Into the World

Is Jon Krakauer looking for a new book?

Yesterday Artie came down from Napa and I ventured out to lunch at the cafe — outdoors, masked mostly. Arrived 12:30; closed the joint at 2:00 p.m. My social debut in post-Covid reality, Artie a veteran of several combat tours.

He was impressed by three things: (1) how you could get a good sandwich — turkey with the works on jalapeno bagel — for under $20 ($8.75, avocado extra); (2) how quiet and traffic-free Berkeley was compared to wine country; (3) how friendly the staff (Nathalie and Augustine) were. (When I passed along the compliment this morning, Jose said, “Good thing I wasn’t working.”)

I said hello to seven people I hadn’t seen in over a year (plumber, blues harmonicist, widow of former suitemate, retired MSW, his wife, anaesthesiologist, his wife (a nurse) and remembered the names of five of them.

My (“RARE”) red snakeskin Tony Lama’s (See blog of April 3) debuted and were lavishly praised (plumber).

Glorious.