Golden Gate Hate

It was strange being in San Francisco for such a serious matter. Ellie’s hospital room looked out onto Golden Gate Park and in the background you could see the Golden Gate Bridge. Whenever I am in San Francisco I have to pinch myself. Here I am; a boy from Saltash here in San Fran!! I used to get the same buzz when I was in London. The energy that a big city like London or San Francisco can produce is unbelievable.

I know not everyone feels the same, and I know 2 people who would do almost anything in their power to avoid going to London or any big city but I just like it. And San Francisco is such an iconic city. The funny thing is that Jen can never truly understand the power that San Francisco and especially California has on certain people. She thinks that Britain is the cool place and that California is dull. She has always struggled to understand why people wear California clothes and drink Bud in the UK when we have better clothes and beer there. But that very feeling she has about Britain is the feeling that a lot of people have about California. Yet California is considered a bad place by a lot of Americans. This makes is a good place by definition to me, but I want to try and explain this further.

A lot of Americans don’t like the liberal attitudes that California as a state has to many things. The recent elections returned a Democratic majority and the Republicans have responded by saying that the Democrats are now going to turn the USA into San Francisco – and this is an insult because many Americans apparently fear having a good transport system, higher minimum wage, excellent architecture, shops, theatres and of course great weather.

So back to my original point, every morning I would look out of Ellie’s window with a sense of awe at seeing something that I had seen in movies countless times. It was a strange emotion to have such a serious thing happen whilst in a place that as a kid I never thought I would see.