6.55pm, but not yet dark and I'm starving.
A mere hop, skip and a jump from my hotel I hear sirens, and lots of them. Sirens blaring from every corner of the street. Behind me, in front of me, to my left and to my right.
An antique style fire truck pulls up alongside me. Then another, and another. Antique is such a strange word to use, but I'm sure you get my drift.
By the time I get my footing and start focusing on the path ahead, I realise that the street has now been closed off, and no one else can enter. Let's hope I can get out. I continue walking ahead, and stop myself as I am met face to face with a fire fighter holding his hose on entry to the burning building. "Sorry. You go. " I say.
"No, no, after you Mam!"
What on earth...I can't believe it. At this point, there are seven fire trucks and two police cars at the scene, and the first fire fighter to enter the building has apologised to me, telling me go in front of him! Confusion has met an all time high.
With a bounce to my step, knowing that I now have many sets of eyes watching me pass by, I hurry across the footpath. It is a big scene for everyone nearby, but no smoke or fire is in sight. I don't stop to see if anything is going to happen, because I would much rather see San Francisco, than stand underneath a possibly, burning down building.
First impressions of San Francisco are not all that. It is freezing, slightly overcast, with an eery, greyish tone in the sky. The streets are naked, and I am just a little scared for my safety. I walk fast and keep looking straight ahead. Crass comments come my way every step I take, and I begin to realise I may not be staying in the best part of town.
I see two amazing spectacles on my first night in San Fran; the longest dreadlocks I have ever seen and the most heavily tattooed person I've ever seen.
The dreadlocks reached the man's ankle. No exaggeration. He was fishing off Pier 2 and tried conversing with me.
I saw the tattooed man in the burger shack across from my hotel later that night. His head is shaven and covered in tattooed fish-like scales. The tattoos continue down his face, but they look more like spider legs stretching from the scales on his scalp, down to his chin and neck. His knuckles are tattooed in bolts, like that of a robot. Circular tattoos on his knuckles with adjoining screws along the ligaments of his fingers. His legs are covered in the same scales as his head, and his forearms are covered in lighting bolts. They take up the entire width of his arms. A large spider is coming from behind his ear and down to the back of his neck.
He is wearing spectacles, which strikes me as odd. He has that much art work on his body and face, and I would have thought he'd want to show everything off in all its glory, not having it covered by spectacles. And surely he has the money to get laser. His body would be worth tens of thousands of dollars at the very least in tattoos.
Will continue my adventures tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment