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battalions of people in electric wheelchairs who are attracted from all over the country by some sort of grant. not just Sunday as in Melbourne). They sell the usual handicraft things. I bought a couple of remarkable belt-buckles as gifts, and decided not to buy a doll with a head made from a dried-up apple in case Customs refused to let me bring it home. of newsreaders not doing much reading but continually joking with each other, oblivious to the visual content of unfunny scenes (stabbing in the Mission District, and the camera got to the body before the man with the blanket...). The next morning Carey and I shocked Charlie by partaking of bagels and Vegemite for breakfast. I'm sure that anyone in Australia who has bagels for breakfast puts Vegemite on them as a matter of course; I'm sure they also put butter on their bagels (or bread) first, What with plastic milk at every turn and unbuttered sandwiches one can only assume that the American dairy industry is on its knees. Randy Newman's rotary Mazda, and we set off for downtown San Francisco to collect Charlie's incredible mail at the Post Office, which is decorated with striking murals depicting the history of the area. Then we went for a walk past the street market and a walk-through fountain and finally into a very large building that was obviously an hotel. Into a circular lift – which turned out to be made of glass and going up the hollow interior of the Highett Regency! It was like being inside an interstellar starship. I must have looked like Mabel from Manangatang on her first visit to the big city – that's certainly how I felt. up and down the incredible hills, After picking up Fritz Leiber we went to lunch in Chinatown. It really was a Chinese enclave – even the rubbish in the gutters was Chinese rubbish – and it goes on for blocks and blocks. We went for a dim sum tea lunch (my first ever), at the "Golden Dragon" a huge and noisy restaurant decorated with golden dragons twined round red pillars. When I could tear myself away from the food I managed some conversation with Fritz, who is a real gentleman in the proper sense of the word, and a Norman Lindsay fan to boot! Oakland, Because my chair was in the boot they all went in the back seat (Carey was gone). Not only have I collated LOCUS - Charlie could not understand visiting Australians volunteering for such a task – I have propped it up and been just about smothered by it! Some sheets got loose and flapped around as we drove, while I hung on for dear life to the rest. I thought that collating was fun, for me it was a chance to meet some of the local fans, including Mel Gilden who introduced himself as "A neo-writer of Yid spec fic, to wit "The Ice Cream Golem", and who appeared to be the local version of Paul J. Stevens. home, and surrounded by such kind and interesting people was the best possible start to my trip. I think I coped successfully with light switches that work the other way and strangely-flushing toilets and all the other little cultural differences that make travel interesting; however, Charlie assures me that he will remember forever my plaintive cry "I'll give you a penny if you'll tell me what it looks like!"
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