#183. quack

We had what could be described as an interesting weekend. Friday night (which seems very long ago now) was pints in a pub called the "Crow Bar". Jokes aside, it's a nice fibberzy type dive with a good juke box, pool tables, and a better-than-average selection of beer (Duvel! Bet you wouldn't get that in fibz).

Saturday was hot, so we went and sat in the park. Maybe it was the ambient "nugget" smell in the air or perhaps the heat, but things got very strange. First we saw the enormous red gentleman on a tiny bicycle again; something that we had previously dismissed as heat stroke. Then, shortly after he passed, a small rustling in the grass revealed a small furry head poking out of the ground... a gopher! Extremely cute, and was nice to see after living it urban for the last two weeks.

Parkness was followed naturally by tasty beers in a Haight pub. This included a delicious pint of Kwak, an ale I had experience in bottle form in the Porterhouse, but was made all the more exotic by the bizarre apparatus in which it is served. The look on Colm's face when I returned with this scientific experiment was something to be seen.

Then to round off the pints nicely, a visit to a local speciality store to purchase a pack of import Hula Hoops; something which I didn't like back home anyway, and continued not to like over here. And why would I when there's enough cheap restaurants to eat somewhere different everyday for a month for a fiver a head. As well as the obligatory chinese, this week I am mostly eating falafel and sushi (just realised we missed a street festival in Japantown Sunday - d'oh). Haven't found anywhere that does curry chips yet, but we did have some great fish 'n' chips.

And so on Saturday night we went to this nuthouse. It was actually the same place that I had used the phone in to ring Malcolm from last month at a ridiculous time of (his) morning, and the same place recommended by a certain large red gentleman (not the one on the bike). Let's just say that one barman was crazy in a crazily quiet way and the other barman was crazy in a crazily loud way. A most entertaining evening, to put it mildly. Add to that the best 4 pints of Guinness I've tasted here so far, and a return visit soon is for sure.

What else. Oh yes, the Frames are playing here in September. We intend to go and be raucous.

That's yer lot for the moment. Do take a look at Colm's photos at your peril.