Excuse me, sir. Where you going with that brown balloon?
Says Muni rider Patrick: “An odd acting fellow that hasn’t bathed recently is on the bus. He is playing with a brown balloon.”
Now, there’s nothing so out of the ordinary with the first half of Patrick’s observation. Then we get to the balloon, and the clouds part. Everything is clear now. Life’s mysteries, solved.
“…that hasn’t bathed recently…”
Several years ago, in the late mid 80s or so, an S.F. Examiner reporter lived as a homeless person for a week and wrote a series of columns on the experience.
One of the series’ essential points was that the reporter found it easy to get food but difficult to find a place to bathe. I’m not sure it has gotten any easier for anyone living on the street to find a place to take a shower(?)
lol, i thought you were gonna correct Patrick. “WHO hasn’t bathed recently …”
I know this guy! He’s smelly, yes. He’s odd, yes. He has a brown balloon, yes.
The reason why he has balloons is that he likes to walk around Fisherman’s Wharf area and make balloon animals for children waiting in line for the cable car. You should see the overly polite tourists trying to decline the gesture while their blissfully accepting children get wide eye waiting for him to make them a brown balloon sword. Sometimes they are blue.
When he orders his latte at Starbucks, he is very particular about the process in which it is prepared. Likes to watch it being made and wants to put on his own lid… because he is worried about germs. I used to make his drinks. We call him Creepy Balloon guy. Friends with Angry Santa.
Aw. Thanks for writing in. I love that he is making balloon animals for kids. I kind of want balloon animals for myself right now.