I am currently sitting in a lovely cafe down on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley. We had fair warning about a power outage today from PG&E as they tackled the replacement of two power poles. My section of Euclid is a divided road. We are on the uphill side. Which just happens to be the side where the poles needing replacement stand. The warning said power outage between 0830 – 1630, So there we are, shortly after 0800 heading out for errands and some coffee figuring that there is little work that can be accomplished without the use of at least some electricity. Phones die, printers don’t work, and I really prefer my laptop over hunt & peck on the phone.
As I go out the door, I see a large number of huge white utility and other monstrous vehicles lining our side of the road. Walking down to the street – yes, there is one of the long beasts parked across our driveway. There is a nice guy in a hard hat, utility vest, and carrying a walkie-talkie. At the same time, our neighbors walk down. Their car is on the street, so “all” Wendy has to do is either back down the winding hill or execute some kind of bajillion point turn to head down front first. Meanwhile, George has driven down as far as he can. The guy scratches his head, finds the vehicle driver and pulls it forward just far enough for George to squeak past its rear bumper.
The rest of the morning till now consisted of picking up Dani, breakfast at Saul’s, dropping off Dani, and lucking into a parking space almost directly in front of Victory Point Cafe. They make excellent lattes in real cups. I did a bunch of editing on this site and hopefully navigation will improve. It may take cycling through a few themes, but hey – not bad for the past nine years here and the previous 10 in Germany.
