Alcatraz!

Is where I went today. Spent a few hours going around the island, and came to the conclusion that had I been a child during the 40s or 50s, I would have loved to grow up there. Or even be a wife/mother living there. The kids and women had it goooooood.

Bought myself an inmate's uniform shirt which looks super cool and slightly starchy but I don't care coz it'll be the only long sleeve top I have. YAY WARM CLOTHES FOR WHEN THE WEATHER DOES A 180!

But I did love how today was overcast and sprinkled with rain and was so foggy you couldn't see half of the city buildings or most of the Golden Gate bridge! It totally leant itself to the eery island, and though the wind had me freezing during some parts when I was outside at the top, I much prefered it over yesterday's summer-y weather. It just wouldn't have set the right mood.

Sitting at a chair and table in cell 147, C block

Also, here's a fun story! So when I got to the block where they had a few solitary confinement cells, they had a dude (who works there, obvs) who would let you in and close the door so you can experience what it's like to be in that pitch black cell for a minute or so. Inmates could be in there for up to 19 days at a time. Anyway, so he asks who wants to go in next and all the people around me are like 'oh no, no, no!' and back away and I'm game so I'm like 'let's do it, man' but am disappointed when a few others join me coz I wanted to do it by myself. Coz it's solitary confinement and all. So we go in and there's about 5 or 6 of us and the door closes and we're standing there, but then the groups start talking amongst themselves and taking pictures with flash. So, if you know me, you'll know I was getting seriously pissed coz I wanted to really experience it properly. But I recognised the accents! So we're all standing there in pitch black and I go "are you guys all Aussie?" and it turns out that everyone in the room was (despite being only groups of 1 or 2)! And one guy from Melbourne says as we're being let out about how the Aussies were the only ones brave enough to do it and I was like YES. And my irritation at their talking and flash-photography abided, thanks to my Sense of Belonging with My People. I could have written a HSC essay on it. Dude.