List 43 things I miss about Seattle

...because pretty soon, I won’t be missing Seattle exactly. If you see what I mean. (Jumps up and down in slightly over-excited manner, taking care not to spill frappucino.)

Anyway…

26. Drunk of the Week in the Stranger. The threat of ever appearing in this is a great incentive not to over-indulge in any of the aforementioned 90,000 beers.

27. The cats at Twice Sold Tales.

28. Waking up too early like I always do the first couple of days and seeing the lights up on Queen Anne.

29. Walking round with my tattoos on display and totally not being worried about anyone seeing them.

30. The Fremont Dragon Lady. Long story but, back in ‘05, we met her at the Rummage Sale up that way and she invited us to stay and help out with the Solstice Parade. (She was in the process of constructing the said dragon, a two-seater, by the way. She wasn’t remotely dragonish herself – she was really sweet.) If we’d had the money, we could have just about done it on our tourist visa – it was April. I was so sorry we had to turn her down, and I still don’t know who she was.

31. Fremont flea market. They don’t do flea markets like that over here, if indeed anywhere.

32. The lotería card talisman lady on the above market. Hope things are still going well.

33. The Five Point. The meatloaf. Oh, the meatloaf. When I go back, the moose head is getting…an offering from me. (Brought with me in my purse, so don’t hold your breath, guys, because there’ll be nothing to see, OK?)

34. Waterfall Park Gardens. One of the best little surprises in town, especially on a hot day.

35. The way the Space Needle sneaks up on you. You turn a corner and…oh, yikes! You know what I’m talking about.

36. The Pink Elephant. ‘Nuff said.

37. The bum, the banana, and what happened on the front step of Utrecht. It’s way too long a story for me to tell here, so ask my husband if you ever meet him.

38. The fabulous collection of ancient kitsch mirrors in the bathrooms at Bimbo’s. I’m told Bimbo’s moved up the block, so I hope someone rescued the mirrors.

39. A better class of graffiti. An admonition to ‘Make More Art’ is definitely a better class of graffiti.

40. A crumpet known as the ‘Vermont’. We British invented crumpets, dammit, but the guys down Pike Place Market have actually managed to surpass us on this one.

41. The Olympic Mountains over Elliott Bay. Have you ever seen anything so blue in your life?

42. Watching the Ducks go past and thinking You know…I’m really glad I’m not one of those people sitting up there like an idiot shrieking and making quacking noises.

43. Raining when the place touches down at Sea/Tac. Raining when it takes off. In between..almost anything can happen. Would you have it any other way?

16. Walking through Belltown first thing in the morning when there’s no-one up.

17. Finding really cool stuff in the thrift stores. (I must be the only person I know with a $4 Sub Pop ‘Loser’ T-shirt. Thank you, Red Light.)

18. Getting my cards read by René at Gargoyles. (If you see him, tell him I said hi, and I’m working on my Cancerian hoarding instinct. Honest!)

19. Walking back through the city from Neumo’s at 1am and not feeling scared.

20. Being able to go out at 7pm on a Sunday evening and find a store which is open, and actually buy computer games. (Thank you, Pink Godzilla.)

21. About ninety thousand really great beers, dammit.

22. Running through the Center fountains. And people not looking at me like I’m totally loopy.

23. That library. THAT LIBRARY. (Did I say I <3 books? Did I say I also <3 Rem Koolhaas?)

24. OK, OK, Viretta Park. Obviously.

25. The strange, but highly entertaining people one encounters on buses, particularly in the Broadway neck of the woods…

7. Walking on the beach at Alki.

8. The Fremont Troll.

9. The ‘my father was killed by ninjas’ guy outside the Westlake Center. (You know the one.)

10. Ivar’s clam chowder.

11. The bald eagles in Volunteer Park.

12. Bookstores. Bookstores? BOOKSTORES!

13. Three Girls blackberry cobbler.

14. That guy with the cat. I can’t remember his name or the cat’s, but it was down the market somewhere near Beecher’s and the cat was wearing a sweater. No, really.

15. The Crocodile Café. (Which I will have to keep on missing, unless the sensible thing has happened and someone’s bought it up and plans to keep it going. Please tell me this happened. Please.)

1. Coming up along I5 on the bus from the airport and suddenly seeing all the lights along the waterfront.

2. Sitting in Local Color with a mocha, watching the life of the market.

3. Sitting in Victor Steinbrueck park listening to Norm playing the blues.

4. The view of Bellevue over Lake Washington in the mist first thing in the morning.

5. Rounding West Point into the bay on the cruise boat on a fine day when the mountain’s out.

6. First Thursdays at the EMP with the music playing, the fairground lights and the kids wheeling around outside on their skateboards.

More later…

...but I just want to add something temporary to tide me over, and this won’t take very long. And maybe a few people (and especially those in or from the city) may find this vaguely interesting and/or amusing. Whatever.