Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Shiny
I love getting my shoes shined. It's almost like getting a foot massage, and what kind of fool would say no to that? The shoeshine stand I go to is a very elaborate structure located outside the Hyatt at the foot of Market Street looking up the immensely steep hill that is California Street rising into Nob Hill. Recently I was griping about the weather here being chilly (for San Francisco) but today was delectable, cool and sunny, just the kind of weather to make sitting on a shoeshine stand watching the tourists bump by so appealing.
Famous Wayne, the shoe shiner, dresses like a mild-mannered middle aged man who has decided to take up being a pimp, but hasn't gotten the finer points of the costume down just yet. I like him, but occasionally his attempts at small talk include bizarre sentences that seem to be random strings of words. "Doorknob jab, bluely extreme sweet say. Elevator?" I never want to ask him to repeat himself because what if I heard him correctly the first time? Would I want it confirmed that that was what he had said? Instead I reply with a firm "I guess there's just no telling," and Wayne goes back to polishing and I stare off at the cable cars coming down the hill and wonder about doorknob jabs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In Which We Do Not Age Gracefully
There are days when waking up takes all the energy I have. I lie there, nothing more than a lump in bed, and try to bargain with my bladd...
-
Secret Agent Fred and I have decided to invade New Orleans for Mardi Gras, 2014. I know the last time I went there for Carnival, I swore I ...
-
Pictures of naked men have fascinated me for decades. It's not some recent freak that got my blog kicked off of WordPress (not that I...
-
If you look below this post, you'll see that the last post I put up here on Blogger is a sniffy little tirade about how I will NEVER d...
I have a half-formed image of a dude in a tweed hat with a huge feather, pleated khakis, and blue shoes. I do enjoy me a shoe shine though. You always look dapper afterward.
ReplyDeletePicture window, descend green nicely took, yellow?
ReplyDeleteWesley-
ReplyDeleteYou are right on the money.
Jason-
indeed.
Btw, Wesley's back.
ReplyDeletePeenee, you crack me up!
ReplyDeleteI guess there's just no telling....
ReplyDelete