brave creatures audentis fortuna iuvat

Writing about San Francisco seems to have taken a long time. I have not really updated anything on the site since September 11 when I discovered that James and I had been visiting the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. Creepy is the word, but given what any number of people have been through in relation to that day, its pretty minor.

The House on Clarendon Ave where we live turned out to be something of a surprise. A friend, Richard, who we met at Mardi Gras in 99 had moved to LA for work and wanted someone to sublet/look after his place. The timing worked out and we figured we could find somewhere else if it wasn't ok.

Little did we know that it was a beautiful house, in a marvelous street. We have been here since we arrived in early August 2001 and all is well.

Richard and his partner Alfredo come up about once a month and stay in the master bedroom and the rest of the time we have the place to ourselves. Not that they are anything less that a delight to have around.

The house has some great spaces. It was designed and built in 1978 to be a "Marin House" in the city. It is all redwood and brass in a style that I like to refer to as early butch. With all the woodwork, its kind of like living in a cuckoo clock.

Jokes aside, its a great place to live, and to entertain. We have met so many great folks in San Francisco and from around the country that there is not many weekends when we are not doing something with friends.

The view from the house is spectacular. Located on Mt Sutro/Twin Peaks not far from the Television tower, we look out over most of the city from the Pacific and the Golden Gate through to Alcatraz (you can see the lighthouse at night) and the Bay Bridge.

We found out the other day that we are living in one of six houses in the city that has a view of all three bridges, on a clear day you can see the Richmond Bridge to the North which crosses the Bay from Richmond to Marin.

Not that we are fabulously wealthy or anything, just lucky. Richard bought the house before the dot com boom sent real estate prices through the roof and he wants someone living there looking after the place.

One of the things about the house is that while it does often have a wonderful view, the famous fogs of San Francisco do often wrap the house in clouds. On a summer afternoon, you can sit in the lounge room and watch the fog roll through the Golden Gate, slowly filling up the valleys and smothering everything. Or watch the clouds blow through the Mt Sutro pass just beyond the house and fill the street outside with fog.

The tricky bit is that while it can be gray, cool and foggy up at the house, down in the Castro or in Mission Dolores Park (our local beach) it is hot and sunny. You quickly learn to dress in layers.

The park is beautiful though and in Spring through to Autumn it is full of people enjoying the Northern Californian sunshine. Unlike Melbourne where the weather changes all over the city, San Fran seems to remain pretty stable if you stay in the same spot. If you move around though it can change dramatically and on grim, rainy days you can look across at the East Bay and see the sun shining.

James arrived in San Francisco about 12 days before I did. He sent me some of these pictures and started setting things up for us - bought a bed, found a gym, learned the bus routes, that sort of thing.

After 5 months of living more or less separately we were both really excited to be moving back in together. There is only so much romance and affection you can squeeze down a phone line or through a web cam. And if you're wondering, no neither of us can quiet understand the current fascination some people seem to be having with cyber-sex. We never really got around to it no matter how "lonely" we got.

We have been trying to do all the obvious, tourist things in SF - given that we are pretty obvious tourists. We have been to:

• Alcatraz
• Across the Golden Gate
• Golden Gate Park
• The De Young Museum
• Muir Woods
• Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove
• Sailing on San Francisco Bay
• Concord and Waterworld water park
• San Jose
• Great America Amusement Park (Roller coasters)
• Lasertag

to mention a few.

Give how hard we work its amazing how much we crowbar in but we are here for a couple of years so we are trying to take as much advantage as we can. One regret I have from Hong Kong (less so from London) is that I did not do more things.

With James as a playmate, I am MUCH better at getting out to do stuff. He is the best partner I could hope for. My best friend, a great lover, a playmate, confidante, confessor and companion.

Don't get me wrong, we have our ups and downs. We disagree and have bad days but that is the way life is. Nothing is perfect and nothing worthwhile comes without effort. But we are happy together and want to actively make a life together.

Beautiful San Francisco Bay. Fog and cold aside, it can be a wonderfully sunny place to live. We have been out on the bay 4 or 5 times and only once, in early spring, was cold and windy - although it was still very sunny (James got burnt).

This was taken on the Alcatraz trip.

In September 2001 we went to the Folsom St Fair for the second year in a row. Along with IML, it is the most popular leather event in the USA.

This photo was taken by Carlos Hooks and was during the Sunday afternoon tea dance. The sign above our head is purely coincidence.

This is the view of Mt Sutro (where we live) from Golden Gate Park. The area outlined is the Moffit-Long Hospital where James works. The house is to the left, around the hill and just to the left of the television tower.

FYI: we get dreadful TV reception - go figure.

Gratuitous hug shot, this was taken in Autumn over at Sausalito. One thing I learnt in Hong Kong was that every now and then you need to get away from cites and smell the air and fell the sunshine on your face without pushing and shoving.

Sausalito is a nice little town, one of San Francisco's bedroom communities. Its usually sunny and has some good cafes and restaurants as well as the MOST expensive ice cream either of us have ever seen.