Down Closer to the Station

I did the meeting I was flying all the way over here for.  I’d say it was a B+.  A room full smart folks who were humble enough to listen.  Only one person was a peer.  I tried to listen to before I pressed.  Then I pressed. We ended well.  And leaving I took a call from my wife who was up late and frustrated as to why I hadn’t called earlier.  Yeah, why?  And sitting there in the sun on the patio of this office block on Camino El Real in San Mateo, trying to be reasonable, I suddenly began to notice that was getting rather sick. 

I hadn’t had breakfast, as has been my routine.  What I needed, I’d determined, was a nap.  This cold demanded some rest.  My nose was suddenly running, my sinus’ were swelled.  Just stop somewhere, get some lunch and then go home and sleep.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted until I remembered a real authentic Italian deli, a business partner had taken me to many years ago along Camino El Real.  It’s right up here?  No.  And on we go.  Take a loop here on the 3^rd St.  San Mateo turned into Millbrae as Camino El Real makes its way north.  I can't find it.  It must have been reclaimed as an office park. 

A real burrito from the La Taqeria on Mission and 24^th.  That worth driving for.  I'm heading to S.F. anyway.  So I cross over to 101 by the Millbrae Bart and make my way to my old exit at Caesar Chavez.  The same homeless man who was in this seat by the car queue as yesterday.  Pass guys without shirts and sifting through shopping carts passed the park with people cheering a baseball game and into the sunny Mission.  There’s no parking for a few blocks but eventually I find a spot on 25^th not far from Mission. 

I can almost taste the marinated beef, the way this one taqueria produces it when I turn to enter and see a twenty-plus person line.  No matter.  I take my place and wait for the girl with the pen and order stack to come my way.  And then I notice what I should have remembered.  “Cash Only.”  My card won’t cut it here.   I consider my options in this neighborhood I used to know so well.  San Jose Burritos down closer to the station who’ve had the same mural of the guy shredding off hunks of beef, never taste as good as here at La Taqueria.  But they’ll do.  And inside there is no line and plenty of places to sit.

Friday, 9/7/18