Tomorrow morning, I’m going to the Justin Herman Plaza Farmers Market. I haven’t been there in a while, as I don’t usually go unless I’ve missed the Ferry Plaza on Saturday. However, I’m definitely going in the morning because on Saturday I got word from Juan that the Hamadas will be scooping the other vendors this Tuesday at the Justin Herman Plaza market by bringing the first cherries. Juan thinks there is a chance they’ll scoop everyone at the Ferry Plaza next Saturday also.
I was delighted to learn that while the vendors give the appearance of placing all their focus on the care and upbringing of their own products, they are also all spying on each other. I can just picture a pickup pulling up to the ridgeline with a very large pair of binoculars sticking out the window. “They look ripe yet, Jake?”
I don’t know how widely word has spread about the cherries, but San Francisco is in some ways a small town and news travels rapidly. I’m planning to drive down the hill to the Castro and park, taking the F Market streetcar down to the plaza so that I won’t have to try to find parking nearby. I do this fairly often anyhow because I can park so much closer to the Castro F Market stop than I can to Justin Herman Plaza. Besides, if they run out of cherries too early and the riot starts before I can get away, there’ll be burning cars and stuff blocking the streets and I won’t be able to drive the car back anyhow, even assuming that my car is not one of those burning. The underground Muni line, on the other hand, remained on schedule even during the White Night riots, plowing serenely through the tear gas.
It’s good to know the terrain.