OBSERVATIONS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD MUNI STOP...

I live in a nice area of San Francisco. It wasn't always nice. In fact, it had gotten fairly "bad" for a while in the early to mid-90's. However, it is nice now. Or, maybe the better way to phrase that is that it is well on the way to nice. Just last night I was pointing out to Ingrid and Mark that my hood reminds me of parts of NYC where you can walk for a block, find yourself in Hell but walk another block and be in a bit of Heaven. This is true of the street that intersects mine.

Anyway, sometimes I can hear gun shots. I usually just pull the other pillow closer to me. And, from time to time I will see some interesting things.

This morning at approx 11:45AM I stood at the M Train MUNI stop near my place waiting for the train to bring me to the gay bliss that is The Castro. Normally, we neighborhood folk give each other space at this stop. This morning seemed different. An elderly woman stood way too close to me. She smelled funny. A cute gay boy walked up and stood too close as well. He smelled of pot and CK1. A couple of girls walked up and stood behind the three of us. They smelled like strawberry shampoo.

Oh well. Whatever. Now, I was just listening to my iPod -- infact, I was Riding The White Horse with Goldfrapp when the cute gay boy tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, what do you think is going on?" the tiny voice asked me.

I turned off Goldfrapp and looked across the street. There was a cop (a really hot cop -- one who could easily transition into porn if he had the desire) who appeared to be pissing on this old run down house. But, upon closer inspection, he was actually leaning into the bricks of the house and whispering into his radio.

The Cop Whisper-er? Nawwwww. This was odd.

I told the cute boy that I thought it would be fine. However I was curious. I stepped out into the street walked toward the house to see if I could figure out what was going on.

"Honey, stay here! Don't be lookin' for trouble!" spoke the elderly woman who smelled like dairy product.

I ignored her. I was far too curious. I noticed that there was a cop car coming up the side street. This was interesting because the cop car was coming up a one way street in the wrong way. I looked up the main street and saw three cop cars speeding up about a block away. All three cars stopped at the same time without parking properly. No sirens. Four cops emerged from those cars. Their radios were slung on their shoulders and their pistols were in their hands. They looked really serious. I stopped and watched for a second.

Two "dudes" emerged from the house next to the dry cleaner place and ran up to the four cops. I could not hear what one of the cops said but both guys ran back to their house. I heard the hot cop's radio make an odd noise. He stepped away from the building and this other cop (who couldn't get in porn if he paid top dollar for the chance) met him at the corner. This must have been the cop who was driving up the wrong way on the one way street.

I got a kind of sinking feeling and headed back to the train stop.

We could see the M Train approaching. The cute gay boy asked me what was going on. I told him that I had no idea but that I was glad the train was arriving. The elderly woman commented that she wanted them to "fucking kill" the dope fiends in our neighborhood. Hmmmm...

We all rushed on to the train. There were a number of Hip Hop Thug type boys in clothes that were about 3 sizes too big for their bodies already on the train. As I sat down I heard "SHIIIIIIIIIITTTT!" screamed in unison by the Hip Hop Bois. We all looked out the window and the ugly non porn cop had pulled out what looked like some form of a machine gun and was perching it against his shoulder. The hot cop was leaning against the building with his pistol up and at the ready -- like Mel Gibson in some bad movie getting ready to bust a door down to save an aging Goldie Hawn hiding behind that fringe of blonde hair.

I looked forward and saw that one of the other cops had stepped out into the street and was signaling to our train driver and mouthing the words, "GO! NOW! GO!" ---- and that train pulled out quicker than I've ever felt a MUNI train move.

What was that all about? What happened? I guess I'll never know. The Hip Hop Bois rushed to the driver for scoop but he advised them, and all of us, to sit down.

I turned my iPod back on, closed my eyes and got back on the white horse. ...which, I think, was probably the best thing to do at that particular moment in time. You know, it is never really dull. There is always something to watch. In a few I shall be catching the N train to the beach to watch and listen to the waves rush back and forth. I hope no one got hurt.