Another Year Down, part 2!

CONTINUED!!

Bouncing Souls Tour March 2013
When I got back from my trip, the Souls announced a two week UK tour. So I immediately got in touch with Kate, worked out what gigs I could see for free, then sorted tickets for the rest, and booked hotels for London, Birmingham and Manchester.
The first three gigs (London, Brighton and Reading) were a great start to the tour. They changed the set completely every night, and played a lot of songs I hadn’t heard them play for ages. At London, Bryan and Pete hung out with us in the pub opposite the venue before the show. At Brighton, the fellas attended the Roller Derby after party that was happening after the gig (which was totally bonkers and resulted in a lot of horrible hangovers the next day, and a mates car being impounded). I braved more snow (IN MARCH!) to see the guys in Reading. This was there show where Bryan grabbed me after they’d played and asked “why haven’t you played onstage with us yet?”.
A few days later I headed to Birmingham and Manchester. Birmingham I managed to hang out with the guys before the show again where I got to see them write the set list and decide that I was going to play guitar in the encore on True Believers and Gone. I was a bit gobsmacked to be honest. The gig went well, I got my pass, got my instructions from DJ the roadie and played with my favourite band. Luckily a mate was in the audience and videoed the last song – which was promptly uploaded to YouTube and shared around facebook! After the show ended I got abducted by some random brummies, and got dragged to a pub in the middle of nowhere to hang out with Bryan, Pete and John (the sound guy). I can’t really remember much about that evening, and felt decidedly horrible the next morning.

me and Pete, Kingston

Got to Manchester and met up with my mate Lisa, had a few beers and some food, then headed to gig just before the band played. Was grabbed by Bryan and informed I was playing again – so I did, this time with added stage diver dodging! Afterwards we all went to the heavy metal nightmare that was Satans Hollow, where we drank cheap beer and hung out with band/roadies properly for the last time of the tour.
The final show of the tour was at The Peel in Kingston – we met the guys in the Strip Club before the show, and had a very bizarre hour chatting and drinking, while naked ladies danced round a pole behind us. Seeing the guys at The Peel was incredible – probably the smallest show I’ve seen them do, and was utterly brilliant to see them play somewhere I used to consider “local”. Best bit was being asked to play AGAIN and getting ontage with the Souls in front of around 20 people that I knew. It was surreal, and is one of the best things I’ve ever got to do. I’m so pleased the guys asked me to do this THREE TIMES with them.
Seethis video for proof!

A few months later, the news came through that Mike, the drummer, was leaving the band. I’ve got to know Mike over the past few years, and he’s such a fantastic dude. He’s always been brilliant to me (and my friend Jackie) whenever we’ve gone to see them, always taking time to hang out, chat rubbish, drink etc. He’s also one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen, and I love talking drums with him – once you start him off, he doesn’t stop. He’s a true musician and a total legend. I shall miss him playing with the band (and meeting up with him when they play in the UK) – I hope I get to see him some other time with whoever he plays with next.

Berlin April 2013
Carmels birthday trip. Have wanted to go back to Berlin since my 40^th 3 years ago, and I finally managed to convince everyone we should go back. Was another cheap trip (as was the last one) and we stayed in a great little Ibis hotel in the centre of Mitte by Rosenthaler Platz. The Friday we arrived, once I checked into the hotel I headed out to go to Conspiracy Ink to get tattooed by Uncle Allan. After meeting him at the London Convention in Sept, I managed to get a tattoo session booked with him, and was very excited to be getting tattooed by this guy. Was also excited about meeting his dog Lucifer too. Tattoo session was great (Allan did a skull/rose on my ankle), and once was completed, I went back into the centre to meet up with everyone and have beers and burgers at White Trash.
Rest of the trip was pretty much like the last one – hung out in Kreuzberg, checkout out the East Side Gallery, ate a lot of wurst, went to the Reichstag and Teirgarten, and as always, the Ramones museum. Saturday night we had an awesome German meal for Carmels birthday, went on a massive bar crawl afterwards, which resulted in poor Ian being a broken man on the Sunday and him missing the rest of the trip.
I think Berlin is awesome. I can’t wait to go back again. The weather was ok too – far better than when we went in November last time! 

The Ex in Amsterdam May 2013

After seeing The Ex at ATP in December, Ian decided that next time they play Amsterdam, we are going. I don’t need asking twice. As soon as we saw the date go up, I booked the trip – two nights over the bank holiday weekend.

my fave seat in Amsterdam

What did we get up to? Same as always – we drank a lot at our fave pubs (In De Wildeman, De Bekeerde Suster, Beer Temple), ate a load of Kasstengels, and got drenched on the Saturday night when we got caught in a downpour. The gig was at an awesome little community centre (squat) – was cheap entry, cheap beer, and no support band. The band played on a stage 6 inches high, and tore Amsterdam a new arsehole. Was an absolutely fantastic night – apart from the ridiculously long walk back to the hotel afterwards (we hadn’t realised how far away the venue was from the centre). We arrived in Amsterdam late on the Saturday evening and left early Monday afternoon – was a bit of a flying visit, and wasn’t particularly cheap! We’d had a great time as usual though – Amsterdam is such a great place to hang out, and due to the fact we’ve been there so often, it makes visiting so much easier. I’m even being recognised in my favourite pub now!

My Bloody Valentine in Eindhoven Sept 2013
Ended up going back to Amsterdam for a night in Sept, when I ended up not working for two weeks. Thought I’d go see My Bloody Valentine in Eindhoven. They were very loud and very awesome. Weather was incredibly hot for this time of year, and had a fab time sitting outside pubs on the canals having a beer and soaking up the sun. I wish I’d stayed longer!

Bands
I’m still playing music sporadically with Breakers, but now I’m in a second band called Harker, which is even more sporadic!
Breakers finally did their first gig in April supporting Iron Chic, and we’ve done three more since. We recorded a second demo, which you can hear on our Bandcamp page, and we are really happy with it. Unfortunately, our latest gig was also our last for drummer and original member Pete, who has decided he hates being in a band. It’s a shame to see him go, but we’ve found someone else, and we will be starting to rehearse sporadically with him soon. As for Harker – this is my friend Marks acoustic act that he does. He wants to turn it into a band, and I’m currently the guitarist. Its interesting because I’m just playing what he wants me to play – it really takes the stress away from working out stuff on guitar! We’ve done one gig, which went down really well, but looks like the next set of activity won’t be until next year. So yeah – even more sporadic than Breakers. You can hear his stuff here.

London Tattoo Convention Sept 2013
And its back to where we started. Was asked again to help out Mary and Doug at the convention, and was back up to London for 4 days at the end of Sept. This time we were staying in the less glamorous Ibis on Commercial Street in Aldgate. It was ok, except for their pitiful breakfasts and ridiculously hilarious “fake” French restaurant – all English food (fishnchips, chickennchips) with French names!

new tattoos!

We had a better booth this time – we were hidden in a row of booths rather than stuck out on a corridor, which allowed everyone to get on with work without randoms leaning over and being annoying while people were being tattooed. Mary had 4 bookings over the weekend, and did 2 walk ups (a pin up girl head and a gnarly wolf), and Doug just did walk ups like last year. It was insanely busy for the three days again, and I was kept on my toes helping out my booth buddies. Also managed to get tattooed by Mary on the Friday and Guen Douglas on the Sunday.
Thursday me and Mary went to the Tower Of London with her friend Kat, and then had a Bodeans before we headed off to Café Kick again for the pre-convention party. Managed to take Mary for a curry in Brick Lane on the Sunday night after the convention. Monday we got to hang out with Marys friend Heather Bailey (from Spider Murphys Tattoos), went back to the Tower Of London, and then checked out Highgate Cemetery. I also took the girls on a bus, which made them quite hysterical. The best thing about the day was ending it, on Heathers suggestion, with a Nandos – I don’t need asking twice!
Yet again, this weekend was a total blast, I had the best time. Its always great getting to be involved in the Convention, and even better to see Mary and Doug this side of the Atlantic. I hope we can do it again next year!

Me and Mary

ToL!

Another Year Down, part 1

Blimey. This years gone by FAST. My last blog entry was in January. I’ve now been in Hove a year and have realised that I’ve not updated at all. The last 12 months have seen me winding down my “professional bum” lifestyle as I gradually work through the last of my available house money. I’ve yet to find a full time job, but things are still ok contracting with L&G. Looking back over the last 12 months, its good to see I’ve still been making the most of my part time status (even if most of my spare time still involved drinking, music and holidays!).

London Tattoo Convention Sept 2012

me, getting tattooed by Mary

So I moved into the flat in Hove, was there three days, then went up to London for five days, staying at the Double Tree Hilton (mega posh!) in Tower Bridge and working at the London Tattoo Convention with my friends Mary Joy Scott and Doug Hardy (from Tattoo City in San Francisco). The guys had asked me to be their booth helper for the weekend, and I jumped at the chance – mainly because I love spending time with these guys and because I’ve always wanted to experience a convention from the other side of the booth for a change. Was a brilliant 5 days. The convention was mental – it was insane the moment the doors opened on the Friday till close on Sunday eve. I got a 6 hour tattooing on my right calf from Mary (where I had to balance myself on a table in a corridor so everyone could gawp at us), and met up with some very cool people – the main one being Uncle Allan from Berlin (more on that later).
Either side of the convention was spent with Mary, showing her around London – Friday we ended up at the Family Business pre-Convention party in Exmouth Market at Café Kick. Great little bar, that played great 60s music – and was absolutely packed with tattooists from all over the world. Was a bit mind blowing, and was quite hard to deal with at first.
Monday we went to the British Museum to see the mummy cats, did a bit of shopping in the west end, and took Mary for a bangers and mash at a typical London pub. Then she tattooed my armpit back at the hotel. This was such a great weekend, and was so great getting to hang out with Mary and Doug outside of San Francisco. I really wanted to do the following year after this (again, more later).

Amsterdam Nov 2012
Went to Amsterdam for my birthday, and got to hang out with another couple of friends who were also celebrating

thanks Guen!

their birthday while they were there. it was totally random that they were in the same city at the same time, and we had a blast - and a particularly boozy blast at that! Main reason for going - i got tattooed by Guen Douglas at Salon Serpent on Walk-In Saturday. Was such a great session, and since then Guen has tattooed me a further three times, shes so awesome. I also managed to get to the Maritime Museum this time - such a brilliant place, definately check it out if you are in Amsterdam.

ATP Dec 2012

Managed to get a group of us to attend the Shellac curated ATP at Camber Sands. Wow Pontins is a total hole – was nowhere near as awesome as the old Minehead venue! We still had a great time though – highlights included Shellac twice, Future Of The Left, The Ex, Uzeda, and The Membranes. The place ran out of beer on the Saturday evening. It took us a whole day to heat up the chalet. Tonio cooked us a nice meal one afternoon. Ian and Phil kept hiding my bedding, and we went on the beach every day (luckily it was sunny). Saturday morning, we followed my iphone googlemaps to go check out Camber Castle – and ended up in a nasty little working-mens type pub called The Camber Castle. It was such a great time, we are going again this year.

Australia Jan 2013

OFF!

We’d had no summer in 2012, and I’d basically spent the latter half of 2012 living in a country that was wet, cold, dark and gloomy most of the time. By the time we hit December, it was getting positively arctic. My projects at work had run down for the time being and I wasn’t needed back until the end of Feb – so I decided I’d go to Australia for a month, revisiting Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. My decision had nothing to do with the fact that the Bouncing Souls were playing with the Descendents in Perth! I was actually really lucky with music while I was there – Big Day Out was happening, so every city had a bunch of side gigs happening either side of the festival, so I managed to catch OFF twice (in Sydney and Melbourne), Sleigh Bells in Sydney, A Place To Bury Strangers,Against Me and Iron Lung in Melbourne, and Thee Oh Sees, Bouncing Souls and Descendents in Perth.

Got the trip booked by a very helpful lady at the Flight Centre, and was off on Jan 14^th. Day I left, it started snowing. After a very stress-free 22 hour flight, I arrived in Sydney in the middle of a heatwave, the temp not being below 35 degrees every day. One day it reached 45 degrees – I thought I’d gone mad.

As you would expect it was a brilliant holiday. Sydney is still my favourite place, and had a great time hanging out on Manly Beach, nosing around Kings Cross, checking out all the local pubs – and local craft beers -  at The Rocks and generally enjoying being somewhere that was hot and sunny ALL THE TIME. I was glad I got to come back as it had taken me a few days to get my bearings last time I came. I stayed in the same hotel so knew exactly where I was this time, and didn’t have the hassle of trying to work out where everything was. The day I arrived, I checked in the hotel at 9.30am and was in my fave pub by 11!
By Sydneys standards, Melbourne was a little disappointing. It started well with the hotel I’d picked trying to fob me off with one of their old cheaper unfurbished rooms (I’d paid for one of their groovy rooms in the prison-like side of the hotel), but they soon sorted it out. Then I realised I was staying at the cr py end of the city – there was nothing where I was apart from a nice little deli/café. Every day I had a good walk into town – which gave me some exercise I guess! However, the hotel was right by a tram stop and the main station – so getting elsewhere in the surrounding area was easy, especially when I was heading to the gigs I’d booked at the Corner Hotel (and awesome little venue with a fab rrooftop bar - i even won a pub quiz here one night!). I got quite used to using the trams in the end!

Beer Deluxe!

I also found Melbourne very expensive, and I’d seriously underbudgeted. But there wasn’t much I could do – I like a beer and I like eating out. A basic night out in a pub with a pizza was gonna cost around $50-$60. One night the cinema cost me $30!!!
Luckily I had some friends around – Cara and Greg are old mates from London who met me the day I arrived and showed me around. I met up with them a couple of times over the 8 days I was here and had a great time with them. My other friends Martine and Mark (who I was staying with in Perth) also appeared one day, and had a great time hanging out with them, taking great pleasure in taking them to some of the pubs I’d found during my stay.
Melbourne certainly is a beautiful place, but I did find it a bit overrated. It didn’t have much more to offer than London or Brighton (or San Francisco for that matter) – but the weather was great throughout, everyone was friendly, and I loved walking along the river every day and hanging out in the botanical gardens. I went to St Kilda one day, thinking I’d get a day on the beach, but it was as windy as hell. Ended up getting a burnt face/head instead. I also did a day trip into the bush to see wild koalas/kangaroos/emus with the fantastic Echidna Walkabout people, which was pretty awesome.
All in all, it was a great 8 days, but in hindsight, I kinda wished I’d stayed in Sydney an extra day instead, especially as I hadn’t made any arrangements in Melbourne to get out of the city proper at any point. Also being a sports retard, I had no clue the tennis was happening while I was there. I was absolutely gutted I hadn’t realised (I fell in the Open was on the last day I was there), as that would have been a fab thing to have gone to see.
Final thing – I found a fantastic bar called Beer Deluxe in the middle of the city that did ace craft beers, and sold Murrays Angry Man Pale Ale that I’d had in Syndey. I went here every day, and got to know the barstaff quite well!
Next stop was Perth, slap bang in the middle of their hottest weather they’d had this summer. The weather was incredible, and was happy to be seeing my friends from back home again. First week I stayed with Ray and Shirley again in Rockingham (see last years travel blog) and generally chilled out by the beach, the second week I stayed at Martine and Marks (who had moved since last time to just outside Perth), and the final weekend I stayed in a nice little hotel in the middle of Perth city centre. Didn’t really do anything different than the last time I was here. Hung out in the pool at Martines friends house, drank loads, had a couple of BBQs, went to Kings Park, did a Swan River trip. Managed to get to the Lucky Shag again a couple of times, which is a favourite spot of mine in the city by the river.

me, Kelly, Bon Scott

Also managed to see Kelly and Alex again for a couple of days out. Went to Fremantle again, had an afternoon in the Sail and Anchor (another fave bar), then saw Thee Oh Sees at The Bakery in Perth, on one of the hottest days I experienced out there. They also took me to a wicked Mexican in Northbridge, and had another evening out in Mount Lawley where they live. Was great to catch up with these guys again.
Couple of highlights – Martine took me to City Beach and Point Walter. City Beach was totally empty, the sea was like a warm bath, and had the added bonus of a bar on the beach, Clancys, which was incredible. Amazing beers and wicked food! Point Walter is a small reserve with a huge sandbar that reaches out into the Swan River and I’ve always wanted to walk along it whenever I took a Swan River boat trip. So I finally got to do that on this trip. I’m obviously pretty simple, cos standing up to my knees in water in the middle of the river, being harassed by black swans, was one of the most hysterical things I’ve done.

 Final weekend here was a total scorcher. I stayed in a nice hotel on Murray

in the middle of the Swan River

Street, which was handily right next to the James Squires pub and the venue I was seeing the Souls at on the last night of my holiday.
The Souls gig was a blast – Kate (Souls manager) put me on the guest list and I managed to watch the band from the side of the stage, and hang out backstage before and after with Mike, Pete and Bryan. Mike knew I was gonna be there cos he’d been following my travels on Instagram, so it was a blast to finally catch up with them. They played a blinder as usual – and was cool to see them do a different varied set for the Australian crowd, geared to them as they obviously haven’t played in Aus for a while.
However, after the Souls, The Descendents were a bit of a let down (again). I’m not denying it wasn’t great seeing them, and they do have a completely brilliant set of songs. That set list is incredible. However, they couldn’t quite get out of second gear, and yet again Milo had problems with his voice. He lasted until the encore, when he was replaced by the dude from Bodyjar (the support band).
I’d had a great two weeks in Perth catching up with everyone, but it was time for the final stop – Singapore! One of my favourite places, and I was so excited to be going back, even though it was only for two days. I stayed at the same hotel as last time (Park Regis on Merchant Road, right by Clarke Quay), and was ecstatic when I saw my groovy hotel room again! I only had two days, and had decided to take it easy while I was here – basically, I wanted to make use of the lovely hotel pool and also get a new lens from my Canon. So again I spent two mornings in the Funilife Digital Mall checking out lenses, and ended up with an awesome Tamron lens. Weather wasn’t the best - it chucked it down every morning till lunchtime (it was wet but still hot), but it didn’t put a damper (ahem) on the stay at all. Managed to take a Bumboat ride along the river to see the Merlion statue, and hung out at Boat Quay a couple of times, a cheaper food/bar area 20 mins down the river from Clarke Quay.
Clarke Quay was as busy as always. Managed to get a Hooters on the last day (the only one of the holiday!), and get recognised by the barman in Sque, a bar on the river I frequented last year. Final night I checked out the Blues Bar in Clarke Quay, the only “scummy” hang out there. The beers were slightly cheaper, and as much as I hate Blues, the band were great. My final day, I had to go to Chinatown, mainly to see Erich and his Wuerstelstand and get a giant sausage. He was on holiday – so I settled for a gigantic litre of Tiger beer - that cost me £3 - and sat in the sunshine getting slowly sozzled.
I love Singapore – I love how reserved it is, how you never see any tattooed or alternative people (there must be some here, right?), and how I don’t feel particularly short! I was actually really gutted to leave (whereas I was quite excited to leave Aus and come here), and was thoroughly miserable when I got on the plane!
I’m so glad I managed to do this holiday – it was very short notice and I didn’t expect I was going to manage another long trip away. It was amazing to be in sunshine for a month, in the company of some great beers, great mates, and some brilliant live music. I was gutted to get home – and have another 3 months of cold, rain and darkness until June!!

San Francisco continued - days 29 - 32

Day #29
Buggered off to the post office in North Beach for another mammoth posting session – three packages containing CDs, new jeans and unused shirts. As I missed breakfast, I stopped for brunch at the Burgermeister in North Beach and had a wicked chicken sandwich.

Decided that I hadn’t done enough tourist stuff, so decided to catch the bay cruise ferry, which is always good to pass the time (done this three times already). The fog was interesting this day, obscuring the bottom half of the bridge. Got some very interesting photos. Amongst the plethora of French tourists, I got talking to an American couple. Turns out the wife was an SF native and had bought her husband to see the place, so she wasn’t that bothered by the tourist stuff either. So while he took photos of everything, we just nattered away randomly, completely missing Alcatraz in the process. Turns out the lucky buggers were off to get tattooed at Black Heart Tattoo in the Mission.

Once we docked, I went for a lay down on Maritime Park for an hour. Then decided I was gonna do my own Mission pub crawl after Suzannes on Saturday night. So jumped a cab to my first stop, Dirty Thieves, right down in the Mission at 24^th @ Treat. Was a bit wary going in, as it’s a total neighbourhood bar. Its meant to be a “dive bar”, but to be honest, I don’t class any of the SF pubs I’ve been to as dives. Sat down at the bar and was met by the friendliest barmaid ever. Quinn introduced herself, was brilliantly efficient (I was never waiting for another beer), and ridiculously chatty. She didn’t need to make me feel as welcome as she did, but it meant I stayed for three beers, rather than one! Also turned out, shes an old Soho resident. Asked me if I knew the Crown and Two Chairmen, I mentioned the Ship (she worked on Wardour St) and she knew it. She knew too many random details to be faking it. I decide its time to move to the next bar, and she says to pop along to the other bar where she works at on Tues. I end up not taking up the offer unfortunately.

Walk along 24^th to Valencia and head to 500 Club and Clares Deli for another meatball sandwich. 500 Club is mental, as they are having an anniversary party for the bar. On walking in, one of Suzannes mates recognises me and starts chatting. I go and get a sandwich (OMG they are AWESOME) then have a beer with Pete. I try and buy a tshirt from the bar (they have an excellent design with an SF Giants logo on the back), but they’ve run out. So the barlady gives me a free beer for the disappointment. WHAT? :-D

Head to Zeigeist for a final Anchor Steam, then leave to take a cab. Before I’ve even waved at one, the door guy has whistled one down for me. Again, incredible. This is the first time a door guy has done something like that.

Get back to the hotel, suitably tiddled and can’t stop grinning about what a fun night I’ve had on my own. Its thanks to Suzanne that I got to know so many great bars. So much so, I emailed Tonio immediately and told him he needs to see these places when he comes to SF next year.

(for links to these bars, see my previous blog)

Day #30
Took today a bit easier. Headed back down to Union Square to go and see “Drive” at the cinema. I like it a lot. But then I love any film where someone gets their head stamped on until it bursts.

Grab a cable car back to the Wharf and have an Italian meal, then go for a massive walk along the Marina to Chrissy Field. The weather has been amazing today, so everyone is out lying on the beach. The place is overrun with joggers, and I feel bad for not doing any gym or exercise stuff since August. I’m actually slightly jealous of these people!

For the evening, I’ve got tickets for Bob Mould at the Herbst Theatre. It’s a fund raiser/awareness thing for a childrens art/writers program in the Mission, and he was going to be interviewed for most of the event, then play a few songs to end it. It was basically one big promotion for the book, so didn’t really find anything out I didn’t already know, but was cool to see Bob chatting away quite happily. Then he played “I Apologise”, “Hoover Dam” and “See A Little Light”. After the show, he was signing copies of his book, and there wasn’t a massive queue to see him. So I grabbed a Blow Off poster, joined the queue and hoped he’d sign it (as he was signing the book). He was cool about it, and I was incredibly nervous to meet him (again – was just as nervous the first time). I babbled something about the book being great and was great reading the Jon Wurster segment (Superchunks drummer, who played for Bob recently), to which Bob replied “Pffff, forget about it, the guys a demon.” He then asked if I was going to the after show party next door. “We’re playing some records, some rock stuff, and some house stuff if you wanna come along.” Of course I did.

Popped next door to the Rickshaw Stop, and was pleased to see they had Deliverance on the massive overhead projector. So I grabbed an Anchor and sat down to watch while people arrived. They stopped the film as Ned Beatty got his bumming, and switched it to Logans Run instead. ACE. I get to watch Jenny Agutter naked for a bit now. Bob appears with his bear friends and stands directly in front of me, while the DJ plays weird mashups of Fugazi, Joan Jett, Gang Of Four, Gen X and Ramones. He’s a really shit DJ, but I just enjoy it more because of that. Bob turns round, sees me and goes “Hey, glad to see you came along!”. I just raise my glass at him. The guy rules.

Bob then takes over the DJing duties, and I’m amazed. That big hairy rock dude moonlights as a camp house DJ by night (see his Blowoff nights). He’s playing the gayest house music ever, and he’s dancing around behind his desk, and looks ridiculously happy while he’s doing it. Its incredible, and kinda cool that tonight I saw him do his rock thing and his DJ thing in one night. I finish my beer, grab my signed poster and go home, happy having seen and met one of my heroes.

Cab driver on the way back was awesome. Tattooed punk guy. We compared tattoos and talked SLF. Wicked.

Day #31
Had another tattoo booking with Mary today, but it wasn’t till 4pm. Got up in reasonable time but wasn’t sure what to do to kill some time before the session. So I checked the times and caught a ferry to Saulsalito, across the bay. The fog was mental again. Once we got to Saulsalito, you couldn’t see SF at all, which was a tad disappointing, but whatever. The weather was ace in Saulsalito, as usual! Had a quick mooch around the shops, bought little Jack a pirate tshirt, then had a quick lunch, before catching the ferry back. I like Saulsalito – its very chilled and quiet compared to the city, and its nice to get out on the water. Whats also cool is the random performing bums and/or hippies that line the queue to the ferry. Theres a hippy dude that plays “You Are My Sunshine” to his little mangy dog. I’m sure he’s been here since 2002!

Got to Tattoo City in plenty of time and caught Mary getting her lunch. Doug Hardy was working today so chatted tattoos with him for a couple of minutes, then went into Marys room for the next session. Was cool to see my line drawing of the snakendagger on the wall with all her other work.

This session, she drew straight on my arm, adding NEEDS MORE SNAKES to the snakendagger, and chucking in a mini sugar skull for good measure in the gap between the dagger and my old pinup. Session was ace – was very quick and painless, and we had a good laugh while she did it. The addidtions really add to the original tattoo – it definitely needed the wording! Talked more tattoos after the session, and I definitely need to come back ASAP so she can do my thigh. And another sugar skull in a gap I’ve found since!

Jump a cab and head to Suzanne down at Casanovas. Cabbie is awesome. Turns out he’s an old punk from the Mabuhay Gardens days, played in bands and supported some cool people there. He told some fun stories. Get to Casanovas, have a beer with Suzanne, then she takes me deeeeeeep into the Mission to Emmys Spagetti Shack. Such a brilliant restaurant, and such a simple idea. They only sold spaghetti, and only in two sauces – one veggie, one not. Its also attached to its own pub, so you can have a been while you wait. The place was packed and there was a 30-40 minute wait. Food was wicked, and so were the mad cocktails they did. Loved this place!

Jumped on the BART and headed back to Hemlock. Suzanne decides to take me on a very sketchy Tenderloin walk to the pub, taking me past loads of homeless people and drug addicts, all selling random shit on the pavement (what looked like stuff stolen from tourists suitcases). Turned a corner and was then treated to all the transvestite prostitutes lining one of the roads. I was well pleased when we got to Hemlock!

#32
Final full day in SF. Really sad to be going, as I was feeling so comfortable here, running around here and there, getting buses, going to fab little delis and stuff. Head out to find an internet café to print off some holiday biz. This takes a couple of hours, and after I find one in North Beach, I have a seat in a little café and have some lunch. Then my old friend Tom calls me. He’s a mate from SF that I don’t see very often, and hadn’t managed to get in contact with him until last night. Head to Vesuvio and meet up with him and have a few beers and a lot of laughs. I forget Tom is a lot older than the last time I saw him, and I’m pleased to see he can now grow facial hair. We talk about Doctor Who A LOT. After the third beer, he drags me round Chinatown and buys me a pair of orange rubber nunchucks. Then we part ways, as he’s off to another engagement, and I’m having a final beer with Suzanne again. Was so good to see him again after all these years. Man, he makes me laugh.

Go to Benders and order one of their ridiculous whiskey burgers. Absolutely incredible burger, again in a wicked hard bun, with ground bacon in the burger. Mental. I tell you, Kumas in Chicago is still my fave burger place ever, but I’ve seen some places on this trip that give the place a run for its money for definite. Had some AMAZING burgers on this trip, that’s for sure. I’ll list them at some point…

Suzanne turns up, we have beers, pose with the nunchucks, then we head down to Pops to watch the Giants game. This place is still wicked. Chuck loads of money in the jukebox, so we get a nice punk soundtrack while the game is on, and get served cheap(er) beers by Nikki, the tattooed barmaid (Suzannes mate). I try and buy a tshirt (designed by Lil Tuffy), but as usual, theres none my size. Then some random dude next to me says he has a spare and runs home to get it! WTF??? What a decent fella! He sells it to me for cheap, so I buy him a beer for his trouble.

The Giants lose, everyone poses with the nunchucks, then me and Suzanne head back to Hemlock for a couple more beers. Again, another of Suzannes barlady friends is working so we get free beer. Then its back to the hotel to pack for tomorrows trip to LA.

Once again, Suzanne has been utterly brilliant this trip. She put herself out big time in 2008 and she did it again on this trip. Shes such fun to hang out with and was brilliant to see my mate again. I really did have the best time in SF, and really can’t wait to come again. Its definitely my favourite city, and this feeling hasn’t gone away after 4 trips. I feel so at home here, amongst the bay, the hills, the punk bars and the tattooed people! I really wished I could have stayed another week, but it was time for the next part of my trip. First LA, then Fiji. I must say, I was getting very nervous about Fiji, I just really didn’t know what to expect from it and the so-called "backpacking" experience, esp as I’ll be well out of my comfort zone when I get there, and was already hating having a rucksack. EEK!!

San Francisco - days 25 - 28

Day #25
My day of tattooing was here. Got up early, left Tim in bed and went to Dennys for a largish breakfast, so I didn’t get hungry during the session. Got to Tattoo City half hour before kick off and chatted to Mary and Aleph for a while (the only people working that day). Aleph was DJing in the studio, and as usual, the music consisted of some kinda 80s goth-slash-hardcore crossover band. Got down to trying the design out on my arm, and all fitted nicely, although I was a little worried about the skull in my armpit. To be quite honest, I was quite nervous about this tattoo – my last three have been relatively painful, and this was gonna be in an awkward place. As I turned out I had nothing to worry about. I’d forgotten what a gentle tattooist Mary was – and although the armpit was fairly unpleasant, it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. The whole sitting went like a dream, and Mary finished it in good time. Was a really great session, and such a great laugh – I always have a good time with Mary, and although we probably shouldn’t chat non-stop while the tattooing is in session (so she can concentrate!), we don’t stop talking about bands and films. Her little tattoo room is pretty inspiring too. Her artwork is amazing, and she has up all the line drawings of finished work, and its amazing stuff. I wish I had more time to get more stuff off her!

After the session, we head over to Marys house, pick up Little Jack (her son) and go for pizza. Unfortunately Big Jack is on tour with Swingin Utters, so I don’t get to meet him again, which is a shame. The Inner Richmond is a really nice area, very quiet, with lots of small shops and restaurants. Giorgios Pizza (where we go), is another of these fantastic pizza places, like the one we had in Brooklyn. Little Jack bounces around the restaurant, talking to whoever he feels like and generally being the little performer he is, while we have a great huge thin base pizza. Was so cool getting to hang out with Mary outside of work, and made a change from the pace of the main city of SF. Once we’d finished, the guys dropped me off at the hotel, and Mary took Jack home to bed.

Day #26
This was Tims last day. 26 days on holiday and was weird to leave him behind and now be on my own (apart from a few days in LA), but to be honest, it seemed like he wanted to get out of SF. We’d had a good run of it and had been a mega trip so far. I had to get up early to catch a coach for my Monterey To Carmel trip – which turned out to be a big disappointing pain in the butt!

Got to the wharf and caught the coach – and I was the youngest person by quite a lot. The drive to Monterey was amazing, but was gutted we never got to stop at any of the incredible beaches and cliff faces on the way down. Instead, I sat in a rattley mini coach with no suspension, getting more and more disappointed as the scenery shot past me. We had a toilet stop in a little redneck town called Davenport about 45 mins out of SF, when Suzanne texted me to see if I wanted a day out as the weather was lovely in SF. I was seriously tempted to get a cab back. The weather stayed gloomy for the entire trip, and as the trip went on, I got more and more frustrated.

First stop – Fishermans Wharf in Monterey. Forget that Monterey has some pretty stunning coastline, we ended up more or less exactly where we started. A tacky tourist spot we’d already left behind in SF. I ran off to find the nearest beach, and after an hour found some great rocks and loads of seals. This was more like it, but I had to go back and catch the coach. The rest of the trip was awful. A drive along a road full of expensive houses (bothered!), a stop at a golf course (really?) and a shopping centre in Carmel. Again I ran to the beach, took some photos, got sand in my shoes and got wet. Me 0 Pacific 1! Best part of the day!

The drive home was excruciating, and I was finally dropped off about 10pm, the last of the passengers. I immediately cancelled my Yosemite trip on Monday (no way could I do that again), cleaned my fresh and sweaty tattoo, then went to Hooters on the Wharf for beers and wings. That made up for the day big time!

Day #27
Get up late and have time to kill before an evening meet up with Suzanne. Get to the cable car turnaround and jump on a cable car to Union Square. Get some wicked new jeans from the Levi store (514s – best fitting jeans I’ve ever had), wander around Rasputins record store for an hour (and buy nothing!) then decide that I might go to the cinema for a few hours. Grab the afternoon showing of the Straw Dogs remake. Which I really enjoyed, but might have to write a whole separate blog about. It was pretty much a word for word remake (even down to the characters names), they’d just transferred everything to the deep south. I must say the bear trap scene was done brilliantly though.

Grabbed a cab and headed to Zeitgeist for a quick beer to wait for Suzanne. Didn’t get ID’d due to my Black Flag shirt, but then got slapped on my brand new tattoo for my trouble! Had a beer then headed down to Casanovas (on 16^th @ Valencia) to meet Suzanne. She was already on the margaritas when I arrived and got informed I was being dragged on a Mission area pub crawl. Which I’ll say now is the best pub crawl Suzanne has ever dragged me on! Casanovas I’d been to on my last trip briefly, and after one beer, was dragged out to the 500 Club. This place was great- nice punky dive bar, big bar, great jukebox, and had the best sandwich shop ever next door. Clares Deli was incredible. I had a meatball sub, which got delivered to the pub, and was so good, I had to go back later in the week. Brilliant place and great that the bar and shop are next to each other. After chatting to some of Suzannes friends, she took me to Benders for a quick drink, then onto Dirty Thieves for a couple more drinks and a chat with one of her friends who bartends there, and is also a cracking artist. Talked punk rock, knocked back some Old Styles, then was taken to Pops, a bar that I’ve been threatened with many times before, but not managed to get there.

Pops is deep in the Mission, and is a great little neighbourhood dive bar. Total punk rock clientele, wicked jukebox, and plenty of room. Saturday night is 90’s night, and they were playing all sorts of alternative stuff, from Jawbreaker and Kid Dynamite, to whatever other 90’s emo they could get their hands on. We got free beers all night from Suzannes bartender friends, then she dragged me up to the DJ area. They were gonna play “Boxcar” and I was gonna be singing it! I had no idea they’d been doing karaoke, but the DJ area was carnage – 30 people grabbing the mike, singing their heads off and crowd surfing in an area about 15 ft square. I was given the mike, and the song started, but to be honest it didn’t really matter what I was singing. I had a couple of helpers, and the crowd went mental to the song. They played “Dammit” by Blink 182 next, Suzanne crowdsurfed, then it was time to go home! She’d surpassed herself with this pub crawl, and was an incredible night. It also opened up more places to hangout in SF, and once again, I felt more at home than I’ve even done in this city. Brilliant.

Day #28
Woke up with a mini hangover, a grin on my face from last night and for what I was gonna do today. I’d already decided I was gonna go back to Askew Grill after last Sunday, but on Weds, I’d popped into the next door pub Hobsons Choice for a quick beer before I met Tim. HC is a pub I’ve been to everytime I’ve been in SF, as the first time we went there (in 2002), the barman Chris had entertained us for the afternoon, getting drunk with us and being a bit of a loon. Turns out he still works here, and after meeting him briefly on Weds, I promised I’d come back. It’s a really normal no frills pub, with massive windows and a ridiculous vodka selection. Jumped on a bus and got to the pub for 1.30 and had my breakfast – an anchor steam. Then I decided to partake in the bloody mary bar – Chris pours a massive vodka with ice, then you fill up and make your own bloody mary with whats provided on the help-yourself bar. It’s a brilliant idea, and mine was particularly yummy.

Had some food at Askew Grill, then another quick CD stop at Amoeba Music. Then a final beer at Hobsons before going back to the hotel. Then things went a bit wrong.

Desperate to cut my hair, and having not found a decent barbers anywhere, I thought I’d cut my hair with my beard trimmers. Turned out it took 12 hours in the end, as the things kept running down the battery! I must say I did a good job in the end, but I had a fairly miserable evening mid-haircut in the Wharf that evening. Wearing my beanie to cover the half head of hair that was left, I ended up in Tiernans, a shitty tourist bar in the Wharf. I had a couple of Anchors and a nice pulled pork sandwich, but was surrounded by old tourist couples, and was subjected to the worst ear shattering teeth grating karaoke I’ve ever heard. I know karaoke is meant to be bad, but its good when its entertaining. This was just painful. X Factor rejects through and through. Not one person realised they couldn’t sing. Luckily the barmaid was on my side, and eventually got the guy to turn them down. But it broke me. I sloped back to the hotel thoroughly dejected (after ruining an ace day with more Fishermans Wharf!), and worked through cutting my hair on and off for the rest of the evening/night!