I had left plenty of time. The change at Millbrae takes only about five minutes. And there was  time for that and time for BART to be late. Or so I thought. But this is the end times, or more precisely, the era of social collapse, or probably something else involving the pandemic, the Republicans and so on. In short, BART was late. There is something in me that expects the world to run fairly smoothly. The transit systems are, in fact, systems. That things work. The center holds. And so Read more [...]

With Jane’s retirement I have been taking every opportunity to do things together, such as go out for coffee or breakfast of a morning. Like this morning. Which was naturally paired with a trip down to the Mission District branch of Bank of the West. But we dawdled. The morning went on its own way, exhausting itself in the process. Which meant that in the end I headed for the bank, and Jane wandered up a nearby hill with our dog. What is more urban than a subway? Yes, it is terribly convenient Read more [...]

It was 100 years ago when a car went sailing out of Natick Street and right into a tram on Chenery Street. The wreck was a big one, killing either five or seven people. I can’t recall. But it’s certainly part of neighborhood history. The sidewalks are narrow, and Natick Street itself is barely a street, more an alley, which means that going uphill it is impossible to see around the building and also to realize that drivers are oblivious to the limited view of pedestrians.  Of course, Read more [...]