Saturday, February 03, 2007

San Francisco hookup











Well. I'm at it again - meeting cyber friends in meat-space! And as you'll see from the pic, it's the greatest fun. In this case, we're meeting Anne in San Francisco, in one of these strange flukes of fate that seem to accompany Ewan's activities, as it was he who worked out that we'd coincide here. We've just had a great dinner virtually under the end of the Golden Gate bridge, talked blogging and education at the top of our voices as if we'd known each other for years, and have retreated to Anne's hotel room so's I can use her computer. In the St Francis, where we are just now, you pay if you breathe, I think, so I'll not be experimenting.

Yesterday we visited the Big Sur coast - so the contrast between the wide open spaces and the crashing Pacific and this incredible city is enough to make us feel like hicks. Maybe when it's daylight ....Anyway, we had a look round an old Spanish Mission in Carmel on our way home, and I suffered an intense feeling of geographical dislocation: I forgot what continent I was in and started thinking Europe. Must've been the olive trees. My main preoccupation was the ocean - we walked on the beach at Carmel in the dusk, and the sight of the waves - 8-10 feet high - first distorting and then obliterating the horizon, then surging towards us before breaking and crashing on the beach, had me mesmerised. There were surfers out there in the gloaming, and a lone sandpiper wandering in the shallows in front of me.

Won't be blogging again unless I can find a freebie in our next hotel; after that I may persuade my friends at my next stop to allow me computer time. In the meantime, it's a big thank you to Anne for the use of her laptop and for a great dinner. What an advert for the blogosphere!

1 comment:

  1. I think this is just amazing! I looked up Anne's blog and listened to your recording for her pupils. She has a good photo of Mr B. too!

    ReplyDelete