, ‘international orange’) for the first time, with Colman’s brother Patrick at the wheel, to Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, a protected coastal redwood forest. You walk along a river valley with dozens of other daytrippers through awesome (yes the true sense of the word) towering sequoias, then up empty trails for panoramic views out over the hills through different ecosystems and vegetation. Really sublime to be out in gorgeous country, in wonderful tranquil woods on such a stunning day.

Taxi Driver of the Month
An overweight, country & western fanatic, transgender (female to male, apparently used to look like Anna Nicole Smith) with a long term transgender partner (male to female, used to be a navy boy) who drove with a small white lap dog on his lap, and was recommending his new home in the suburbs.

Restaurant of the Month
Woodward’s Garden. Unprepossessingly under a freeway flyover, with homeless on every corner, busy compact kitchen on view, shabby chic red plush seats and velvet curtains, romantic, dimly lit, seasonal New American cuisine, interesting wine list, clientele from the 40-something lesbians to the upscale 50 year olds to the group of chattering 30 year olds, charming. Colman took me there at the end of my first week.

Wine of the Month by Mission Boy
A to Z Pinot Noir 2005
Oregon
Yes it’s got a perplexing name, but this wine confounded more then one stereotype of American wine.
Charming fruit balanced with fresh finish dressed with true (even burgundy-like) pinot mustiness was a relief from one expecting overblown jammy fruit-and-alcohol confection. A wine I could savour and look forward to returning to.
The other stereotype confounded? It only cost $16. You don’t have to pay over the odds for impressive West Coast wines. Hooray!

Bird of the Month
Winter wren (troglodytes troglodytes) we saw engrossed bobbing and flitting up and down its own little stream beside the walkways in Muir Woods, Marin County.

Bumper Sticker of the Month
‘Doing My Part to Piss off the Republican Right’

Missing you all very much
Love and big hugs Nadine and Colman xxx