On such a winter's day... One moment you're in California and the next thing you're in the snow. Not that I mind the weather, and London looks better with all the filth covered up but an extra week or so out there would have been nice. Since we got back things have been hectic AND I had to back to the dentist so I'm all medicated again and not looking forward much to Thursday when I have an appointment with a dental surgeon. Between the pain and the pills I've been a tad unpredictable... I seem to be back in the swing of things over on Londonist and am almost on top of the email. So let's get a few things out of the way... First off a big thank you to all the people who made the last couple of weeks such a blast. The last time we were in San Francisco we were using the city to rest up in after the Amtrak trip and before we tackled Mexico. We didn't see too many people. This trip we were out every single night and day and scheduling coffee and beer with all you guys was nightmare but I think we did ok. A highlight was hanging out with the good folk of SFist. They invited us for drinks and to attend a little prize giving ceremony - we spoke of George Lucas, toilet reviewing, rugby and Ken Livingston. Jackson, Eve and Rita and the rest of the team kept us highly entertained and we introduced them to Rolf Harris. When we were getting ready to leave one of the editors from YAHOO came over and introduced herself with the line "Hey, you're a Londonist. What's the deal with Karaoke bars in London?" Hi Jess! If you're enjoying the coverage on Londonist then keep an eye on SFist too - how can you resist writing like "...he didn't think even Tom Cruise had seen this yet. (Hmm, we pondered, what could this thing be? Perhaps a woman's vagina?)" Go and annoy them. We also met up with DC Mike's brother Marco and his girlfriend Jen in some Crobar-like place that was a lot of fun. We last saw Marco out in Washington and it was good to hang with him again. Always nice to talk about The Minutemen with someone who appreciates them. Nicolette picked us up across the bay and we had the best day hiking with her and the dog. That day probably helped change Jess' mind about us getting a puppy... Alan was in great form as usual. He just started renting the new place in Hawaii and was very relieved to see his latest project finally beginning to take off. Valentine's Day saw us getting lost in Berkeley looking for an anti V Day party in the rain (and rain in California was a first for me - weird but not unpleasant) . We finally found Florencia's place and hung there until the early hours - the only couple in a room of anti-romantics. Good music, good conversation and a drive home with an artist from LA talking about Hunter S Thompson and the IRA. Good stuff. Florencia should be in New York by now... Quick plug - the guys at the SF Inn pulled out all the stops for us so please look them up if you need somewhere incredible to stay the next time you are in the City. Apologies to Jane and Caitlin who we never got to see (and it would have been fun to hang with the SF MetaFilter gang) but next time for sure... We are going to try and get back there before the end of the year (and after the SFist night maybe a trip planned around the rest of the Gothamist network is in order...) but now that Jess has a new promotion to settle into it looks like we'll be in London for at least the next twelve months. I'll need to be entertained. Drop me a line and we'll catch a movie or drinks lots of coffee or rob a bank or something... Mike is writing to The Distillers