I rolled into San Fran via the Bay Bridge from Oakland on wednesday 21st . Great way to enter the city through the front door as it were, it being built facing onto the water. Instantly I was struck by the beauty of the place. More and more over the next few days this repeated itself. Memories fade over time and I had recalled San Fran (from the 5 months that I lived there in 2003) for its culture and street life but completely forgot how incredibly beautiful it is.
As per fuckin usual I arrived in a state of flummox, with accomodation totally up in the air. I had previously told Adam and Courtney (friends from back in the day) that i'd be arriving at the weekend and as they were leaving town couldn't sort me out. My couch surfing requests had bombed as everyone seemed to be heading away for the long weekend. I gave Adam a shout when i arrived and we headed for a few jars in the Mission where the hostel i had booked into was. In the end they insisted that i stay with them and take their place for the weekend while they were away. We hung out on thursday and reminisced about our days working in Tarantinos.
Basically, Adam like me, was over from ireland. he started going out with Courtney with about two months before heading home. They were married within two years. Unreal. They had some serious gossip bout the staff members. Ann (absolute gimp of the highest order) had been dumped by Tammy, she then gained 15 stone and ended up in hospital in a bad way with obesity for a long time. She then started running a female escort agency - a pimpette if you like. Tammy had a new girlfriend who she battered the shite out of and got locked up. She was then running the show in prison and had a hareem of chicks on the go. Tarciccio is now a woman ! and has H.I.V. (to be honest neither would surprise you if you'd met the guy). Jens got fired for stealing the camera of a customer who hadn't bothered to tip him. great people all round !
I decided to pop in there the next day for a gander. I left the place depressed and so thankful that i only spent 4 months working there. Not a fuckin thing had changed. Even the menu's had the same meals on them. And the boss Gary Burns was still a tosser. Passing through Fishermans Wharf on the way nearly made me vomit. A boil of a place. Earlier I had popped into the crew where I did my internship - the Irish Consulate. that on the other hand was a very pleasant experience, meeting all the women i used to work with.
Anyway, back to san fran.... the next morning I headed down on my own at 8 in the morning to the Keysar to try to get the Munster game. I walked in with only a few people sitting around the place and I (still half asleep) saw a familiar face. I was half expecting to meet a few of the lads from St Brendans who i played with but not this face. It was fuckin Leigh-Anne, a good friend of mine from home who i'd traveled around south america with, I couldn't believe my eyes. After a few minutes of 'what the fuck are you doing here' to each other, it transpired that neither of us knew the other one was in the States.
The strange thing about it was that we'd been emailing each other quite a bit about our prospective trips (i was advising her about Mexico and Cuba) but had no idea that herself and her dude Cian would be in San Fran. Shit like that always seems to happen when I'm away, at the least likely times. Cool to see them, and meet Cian ,over a steady stream of pints to celebrate the Munster victory.
Overall, I had a great time strolling around all my old haunts, namely Mission and the Haight. Really love this city and it stands alone for me as the best of the US.
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