Tie-Dye Tai Chi

I’ve been busy settling in to my new flat and getting to know my housemate and some of his friends who are a good laugh. They took me to a bona-fide British pub run by an ex-pat from London – the Pig and Whistle. It was so nice to order a pint of Old Speckled Hen and we then proceeded to win their weekly pub quiz which consisted of a tough blend of questions on American and British culture and celebrity dog breeds.

I went for a walk down Haight Street to find the Haight-Ashbury intersection that was once the epicentre of hippie culture during the summer of love, 1967. To this day it retains a lot of its hippie character, there are all kinds of oddly dressed people and very colourful shops selling clothes, trinkets, food, music and probably one or two psychotropic substances too. It reminds me a little of Kings Road or Camden in London.

Being able to step out of my front door, cross the road and be in Golden Gate park is brilliant. The dogs need walking and it’s perfect for running in. To be honest I feel pretty lucky to be in this spot. Right across the street on the first verge of the park’s lawns there’s usually a small encampment of homeless people. Sometimes they have little “parties” there and get moved on by the police as technically they aren’t allowed to live there. Deeper in the park, it’s easy to find more homeless who have quite literally pitched tent in the trees. You’ll also find troops of 30+ oriental people performing co-ordinated Tai Chi at 8AM on a Sunday morning. Try finding that in any British park!

A few days ago in my hotel I was doing some work and the room suddenly shook for a few seconds with an unmistakable rumble. It felt somewhat stronger than the 4.8 I felt back in 2002 even though this one was smaller in magnitude, the epicenter was only about 20 miles away (and 10 miles underground!).

One of David’s friends told me about an American right-wing political commentator called Ann Coulter so I paid a visit to her web site to see what all the fuss was about. I was pretty shocked to discover her viewpoint on global warming. She puts an extreme satirical spin on this critical global issue, attempting to turn it to a political campaign against anyone who isn’t a right-winger. She draws a comparison between environmentalists like Rachel Carson with Adolf Hitler. Combining her extreme viewpoints with her persuasive skills as a lawyer is clearly turning in a very tidy sum on the lecturing circuit!