Subes for life!

The weather-guessers said another round of storms was going to hit the central coast, so I postponed my epics in the Sierras for a couple of weeks and hung out in and around SC instead.

But, spoiler alert, there was no big round of storms. It was a dud. At least, for this dude.

One problem of living in a nanny state is that public officials do stupid stuff out of “an abundance of caution” but which no rational hyumon using their brain would ever do. And so, they closed and locked the entrances to Natural Bridges, put warning signs up (PARK CLOSED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER), put flyers on the restrooms about where to go in case of high winds or extreme temperatures or other inclement weathers, and made radio announcements of our impending doom.

It may or may not have worked. Those of us who use the park for water and bathrooms and recycling and such still used the park for all that. And, it was nice having an empty park for a few days! Even my oasis at East Remote was dead for once. The neighborhood streets were quiet at night, too, with everyone hunkering down for the end tymes. Downtown was even a little more tranquil.

But after a day or two of this nonsense the people started coming out of their turtle shells.

I may or may not have dissed SC in a recent blog post, but there are still some good aspects. At SCCRCo, they start making my coffee before I even order, so by the time I pay and saunter back to the front of the store it’s ready for me. They even run hot water through my Yeti to warm it up first. What a crew!

At The Bagelry, Josephina-Tenks starts typing stuff into the register even before I order. Three seed bagel, double toasted, half this and half that, coffee and pre-pay for a refill if I have my laptop with me and look like I’ll stay a while. And then she waits, her fingers hovering in anticipation of the royal announcement of toppings. It’s usually hummus and New Delhi, but sometimes not, and so she waits for confirmation before totaling up the damage.

I went out for my usual Mongolian and they know me now and let me in early while they were setting up. The patriarch motioned for me to start down the line, but they were still setting up food and utensils so I waited and chatted with one of the daughters. She was just married and moved to the U.S. (hubby works at UCSC), and she had to get something like fifteen shots and boosters and her entire body ached and she thought she was going to die. But, she survived stormageddon and she’d survive her shift as well. She found me amusing, I think, because my straw hat is similar to what the paddy workers wear and it reminded her of home.*

I still don’t fully understand the downtown plan and why they’re tearing out the transit center. Progress!** But River Street is a true CF now*** and the only restroom for the downtown dwellers is at the parking garage.

Alas, city life is not for everyone, and it was my time to flee. Back to Pacheco Park, my favorite Petro, Planet Fitness for a shower, and onwards to the mountains.

Unless, that is, a storm is coming.

*Thai Bamboo stirs nostalgia with folks, too. Maybe it’s a restaurant thing.

**And for those of you old-tymers, remember when the transit center was the one-block stretch on Soquel between Pacific and Front? LMAO. Not only did they cram hundreds of buses in there every day, but the OG Pizza My Heart was there as well, just a little narrow shoppe barely wide enough for the counter. Slice and a styrofoam* cup of soda, $1.

*Prolly was even real styrofoam with real sugary soda back in the day.

***Don’t even get me started on the turbo-roundabout at Hwy 25.