That Slow China Boat
Redding is a relocation market for trillions of Southlanders who retire, cash in their over-priced LA homes, and settle into the low-cost life of the North State. There are 50% more seniors in the area than the state average now, and the projections are for a 50% increase in population over the next 20 years or so, as the convoy of Windybagels plies Interstate Five for the land of low-key. Many of the folks are on fixed incomes, though not necessarily low ones. They are enough of a force, however, so that the economy is mostly cheap retail, there are myriad inexpensive salt-'n-grease emporiums, most with drive-thrus, and the medical industry is a thriving venture up here. On the downside, the driving is terrible and the bowing and scraping of some of the retailers is kinda cheesy. Like at one of the Raley's supermarkets. I was in the other day for three items and the receipt ran 13˝ inches long. Hey, I said to the manager-type, what about rain forests and stuff? Ridiculous, huh, he agreed, and explained that some of the elderly customers complained that they couldn't read the receipts they used to print out. But, I 10-pointed out, the numbers are the same size and they're just printed on a longer piece of paper. He shrugged. There's a lot of that going around these days.
It's always good to get out of Redding, and the Bay Area is such a contrast. One can articulate thoughts multi-syllabically without causing a narrowing of the eyes and a reaching for the concealed assault weapon. Not that it's perfect anywhere else, of course. The intellect and style of San Francisco is pock-marked in its own fashion. The media there is comparably awful or worse, and people who know better tend to be silent on the subject.
One of the local SF TV stations, which features an hour of news at ten o’clock, dumped a handful of foreign news into thirty seconds with a banner that reads "News Of The World". The words "news" and "the" were emboldened. Does that make sense to anyone? Okay, how 'bout the commercial for fat burners in which a woman comments, "I'm always in a hurry for time"?
Whether in Redding or Mill Valley, one must be selective about one's company and environment. This last trip I had the pleasure of dining with my dear friend Clifford Waldeck, whom I helped to get elected to the MV City Council five years ago, in what is one of the proudest achievements of my life. Clifford is one of the friendliest, most socially generous people on the planet. He just finished a stint as mayor, to universal acclaim. At one delicious moment in a far-ranging — even for Marin County — conversation, Clifford observed that decadence, cynicism, and apathy are boring. This is a man who lives life fully.
Another who seems also to get more out of every minute was a stranger whom I encountered on a walk down Tennessee Valley to the Pacific Ocean. I met a man thirty years my senior who was climbing his way back up the more arduous high road. I said, "Afternoon," meaning "Good Afternoon" of course, with appropriate vocal qualities to indicate my wish that it should be for him in particular, too, beyond the general observation. He’d just finished a steep 100-yard climb, and was still in the process of regaining his full breath. He declared with a smile, "There is no boat to China today."
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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