August 28, 2009
The smell of piss permeates the street corner at 24th and Mission. Passing through it I realize that my throat is scratchy and dry, parched might be a good word to use, from walking the neighborhood in the heat. After a few paces I am relieved until I hit the next corner. The stench of the dirt on the unwashed sidewalk is overwhelming.
I am definitely over dressed. I left the house earlier with too many clothes on. A loose sweater that is hiding the rolls in my belly that would be so obviously seen through the belly hugging tank top that I am wearing underneath it. And I have shoes and socks on. And jeans. It’s really a wilted sundress and flip-flop sort of day.
I pass the man who sits on a random stoop everyday. He is in a constant state of either eternal drunkeness or in possession of a hangover. When I walk by him, every time I walk by him, his attention wavers from the drink in his hand and he looks up at me with his vacant blue eyes that suddenly smile and he says Hola! I always say Hola! back to him. It’s the only thing he asks of me.
The stench coming out of the corner meat market makes my stomach turn. It’s nothing more than a meat market, meat and only meat, but for someone who doesn’t eat meat the aroma is nauseating in the heat.
The heat holds in the smells that would usually float up and away. I never realized how seriously people smoke pot in this town until today. The smoke wafted out of apartment windows and passing cars, and flowed behind people in a wave as they walked by me on the street.
People are out, walking, eating ice cream, carrying water bottles, looking at maps. There is a mix of cultures out walking on the street. The conversations float past me in Spanish or in English. I eavesdrop as I walk and there is no other point of discussion than the weather.
# # #
The Mission is the warmest neighborhood in the city, but still this kind of heat is only common for a few days a year. Maybe a week at most. Today’s heat broke today’s record high. The temperature today was 96 degrees in the city and the last record high was 88 degrees in 2004.
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Tags: san francisco, The Mission
