The good news from Apple is that my MacBook can be repaired for $260 when I get back home. Just needs a new screen. That will please the insurance people.
We’ve had a good day – exploring, shopping, eating some delicious food, visiting the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and riding on a streetcar down to Fisherman’s Wharf.
That museum was interesting. They had an exhibition of B&W photos from the great depression era to the 1950s, another on the life of the Jews in SF, and a musical ‘display’ on the links between black musicians and Jewish songwriters. We could hear the songs and read the stories.
Found a quiet retreat called Yerba Buena near there which features a Martin Luther King tribute behind a waterfall.
What’s surprising about SF is the sharp contrasts in just a few blocks from downtown. Our hotel is in Eddy Street which is six blocks from Union Square but near the hotel, in Ellis Street, there are so many damaged people – drugged, drunk, living derelict lives, and aggressive towards one another. You feel threatened as you walk by. Further along there is a little old Chinese woman sifting through the rubbish bins for empty cans and plastic bottles. Then, downtown we see the other side of the coin – the prosperous and the snappily dressed. Another long queue waiting for their turn to buy an iPhone 5. Two worlds in one city. It just keeps us mindful of how good we have it back home.
This morning, one news commentator was saying that all the factors that preceded the fall of Rome are present in America today. She was asking experts how to avoid a similar collapse. One was saying that globalization was the problem, shifting jobs offshore; another, that new technologies had caused the unemployment problem. Both agreed the deficit needs to be tackled by unpopular measures like raising taxes – but no politician would dare mention that ‘t’ word.
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In My Life 
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