Today we booked our holiday to San Francisco. I am inordinately excited. City Lights! Raisinettes! Drugstores! Driving on the wrong side of the road! Black and White cookies!
I went to the US earlier this year for the first time ever and was fascinated by so many things. I'm looking forwarded to being fascinated by more things on this trip.
Travelling in the Northern Hemisphere in Winter means I can bring some of my boots out of hibernation early. Pictured in the snow in Central Park are a pair of hard working stubborn Bally boots that, every year, I think should be retired permanently but that I love so deeply, that every year they are re-soled, polished and employed to keep my feet warm and make me look (in my mirror) somewhat formidable for another winter.
And scarves and gloves. I am a very big advocate of scarves and gloves, yet can only use them with any really purpose for about six weeks a year.
And my Blue Coat. Oh, Blue Coat, how I love thee and your little moleskin lined muff pockets. How frequently you have have kept me safe from smarting icy winds and the perpetual London rain.
And the A380. I love all planes - even those terrifying little rickety fellows with propellers - but the A380 is special. I often see it lumbering on take-off in the morning when I'm waiting for my bus. It's like seeing a tidal wive or a dinosaur in the distance, something fantastic and very important.
We're driving out to Yosemite too. The guide book says sternly that we have to take chains for the car. I've never seen car tyre chains. Such a thing smacks of wild sophistication and adventure. It must be a lovely sound, the sounds of cars on the road, all wearing chains.
You won't need those boots and gloves in San Francisco, but Yosemite is a different story. California has every climate, I think--from the desert to the mountains.
ReplyDeleteI think the altitude there must make the need for chains greater--the mountain roads (even the interstates) are very steep, unlike the hill roads here in the East, where chains aren't really used so much.
I'm looking forward to reading your impressions!
If you're from somewhere warm, take the scarf and gloves - on the coast, the damp will feel more cold to you than the actual temperature. I live on the West Coast (although to the north, in Canada), and I've been to SF in October. It was warm, but I was glad to have my gloves and scarf for cloudy days.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, I've just read tha very point - that California has every climate - in one of my guide books & am now more excited! Someone had mentioned bears too, & I'm not sure whether to be excited or frightened.
ReplyDeleteSheila, I'm from Sydney - our winters are very mild & our climate is dry. I've heard there is a fog nearly every day in San Francisco in the winter. I will be dressing to greet it!