Sunday, May 17, 2009

Is it a race or a parade?

Today was Bay to Breakers day in S.F.--one of this city's most beloved civic events, even if it does snarl up public transportation for most of the day. I didn't make plans to run it with anybody, so I just strolled to Golden Gate Park and watched the panoply go by. (It's just as well I didn't run/walk it--the weather was blazingly hot today and I got a slight sunburn from sitting and watching the race for twenty or thirty minutes, so imagine how lobster-red I'd be if I'd walked the entire 7-mile course!)

I don't have any pictures for you of the revelry, though I'm sure they're being posted all over other San Franciscans' blogs this evening. There were the expected wacky costumes--bright wigs and tutus, a huge troupe of Elvis impersonators, and of course the occasional nudist--but I ended up most interested in the topical, 2009-appropriate costumes. There were two very popular ones this year, both in shades of pink, so that the race, from a distance, must have looked like a veritable Rose Parade.

The first was to dress up as Swine Flu--as a pig, in pink clothes, with a snout and a little pipe-cleaner tail, and carry a box labeled "TAMIFLU."

The other option was to metaphorically comment on this recession by wearing a Pink Slip--an especially striking costume when chosen by a man. I saw so many of these that I am sure that every San Francisco thrift store must be completely sold out of pink slips today.

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