Random thoughts

I usually have my thoughts beautifully organised in my head, but as soon as I power up a machine, they disintegrate into fragments.

- Signs on the bus "Hold on. Sudden stops are sometimes necessary."

Sudden starts will fling you around the bus too.

- The electric buses

"Daddy, why are the buses electric?"
"They're better."
"Why?"

He didnt answer.

I wanted to answer ... "They dont pollute, but these buggers are HELLA good climbing the hills of San Francisco, and they have that cool, eerie whine when theyre going and no noise when they stop, so you can hear the clicks and hisses of the bus at rest, and then there is that engine BRAKING coming down those hills, which cause you to hold on dearly for support, because you are at an angle, and you'd be tumbling down the bus cause youre on an 18 degree grade, which cause horses in the old days to be dragged prostrate down those hills, so much so that they had horse ambulances in San Francisco WAAAY before they had ambulances for people, and they got those cool poles going up to electrified wires in the sky, which dont spark like they used to, which is a shame, but they are so much cooler than the diesel buses. That's why."

- Entering the back of the bus

When I first visited SF in 2000, and Id see people rushing to get on through the back doors, I was HORRIFIED man.

I wanted to defend the ramparts and throw the non-payers back out the doors, except EVERYBODY was doing it. Young, old, punks, tiny asian grandmothers...

Its an honored SF tradition. The drivers rarely get pissed about it.

But Im loathe to do it. Even when I have no cash and I need to save my bus tokens.

- "San Francisco isnt what it used to be, with all these people coming in with their BMW's and treating people like dirt."

Maybe not. But it and the people are still interesting.

More later.