A Day at the Beach

I went to Ocean Beach in San Francisco today.

Made the ten minute walk from home to Rockridge BART. Only four minutes until the San Francisco train arrived (BART always makes me yearn for European rapid transit systems). Got off at Embarcadero and caught the N Judah to the end of the line. By the time we hit the avenues the sunny day was enveloped in gorgeous San Francisco fog. The temperature dropped and I was in heaven.

Quick dash across the great highway to the beach.

The ocean.

Waves pounding. Called the wife, she could hear the waves and wind clearly in the background. Ocean always makes me feel minuscule yet powerful. Why don't I live by the ocean?

Not many people about. Some joggers. Some surfers. Some fisherman. Saw a tiny Asian fellow reel in a tiny fish. People who walked by each other always exchanged hellos, nods, smiles or all three. I guess people are friendlier at the beach in deference to the ocean.

Lots of birds. Skittish gulls and menacing crows. I'm always worried they'll suddenly develop a taste for fresh human eyeball. I'm not positive but I believe I'd have these thoughts even if I'd never seen Hitchcock's Birds (1963).

The surf does not provide an ideal locale for skipping rocks. Lakes or slow moving rivers are best. After a few tries I got a stone to five or six skips.

I found the perfect shell. It came home with me.

Something was bobbing in the waves a few hundred yards out. Seal or person? If a person I reckoned he or she's in trouble. But what could I do? Turned out to be human, but this surfer was in no peril.

Stopped to eat. Brought a lunch. The walking and sea air made me hungry. Or was it just that's lunch time?

Saw a crow picking at a fallen comrade. Cannibal.

Legs got weary. Shouldn't have come for a walk on the beach the day after a heavy work out. Crossed the highway again and stopped at a place called Java Beach. Someone of another generation might call it charming. I had a coffee and muffin and read my book. A French au pair with her young charge was being hit on by a guy five to ten years too old for her. She was devastatingly beautiful and combined with the accent I could see why the young man would waive the age difference.

I head edback home the same way I came. Plopped down at the computer. I surfed the web. Only surfing I did all day.

Nobody told me explicitly too, but I "had a nice day."