Swirling air both warm and cold

Those hot Santa Ana winds had blown for such a long time, he'd prayed that they would stop for fear of their fanning a wildfire out of control.   Yet now, feeling cold, he hoped they blow again.

Sometimes it's interesting to go "offline" for a while, randomly surfing the real world, to see what might be found.

Walking down Fifth Avenue after eleven at night.

Prohibition is gone.  The door that once stood locked is now wide open, making visible to the street a few Volstead Act photos on the walls at the top of the descending stairs.  You can just barely see that door has been cleaned of the misleading words "Law Offices of Eddie O'Hare".

There's a cool storefront at 430 Fifth called "Drama Queen".  Original women's dresses and apparel styled in a 1950's retro trend.

Crossing Island in the crosswalk a tourist in a big SUV pulled halfway into the walk forcing me to stop and walk around him.  That's okay; I didn't blame him, as he looked through his dirty windshield straining to read scarcely-visible street signs.

Across Harbor Blvd and then south to the new pedestrian bridge that crossed the tracks to the ballpark. What a beautiful structure of baffling engineering.  A suspension bridge with just one leaning support, and with an additional horizontal as opposed to vertical curving arch in it... how does it even stay up?

From the bridge I watched a switching engine in the distance as it did it's heavy clanging work.  When it whistled the sound echoed against the dark buildings in the stillness.

Walking back north, this time on the other side of 5th, I set out across a side street believing I'd be safe between the thick painted lines of the sidewalk.  A green and white taxi-cab approached quickly from the right.  He didn't stop until his front end was completely and suddenly blocking my way.  In a reaction that I regret (because who knows what could have been the outcome; I was lucky it was harmless) I slapped both my hands down on his hood hard.  I moved to the driver's window and he rolled it down and I just said "sorry".

Perhaps pedestrians do not have the right away in Somalia.  I wonder what his four tourists who were his  fare thought when they heard the thud on the hood?

Up at 4th and Broadway a SDPD patrol car was parked at the corner, his rear end jutting into the curb lane a bit, his lights flashing red and blue.  There was an officer writing a ticket while a young flashlight-holding cadet stood in the open passenger door keeping watch.  I passed close by, but stopped only to wait for the pedestrian light to turn for me so I could continue up Broadway.

However, I had a thought:  this cop might sign off the CHP-issued "fix-it" ticket in my wallet for me.  All I needed to do was to get up the nerve to ask.  So I walked away but crossed again at the next intersection, executing a big rectangle while mustering up courage.

Back at the patrol car, while the officer continued writing in his citation book, I caught that cadet's eyes, who didn't seem too busy, and asked,

"Do you think you could sign my Fix-It ticket?  It was for not having my original registration with me."

The officer paused and looked up, "I'm surprised he wrote that!"

"Well, he was doing me a favor.  He gave me a warning on my speed, and just wrote me for this.  He showed some compassion!"

"If you can wait about ten minutes," the officer said, "I can do that for you".

So I stepped off about 6 or 7 paces and stood against the wall of the corner restaurant.  Now I could just relax and listen.

The ticket being written was for jaywalking.  A guy who was walking a bike and his friend, a woman who may have been from NYC since she spoke of someone who "hopped the turnstyle".

He was almost finished writing the citation when he noticed a woman staggering down broadway, just off the sidewalk, walking in the road.  He asked her how much she'd had to drink and announced she was getting a ticket and told her to sit on the curb.  She complied.

A few minutes later he looked back over his shoulder and witnessed three guys crossing against the pedestrian light.  He told them they needed to stop since they would be getting tickets for jaywalking as well.   He had them all sit on the curb.

The cadet looked over at me with sort of an apologetic look, but I smiled and waved my hand to say "take your time, I don't mind, I'm grateful that he said he'd sign my ticket!"

and then (in progress).....