Hayes & Kebab

I've never been in a restaurant on its last day before. The evening of September 28 at Hayes & Kebab was unique in my experience. A string quartet played, and innumerable customers queued up for falafel wraps and adana kebabs and who-knows-what-else. Wine flowed, hands were shaken, and even the Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, appeared, with his wife and kid. Hayes Valley was in his district, when he was a Supervisor. He said that as a Persian, he had common ancestry with the owners of Hayes & Kebab. He remarked that there will be a restaurant in the new space, when the building is completed, but it is not clear that Hayes & Kebab will be the new tenant. I've never been in a restaurant so loved, whose departure was so regretted. I wish the owners and staff all the best, in the uncertain months ahead.

Endarkenment

Endarkenment: a word of the novelist David Mitchell, to describe a dystopian future in his novel 'The Bone Clocks.'

Zen

At The Cove Thursday afternoon, a diner wore a T-shirt which read, "That was Zen. This is Now!"

Bibliohead

Bibliohead Bookstore has been packed up, ready for shipping. Next week, Hayes & Kebab will close. Hayes Valley is disappearing before my eyes. The condo boom and techie money are sweeping all before them. Sic transit.

Walkers

While I was out for my daily walk, I passed a young man whose T-shirt read, "All my friends are walkers!" I learned subsequently that in current slang, "walkers" are "zombies!"

More reality

 I neglected to mention another book, 'Scatter. Adapt, and Remember,' (whose author I forget), which describes the various apocalyptic calamities which can/will obliterate most life on Earth: ice, nuclear war, pandemic, asteroid collision, runaway warming, etc.. The author relates how life forms have survived past near-extinction events, and so proposes how we may survive the extinction to come. A charming little tome.

Reality

Lunch at Red Jade. My fortune reads, "An important discussion involving you will take place today." I chose to interpret the prophecy optimistically. Thus improved in mood, I took myself next door to Aardvark Books, where I bought Roger Penrose's irresistibly titled book, 'The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.' All 1099 pages of it, for a mere $12, $.0109 per page. Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle's book 'Living in the New Consciousness' weighed in at 153 pages; $5. That works out to a hefty $.0326 per page! My New Consciousness will doubtlessly smooth my way on the Road to Reality, no matter the cost!

Temblor

Sunday morning's earthquake (at 3:20 AM) woke me up with a jolt (!). The building rattled, shook, swayed, cracked and groaned. It lasted 20 seconds or so. There were some injuries and serious damage at the epicenter, near Napa, but none here in the The City. One small item in my apartment tipped over, but otherwise nothing is out of place. So far, so good. Just a reminder that we really do live in earthquake country.

Knitting

On the M line this afternoon, a young man was knitting what appeared to be a scarf. He worked steadily, standing up, keeping his balance on a crowded, moving train.

Trapped

A young man walking past the Church Street Café wore a T-shirt which read, "Don't grow up! It's a trap!"

Hirsute

In a parking lot at Stonestown appeared the red-white-and-blue Volkswagen bus about which I posted October 11 last year. Its driver was not the aged hippie of my imagination, but a younger man, 40-something. He was, however, appropriately hirsute, with very long black hair and a bushy black beard; he sported a baseball cap, and spectacles in a vintage style. And, like an aged hippie, he shopped at Trader Joe's.

Cliché

Yesterday I took myself and a friend to the de Young, to look at the Modernism exhibition. I was happy to see a piece by Clyfford Still. I first encountered his works decades ago; they've held up well. They haven't turned into clichés, nor are they self-imitations.

Fame

The other day I heard the actor Mike Myers on television, say that "Fame is the industrial disease of creative people!" I'm reminded of something the actress Elizabeth Taylor is supposed to have said, that "Anyone who thinks it's fun to be famous should try it for twenty-four hours!"

Thought

Many people believe what they think. This is unwise.

A fascinating life

Someone said today that I've "had a fascinating life!" I was agreeably surprised by this remark. In reply, I said that I tend to think, in dark moments, that I've "stumbled through life from one blunder to the next!" I'm pondering these contrasting statements.

Quoth the Raven

A few days ago I passed several hours on the campus of City College of San Francisco. CCSF has been threatened with loss of its accreditation (for reasons not worth mentioning at the moment), which threat, so far, has been successfully held back in court. I happened to be there during a graduation ceremony. I detected no trace of defeatism, depression, despair, or any other sign that anyone actually believes that the college will close. A friend remarked that ravens, who used to inhabit the campus and who had disappeared a year or two ago, had returned. He concluded that just as ravens ensure the continued existence of the Tower of London, so too they are signs that CCSF will not fall.

Revolution

A few days ago I took myself to the Legion of Honor, to look at the splendidly restored Salon Doré. Since the original house was built a short time before the Revolution, I cannot not help but wonder what became of the residents, pendant le déluge.

Imminence

I purchased some items at Flax, the art supplies emporium at Market and Valencia in San Francisco. I had heard that Flax will close soon, to be demolished and replaced with condos. But the cashier told me that Flax will move "in a couple of years," so their departure is apparently not imminent. "Happy creating!" she said, as I packed my purchases. But the loss of Hayes & Kebab, my favorite eatery in Hayes Valley, is very imminent, alas. It will close in August, also to be demolished and replaced with condos. The owners intend to move into the ground floor of the new building, "in sixteen to twenty-four months," as one of them said the other day. Sic transit.

This Rock Within The Sea

I read a few of Farley Mowat's books, two of which I remember, 'A Whale for the Killing,' and 'This Rock Within The Sea' (I still have this one in my library). Outport Newfoundlanders resented their portrayal in the whale book, at least when I was in Newfoundland in the 80s. Perhaps they still do. 'This Rock' is a fine portrayal of outport life, a memorial really, although when I was a clergyman in outports along Trinity Bay, that way of life was still lived. All the scenes in the photos are familiar to me.

Reality

Outside a second-hand shop a sign reads, "Cool old things. Ask if they're real." Inside, a chair is on offer for the very real price of $2,750.