Menagerie January 1 - 14, 2001 herds of flu bugs at urgent care, plus variety of other, bigger animals at SF zoo

Our New Year's toast did not help much. Sid's foot reached unbelievable size and his blue toes did not convey the image of health. We decided to venture to ER for an X-ray -- the journey had to include the whole family; if Sid got a cast, he would not be able to drive home. They wrote Sid's name on a list at an urgent care center and told him that he was number twenty one and to feel free to wait it out in the waiting room or call every half hour to reconfirm lest he wanted to drop out of the list.

Sid estimated three hours, so we took the car and did some new year shopping. After a week abroad, a few necessities were due. Having returned to the hospital, we found out that Sid upgraded to #11, so we stayed. They really called him in few minutes, and I just sat there with my laptop and typed in my journals from the trip. An hour went by rather quickly. Only, I spent the whole time in the same room with one blocked spine, one black eye and a selection of about twenty flu strains, from which I, as I found later, picked and carried away one.

Sid received a brace, crutches and an advice not to step on his foot for a few days. The crutches were ours to keep, which surprised me. What in the world should we do with crutches in our cramped household? Well, they are part of our family now. It seems to be a late wedding present that may be much more practical than umpteenth set of crystal glasses, which would only collect dust (we did not get any, thanks God).

We had to make a car deal with Martin, who bought Sid's old car with an automatic transmission three years ago. This feature suddenly became very desirable. Sid needed to get himself to work and back somehow, without stepping on the clutch, if possible. Martin in turn got our wagon, while I kept mine, also a stick-shifter.

Naturally, Sid had been announcing at work for three years now that automatic transmission is meant for people who "are physically or MENTALLY unable to cope with shifting gears". I don't know if he could fool his colleagues so much, or whether it is common among engineers and other technical personnel, but it seems that all four-wheel acquisitions in Sid's division have got a stick shift. And now Sid arrives in a new year - with an automatic. You bet they made fun of him.

So here I finally come to my catch from the ER. By the end of last week, the flu hit us. We purchased some vitamin pills and herbal tea bags and established a small at-home sanatorium. Fortunately my illness was out of phase with Sid's by two days, hence the moment he went down, I was out of the worst and we could smoothly exchange our roles of care provider / care receiver.

	Pair of hippos at SF zoo did not show much enthusiasm...

To add to the mess, it rained for several days. Last time it poured when I let Cecilia's (my car's) windows open, so heavy precipitation made me feel very depressed.

I did not expect it possible that our horrible traffic situation could worsen, but you could not imagine what a rainstorm does to people who are used to drive only in good weather. Or rather what it does not do. Certainly there was no increase in numbers of activated headlights on cars, neither did the rule change that dark cars are guaranteed not to have their lights on. I don't know about others, but my windows were so fogged over that I would easily miss even Godzilla (unless it were, naturally, properly lit ).

I saw my first ugly crash right around our corner (driver turning right missed another car in the through traffic), a few crumpled car bodies were scattered down the road. Still everyone involved seemed quite alive, damage must have been only to hardware.

	Seasoned gorilla would not get disturbed at lunch, even by Sunday crowds

When I turned into a Safeway driveway, a BMW which turned in right in front of me suddenly stopped, so Cecilia's rear parts stuck out into a four lane street. The driver had spotted another car backing out of a parking place right in front to the store's entrance and decided to wait for it (not a step farther than necessary, who cares about a five minute traffic jam)... I was furious, because in heavy rain I would not be surprised if somebody hit me from the street. Eventually I had to honk him aside. I consider it quite unsettling that everywhere in the world, people in BMWs think some completely different set of traffic rules applies to them, as opposed to other mere mortals.

On Thursday, after a long gap I finally dropped by Kren's place. I did not go there for two weeks since I did not want to drag our persistent bug there. They managed to get a solid clone themselves, without my help, and Madeleine had to lay down for a few days. January seems to be flu time regardless which side of which ocean you're on.

	The wind is cold, but the polar bear probably thinks it's like Hawaii

Eventually the weather got better and sun pulled out of the clouds. After a fortnight of napping and feeling miserable, we thought we would enjoy a little trip to the City ZOO.

San Francisco ZOO is relatively tiny, but you can find all main attractions there. Lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys, rhinos, penguins, kangaroos and -- hippos. We were naturally headed for the hippos, also wanted to see gorilla babies, but there were too many people for the shy apes. Little gorillas were hiding somewhere and only two old, seasoned females chewed on leaves in the open area.

About an hour later, I got lured by the sign CAFE and stepped inside a refreshments establishment. This affair obviously lacks private competition and looks like -- well, only a little better than a pre-revolution railroad station cafeteria in Bohemia. Fries in a paper cup, some Pepsi, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Young lady behind the counter took five minutes to prepare a hot chocolate for one customer (tear a bag, put in a paper cup, pour hot water, stir), and she had to ask for help in the back recesses of the store three times. I chased away my cravings for hot chocolate because the idea of another eternity spent in deep fryer vapors made me want to throw up, and I ordered coffee. That did not take too long (only pouring from a machine), meanwhile I managed to announce my only item at a register, seek out and find required amount in cash, and have a chat with a guy at the register about where I was from and how I liked San Francisco... another proof how far you can get with a business in a state (here probably city) ownership.

	A young eagle simply would not let us take his picture

	The kind of "trunk" hanging on the right side used to be the entrance

Empowered we skimmed the rest of the zoo. There's an interesting bald eagle hatching program. In order to not make eagle babies adopted to humans, they feed them through an eagle puppet, and later set them free in the nature. We found one young eagle at a duck pond, but it stayed in the shade all the time, pecking on something, so the picture is not very good.

We took a detour on our way back, over Highway 1. Number one follows Pacific Coast and is very picturesque. Ocean and weather keep biting off pieces of the shore, the road needs fixing and reinforcing in places, as the cliffs are of a soft (sand?)stone and they keep eroding away. It is forbidden to stop along this part of Hwy 1, and to hike the cliffs of down to the beaches, as often something falls off.

You can see advanced erosion on a concrete fortress. Originally dug underground, today it stands out like a giant mushroom on its concrete foundation, several feet above ground level. We went past it once earlier, but the weather was really ugly then, so I took a picture of it for you now.

Copyright © 2001-2005 by Carol & Sid Paral. All rights reserved.