Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th April 2025

The compelling reason for coming to the US is to be brides”maid” for my friend. We started kindergarten together and have stayed in contact on and off for the next 65 years. Although she now lives in Texas she has elected to marry in San Ramon which is on the Oakland side of San Francisco.

On account of that, these two days were more about repositioning and catching up, with nothing much of tourism to report. We enjoyed a lively evening in the home of the family who are hosting the wedding and returned to our hotel ready to drop into bed around 1am. No prizes for guessing we were a titch too late for the hotel breakfast the next morning.

We had Thursday to ourselves. We are staying in a place called Dublin, and yes, it must be inspired by Ireland, as all the city logos include shamrocks. We haven’t met anyone who could claim Irish ancestry though, despite a league of nations being employed in the hotel and restaurants.

There’d been a lot of sitting so we were happy to stretch our legs for a half hour walk to the Safeway supermarket to purchase a few essentials. At the front door artichokes caught my eye, and just inside it was the flowers which caught my attention. We took our time investigating the various goods on offer, and had a chat with a local lady who initially mistook us for English. I must learn to broaden my Aussie accent into ocker slang.

So far we are having a challenge finding gluten free options, both in restaurants and the supermarket. We came out with a packet of biscuits, but until now, we’ve not tracked down GF bread, and this supermarket was no help in that department. Hopefully that will improve as we go along.

Nearby we discovered a Chinese restaurant with lunchtime specials so we loaded up on protein and vegetables with rice. Meal sizes in America are legendary but we each ordered something so we had that night’s dinner sorted as well. We continue to find prices expensive, although that may be a California thing. We are on the doorstep of Silicon Valley and the wages that go with that employment.

Continuing our walk home, we came across the local library. Inside it was much the same set up as at home except that the layout was especially spacious and the building very attractive. The two friendly librarians were happy for a chat.

All in all, Thursday was a downtime day, which we finished off by watching movies as we ate our Chinese leftovers. We caught up on Al Pacino’s Serpico which is still holding up despite being made fifty years ago.

The next was serendipitous. The Fabulous Four starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullaly and Sheryl Lee Ralph features lifelong friends now in their sixties (but refusing to age) getting together in Key West Florida to be bridesmaids for the flamboyant Bette Midler character – recently widowed and now remarrying. Susan Sarandon plays the sensible straight character. You can imagine the parallels I was drawing between my friend and me, and her upcoming equally off-beat wedding.

Actually, even though it was only made last year, and written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) it was a rather lame movie so please don’t rush out to watch it on my account.