Oily trouble

Last Wednesday, in dense fog, a cargo ship crashed into the blocked-off area protecting the Bay Bridge from collisions. The crash created a gash in the side of the ship, through which leaked 58,000 gallons of oil. There have been criticisms that the relevant agencies were not informed quickly enough, and the oil was allowed to spread for several hours before action was taken. The end result is many oiled birds and pollution throughout the area. We experienced it first hand on Sunday when we went for our usual jog to Crissy Field. All the beaches were cordoned off, and there was a distinct smell of oil at nearby Aquatic Park. A dead seabird lay on the steps leading down to the beach. Rangers were out looking for injured wildlife at Crissy Field. It was heart-breaking.

We stuck around San Francisco at the weekend, but had a night out with our friend, Rob on Friday night. He flew back to England on Saturday. We had a cocktail at his very glamourous hotel downtown, followed by dinner at Café Prague, an authentic corner of Eastern Europe in California, then headed to Vesuvio for more drinks! It rained all day on Saturday, but we went over to Berkeley in the evening to James’ place for a poker night. Of course, we lost! Sunday was a beautiful day. After our jog, we went tea-tasting in Chinatown. I’d been meaning to do that for ages. We purchased a Siberian rose tea and a green tea. Then, in the evening, we headed to the cinema at the Embarcadero Center for a screening that formed part of the International Film Festival. My friends from Italian class had come up with the idea of going, because the first film was an Italian one. It was preceded by a reception in an art gallery and a brief introduction by the producer. However, none of us really understood the film, and that had nothing to do with the language, but rather the excessively large number of characters and the complete lack of plot cohesion.

We’re now getting ready for our trip to Mexico. I’ve been working hard, so I’m really ready for a break. The holiday will almost certainly mean there’ll be a break in blogging, for which I apologize.