Brit Floyd Live at The Warfield Theatre, San Francisco

What a show! Brit Floyd live.

A perfect sized venue... a bit smaller than the Hammersmith Apollo. Ideal for a rock gig. We were near the front of the balcony.

The band were fantastic. I will never probably get to see Pink Floyd live but this has to be pretty close and to be honest probably better due to the intimate feel and the inherent audio quality of a smaller venue.

On a side note: This was a diverse audience! We had everything going on in the crowd from kids to infirm grandparents. This was beyond "dad rock". More like "colostomy rock". I have never been anywhere with so many unfit looking people. I have put a bit of weight on but OMG.. some of these older blokes are F A T.

Also... Americans are loud at concerts! And also.. man.... get in your chair before the gig starts. Grief!

.... but a brilliant concert. One of the finest bits of musicianship I have witnessed.

The Warfield is on the edge of the Tenderloin district. We parked just behind it on Eddy one and a half block away. You really don't want to be walking far at night around here!

And one last video clip from my iPhone... yes they did the mirror ball and I think they did it proud!

Moving on to Pastas New!

This was Audrey's idea for a great pun!

Two things that have inspired me thus far are "Linda's Italian American Kitchen" and the complete book of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, both on the bookshelf of 159 28th Street.

So today I made fresh pasta for the first time ever. I must admit that I am following a slight "Julie and Julia" fantasy here but fair is fair, I have no pasta making kit and no rolling pin so the thing was spread out with a wine bottle.

A lot of mess was made but Audrey helped keep the madness contained.

A video walk around our San Francisco pad

Its small (actually not that small!) but its everything we need.

The outdoor space if being lived in as much as the house is!

Audrey loves to watch humming birds from the deck.

Hello Toyota Yaris! 100,000 miles and dirty cheap.

First trip out. We got on the BART train to go under the bay and cross over to Oakland on the east side to visit rentarelic.com. I had organised a hire car for the month for about $500 (£300) all in. The insurance including CDW and SLI came from a 1 year policy from  insurance4carhire.com ... Thats another £100 and our 1 month driving is £400 job done.

The car is a dated 3 speed auto gutless and characterless Toyota Yaris with great aircon and cup holders. Its done 100,000 miles and it will do 100,000 more. Its bloody brilliant! 

Its best feature is the rear numberplate with one important word on it.

Wine, Women and Jet Lag

Great flight with Virgin Atlantic. Audrey (queen of online booking) went for economy seats in the quiet and "select" area of the upper cabin of a 747/400. We could not sit together in the end as only single seats were available up here but we had more fun on this 10 hour flight than we can remember ever having!

After every movie we left our seats and walked 6 rows back to the upper deck galley for more drinks n nibbles. Great time getting to know some of the VA girls and guys. Who needs first class? Welcome to Mark and Audrey's Bar!

Where are we living?

Well this will be our place in Noe Valley. Find the main body of North San Fran and stick a pin in the middle of that and this is where we will be. We rented this off of Flipkey. You can spend a LOT of money on places in SF. This one was sensibly priced, had good reviews on TripAdvisor and does not look like a hole! 

We wanted some outdoor space as well. 

We are hiring a small car for the month (more on this later) so we needed off road parking as lots of residential areas have parking restrictions.

We fell in love with San Francisco when we were kids! In 1987 we had no money but I did have a great job with Hewlett Packard. They sent me out to California on training and we managed to beg/steal the money to get Audrey on a plane. What followed was one of the best two weeks ever. We have returned a few times since with work and on hols. Last time Audrey said "I could live here for a year". Well that is beyond us!.... but let's do a month. So with a Sabbatical from work were are off! June 2014 we are living in Noe Valley baby!