No laboring day

I did nothing at all, except a little laundry and other minor housework, and read Stephen Elliott's book "My Girlfriend Comes To the City and Beats Me Up," which I proposed to review for Salon. I don't know if they will agree to have me review it, but they should, since their Ed. In Chief blurbed it.

To concentrate enough to read the book, I took a ride on BART. It's a short book so a trip out to Pittsburg and back was sufficient; in fact, I finished it before the train came back across the bay. You might be wondering why I got on BART to read a book. Because there are no distractions, the seats are comfortable, and the lighting is sufficient. Yes, you have to pay money for a ticket, but you have to pay for a coffee to sit and read in a cafe, too.

I got out at Powell St. and stood blinking in the windy sun; I was a little disoriented, partly because I'd just read an entire (though admittedly short) book, and that attitude combined with my backpack made me look like a tourist. Immediately some tout picked me out and started trying to sell me something. I snarled over my shoulder "Take a hike!" whereupon he said something a little outraged in reply, but I couldn't hear him because I was wearing earplugs. Finally I decided to get a coffee, so I went across the street to the Coffee Bean place next to the Four Seasons Hotel. They have a lot of tables out on the sidewalk and the weather was just pleasant enough to sit there, even at 4:30 on a windy late summer day.