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Arrived safe
Aug. 28th, 2010 09:04 am'm in San Francisco, ensconced in my hotel room. It feels very nestlike, tiny and cosy. A good antidote to the outside, where everything feels too big to me. Something about the streets and the buildings and the people that is just too big and which I feel very uncomfortable with. I hope it's just jetlag talking.
There are some cities I go to and love instantly, some I take a while to warm to, some I never get a chance to like. I want to like SF, but I don't so far. Tonight and tomorrow I'll do some more determined exploration of the areas that have been recommended to me, taking it cautiously because I feel like I don't quite know the codes here, what means 'safe' and what means 'trouble'. All the strangers who've talked to me have been trying to sell me something or have seemed kind of unpleasant or dangerous, so I kept walking.
There are a lot of homeless people around, a lot of people who look like their lives are hard and unpleasant with little hope of change. Australia's not perfect, but there's a lot to be said for our system of social seccurity. Or at least, a lot to be said for not having a security net with holes as wide as the US's.
There are some cities I go to and love instantly, some I take a while to warm to, some I never get a chance to like. I want to like SF, but I don't so far. Tonight and tomorrow I'll do some more determined exploration of the areas that have been recommended to me, taking it cautiously because I feel like I don't quite know the codes here, what means 'safe' and what means 'trouble'. All the strangers who've talked to me have been trying to sell me something or have seemed kind of unpleasant or dangerous, so I kept walking.
There are a lot of homeless people around, a lot of people who look like their lives are hard and unpleasant with little hope of change. Australia's not perfect, but there's a lot to be said for our system of social seccurity. Or at least, a lot to be said for not having a security net with holes as wide as the US's.