hills behind Berkeley where we were afforded some spectacular views looking back over
the land and out over the bay once again. We stopped a couple of times at various
spots and got out for a batter view, from different angles but always with the same
breathtaking quality. The second time I 'turned to walk back to the car and noticed
faz the first time the numberplate. I remember Robin Johnson saying that in America
it is possible to have a numberplate with almost anything on it and that Forry
Ackerman has the number SCI-FI. I had not quite believed it but there on the front
of the Browns car was the plate reading LOCUS. The opportunity was, too much to pass
up so I captured it with the camera.
We drove a little way further and then suddenly
we were at the Brown residence. From the road it looks like a low single story
house but as 'we walked down along a board path to the front door I realised that
the road level is only the first level, the hill drops away steeply and there are
another couple of levels below the first. By Australian standards the price of the
plane might have been modest but an Australian who could have afforded a house like it
would have considered himself quite rich. We were introduced to their cat, called
"cat" and shown around the house, we were impressed and it was easy to understand why
Charlie & Der a liked showing it off. The back yard was magnificent but not, I suppose,
very useful for growing things in. The land Juan dropped away very steeply and the
tall pine trees down at the.bottom of the 'valley were well below the verandahs of
the house.
The verandahs were also balconies, obviously, and we settled ourselves down
on one of them (there are two, one on top of the. other) and talked for a while.
Charlie decided to see if there were any other people around we might see hut
unfortunately they were all tied up, though I did chat to Grant Canfield for a few
minutes.
For dinner we decided to drive to Oakland for a chinese meal at a restaurant
Charlie & Dena liked. The drive
down through the hills was very
enjoyable in the dusk with the
lights of the city just becoming
visible. I suppose I should
mention that very early on that if
we weren't actually in San
Francisco but in Berkeley or Oakland
we didn't still call it San
Francisco. Why this was so I'm not
sure but when in Berkeley one does
as the natives do. So I suppose
I should say that the lights of the
cities of Berkeley, Oakland and all
the other cities but that seems to
take up a lot of time so I hope the
locals won't mind if I don't.
The
restaurant didn't look to be much
but the food was excellent, even
though the dumpling soup wasn't
all that I would have liked, Valma
persisted in trying to get me to
eat prawns but, as always, I got out
of it. I had always been under the
impression that chinese foods
weren't spiced to make them hot in
the same way that Indian meals are.
I was wrong and I suppose this is
partly due to the styles of cooking
that I've been used to. That meal
was very well spiced and in
particular the bean paste (or
whatever) was very hot.
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