Let me tell you the story of when Nicci strayed into the 'hood'...!

Last Tuesday I had arranged to meet Lee (wife of chap Ed went to primary school with) in SFO to go to the MOMA (Museum of modern art), which offers free entry on the first tues of every month... I had intended to take the Caltrain from San Carlos (I did this last time and it worked well), but as I arrived at the station, my train pulled away, so I was left with the option of driving into the city...

I thought, armed with 'Cindy' (the name we have given our American sat nav) I can't go wrong... but oh dear, wrong I went! Before I knew it, I was completely lost and decided to just park in the nearest car park and walk... the car park looked dodgy, but there was a guy on the gate, so I figured the car would probably survive the experience...

I started walking, asked for directions and, to my relief, although it was going to be a bit of a walk, it seemed fairly straight forward - 'just carry on straight down this street and then take a right on 3rd'... so off I went... I was going to be on time for Lee... and this was going to be a success... Ed was going to be so proud of me...

I walked for a bit and all seemed fine. But then, as I looked around, I realised that my white face was definitely in the minority... the girls were not wearing very much and I am not convinced that all of them WERE girls and there were, what my Mum might have called 'unsavory characters' everywhere I looked... to my horror, I realised I must have strayed into one of the 'no go' zones of the city... go back? I was so close to where I needed to be... so 'head down and look moody' I thought (Robin, you'd have been proud: "you're soooo moody!")... Although I got a few smarmy comments, it was all ok... and I found out later that although you wouldn't go there at night, it's probably not that bad to walk through in the day time... I think I probably won't do it alone again though!

Yikes! The rest of the afternoon was great - although I didn't have much staying power at the MOMA - I just don't get that kind of art... sorry Ru, you'll have to guide me through it one day!