The Missing Day in The Mission

Saturday 18th August

I have a bit more time now so, as promised, here are the events of my day with Wyatt in The Mission. The Mission is a predominantly Mexican area of San Francisco with a lot of bars, cafes, vintage shops and street art.

By the time we got there breakfast had worn off so we popped into a cafe for a snack. We both ordered Tacos Cabeza Mas Grande, Beef Head Tacos with all the trimmings. I have to admit to being a bit dubious but it just tasted like the rest of the cow but slightly more tender. Wyatt was impressed by my ordering in Spanish but the waitress had a wee giggle at my Spanish as opposed to Mexican accent. Not that I minded, she gave me my drink for free.

After that we headed towards Galeria del Razas, The People's Gallery, where most of the exhibits were about immigration and the extreme lengths people go to both to get in and to keep others out. Interesting but from an artistic point of view everything was very simplistic. They did have a cool wee skeleton doll which will be on the flickr page as soon as I can upload pics.

After that and a wander round the shops we decided a light refreshment was in order and Wyatt already had the only gay bar in the village earmarked - I have a sneaking suspicion that was his whole motivation for the day. The Phone Booth is a bar for freaks. It has a sign saying that behind the bar so I was expecting the American version of freaks where people are just slightly less clean cut than normal but this was full on Jerry Springer show freaks. Within half an hour of being there I'd met Liz the Lesbian who fancied me, Perry the Fairy who prayed a lot, Louise an elderly Korean woman who sat in the corner and giggled a lot and 2 prostitutes, 1 female and 1 tranny who decided to show the whole bar her new pouch. I'm glad to say I wasn't the only one a little put off by this.

Later on the place livened up and became pretty much your average bar with a variety of people coming in and out. 2 girls came in at one point and sat down for a chat while they had a drink. One was called Emily and the other, Sushka! She's Mexican but her parents met in Russia and had heard the name there. I don't know who was more surprised when I explained that my mum calls me Sushka. It was about the most shocking thing the whole night.

Despite the range of characters I had a great night in there and was proud to be the biggest freak in there - they've never had a straight, white Scottish girl with blonde hair and blue eyes sitting in the bar before! I'm a freak, fact! I think they kept expecting me to be shocked by their antics and everything that was happening but they've never met Wee Gay Bryan so I'd seen it all before!