28.06.12 - Sausage Gravy

I spent the beginning of the day writing my story and then sent it off to the the editor. I went to explore the Haight which is a famous street, it was the centre of the ‘60s Summer of Love.

 Now it has lots of vintage clothes shops, independent shops and places to eat. Very much like lots of other bits of SF. Despite America being seen as the home of big brands there are no Eats or Prets, the sandwich chains don’t exist here and there are far more genuinely independent shops than in London. Sandwiches come from their equivalent of a corner shop. I suspect this is more true in SF than in other cities but it is very noticeable here. I had a proper American brunch at a diner/cafe with eggs over easy, I opted for potatoes (cooked, grated potatoes) instead of grits which sound too much like porridge for me, biscuits (which are basically buns) and sausage gravy, which is nothing like our gravy but is a heavily seasoned white

 sauce with scraps of meat in. The combination was interesting but I wouldn’t have it again immediately, I might have to go with french toast and maple syrup next time. Americans have a lot of good breakfast options. I kept walking along the Haight and into the Castro which is the gay district. There are rainbow flags everywhere. I rang the editor to make sure that he’d got my story, which he had, but isn’t wasn’t any good. Apparently pro-Palestinian boycotts are two a penny in this town so I was told to rewrite it concentrating on why Israel and China were interested in collaborating with each other in a cultural festival. I’m not used to people telling
me that what I’ve done isn’t good enough but that is one of the things that annoys me about being a freelancer; people just says it’s fine even if it’s not so you never push yourself to be any better.
I got the bus back and rewrote my piece; I’m so used to writing reviews or press releases which are basically what you think with some facts thrown in that it is hard to write something purely factual that isn’t really dry. Am I allowed to say why I think they are rubbing each others’ back? Probably not.
On the way back I wandered into the big, Jesuit church that is near the house; it is called the St Ignatius Church and is attached to a Carmelite nunnery. The church is beautiful; a very wide nave with wonderful, long wooden pews and a wooden balcony at the back with an organ that sticks out horizontally. There was a small exhibition of early C17th, Dutch copperplates. The kind of thing that’s beauty really lies in the intricacy and difficulty of its making. There was an over keen Asian woman manning the stall who wouldn’t stop shoving leaflets and explanatory literature into my hands, no pausing for thought allowed.

Tonight I watched ‘The Ides of March’, starring, directed by, written by and produced by George Clooney. As this seems to be turning into a film review diary I would say it’s definitely worth a watch. A very cynical, and therefore probably sadly accurate, story of American political intrigue.