I lived in the San Francisco Marina district for about twenty years.
In those days I commonly rode my bike on what is now known as the Golden Gate Promenade, or the Chrissy Field Trail.
Since I moved to Marin County I rarely venture to the City by the Bay, but once in a while I get the urge and I drive to San Francisco for a walk in the fog.
And I just did this yesterday.
Upon arriving on the Chrissy Field trail, I could not help but notice the extraordinary large amount of mutts (and mutt walkers) populating the path leading to the Golden Gate Bridge.
There were dogs galore by the seashore!
Dog walkers were out in force, often handling 5 or 6 dogs at a time. The pooches were on a leash, but further up the trail, they were leash-free and enjoying spirited tag games.
There were also lots of bikes.
Sixty years ago, pundits everywhere predicted the demise of the bicycle.
With everybody itching to drive, la Petite Reine (the little queen) was surely going to vanish.
Mais nenni mon ami! It seems that there are more bikes on the road today than a century ago.
On the Chrissy Field Trail, I observed a large contingent of (French) helmeted tourists riding rental bikes.They came in droves and almost outnumbered the dog population.
And talking about bikes… in the old days rich people were riding cars and poor folks were riding bicycles.
Today paradoxically low-income people drive cars while rich folks ride bicycles.
But back to dogs.
If I had known, instead of pursuing a technical career, I would have chosen to be a dog walker.
Unlike my old job it is a stress-free occupation, and for animal lovers it is an occupation made in heaven.
It is a line of work that keeps you fat (I meant fit) and sassy and off unemployment lines.
And the money is not bad either.
From what I could gather on the Internet, dog walkers charge between $22.00 and $30.00 an hour, and half that price for an additional dog.
For three hours of dog walking in the morning you could easily make two hundred bucks, and round up your income by running a software company in the afternoon.
After getting our fill of fog, dogs and Frogs, we drove to Sausalito for lunch.
We had heard about a local eating-place called Fish, and we wanted to check it out.
In spite of the glowing reports that I had heard about this place, I was not impressed.
Fish is nothing but a glorified fast-food fish joint.
And it is rather pricy. A crab sandwich set me back $25.00. It was copious but bland, and horror of horrors, it was served hot (yuck).
At Fish, you stand in line to place your order and you can only pay in cash.
You can eat on a deck facing the harbor, but you have to keep a watchful eye on your plates. If you don’t, kamikaze pigeons will dive on your food and snatch it.
It happened to us!
To sum it up, sixty dollars for a tuna salad, an ill-conceived crab sandwich, a beer and some java don’t leave a pleasant aftertaste in your mouth.
In spite of a large number of people flocking to it, Fish does not get my seal of approval.
Nice escapade to the city though.
Alain
PS: To look at photos of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn the sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.