We were struggling to keep awake at dinner and threw in the towel at eight, pretending that we were going to watch Law and Order. I woke at three thirty in the morning - Harriet was playing and in a very good mood as if everything that had just happened to her was the most normal thing in the world.
The good news is that at five we all went to sleep again and woke up at half seven. It felt like morning and Harriet scoffed a jar from the infant meal we got on the plane.
Breakfast for us was a trip to Burger King. So early in the morning SF's vagrants were the main people on the street. A man, by his own admission drunk at 8am, talked to us in Burger King, sharing his faith in North European paganism. It was by no means threatening just very Californian.
Back out on Market Street we took a stroll. Remarkably all the way down to the Castro there are pride flags along the route. It looks a bit like the Mall set up to expect the Queen of the Friends of Dorothy on a state visit.
We reached the Ferry Building where J swore blind that we used to get a coffee and sit on the pier watching the ships. I had done no such thing and reminded him of just how long he had been here with Harriet without me. So we got a drink and made the false memory a real one.
It was a glorious day in which the city was bathed in sunshine but across the bay it was all rolling mist and fog. Everyone smiled at us and Harriet charmed them all.
The next phase of the day cannot be described effectively, not by me and not by anyone most likely. The simple facts are that we took a taxi to Oakland and our taxi driver was mad. I mean really mad. It wasn't that he had every episode of Juliet Bravo on tape it was that he was insane.
He was Japanese and told us he was sixty eight. All the way to Oakland he told us stories of the key to good health . All the advice was dispensed in terrible English with shrieks and shouts at random points. For emphasis he would slam his hand on the dashboard and cackle at the foolishness of the world around him.
When we arrived at the RV lot there was some building work and true to form he ignored the designated route and drove over some thin planks of wood which snapped and the taxi dropped into a hole. Mercifully he got it out and we didn't have to spend any more time.
Well, that was my attempt at a description. J took some video of him in full flow and once we are back we will post it.
The RV was great but I'll describe it and our first meeting with Matt in a separate piece because to associate them with this would be unkind.
