Stranger Moments

In between our renovation projects, large-scale and small-scale, mad likes to occasionally pause to enjoy the sights and sounds of our fair city. Personally, I’ve been noticing a mini-trend of stumbling into the oddest conversations with our fellow San Franciscans. Not that I particularly mind…after all, New York is certainly known to have special tolerance, and even reverence, for loud, colorful characters. Anyway, I’m standing in line in the supermarket recently when a well-dressed woman about 30 years my senior calmly & assertively asks me, “Excuse me…do you know what month this is?” I told her the correct date and she replied, “Oh, thank you….I really thought it was December.” And with that, she quietly continued her shopping experience.

The other day, I’m walking past a cafe in Bernal Heights minding my own business when suddenly a young man who was seemingly wearing a white chef’s jacket blocks my path and urgently asks me, “Hey! Do you know how to spell the word “gumbo”? Is it 1 “m” or 2?” Once again, I’m caught a little off-guard and I blurt out, “Um, I’ve always seen it spelled with one m.” Then he excitedly replies, “Thanks! That’s what I thought!” As I was trying to figure out if this man was preparing a menu, finishing a crossword puzzle, or was just so incredibly enthralled with our English language that he couldn’t help himself…he disappeared. I peeked my head into the cafe, but I didn’t see him. He just somehow dissolved into the sunny afternoon, not unlike the alien in the Predator films. Events like these, coupled with our recent apocalyptic-type rainstorm, have had the effect of feeling like we’ve walked into Bizarro World.

But we love it.

A San Francisco delicacy, apparently

A San Francisco delicacy, apparently

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