We woke, packed, washed clothes and prepped ourself to leave. NN2 had previously bought about 47 pop tarts (on special offer) in Sonora, and we still had some left. Just an FYI, most places don't have toasters. So we'd baked, fried, frozen (it's a thing, read the packet) and even rawed them across the country. Eventually he decided that he's had enough of their non goodness and left the rest in the hostel place we stayed at.
Before leaving I decided to make a coffee. I like a coffee. I started with my usual, all the way from the UK, coffee bag in a cup.
Simple. Effective.
Then I saw a cafetiere.
So I decided to have a real coffee.
It was only once I made it and when coffee and grounds were spurting all over the worktops, the floor and myself, that I realised the base was cracked.
Then I saw this.. But there were no filters. So I had a look round and found this weirdness.
Which did work and eventually I got a coffee. Phew.
We headed off into Seattle on public transport, which is very good. Once we got there we looked for a left luggage place near the station, which I had seen ont internet. We arrived but were told we had to make a reservation online. The guy, helpful, young and from Pakistan, 'I came here a year ago for a holiday and never left' let us use his WiFi. He worked in a rougher area of town and warned us against 'people who are not kind'. We booked the left luggage place but it was only showing we could leave stuff till 3pm (or 03.00p, if you're American). He said it was OK. We could collect later. Turns out we had accidently booked the wrong place. We left. 'Hey hi said the lad, as least I let you use internet'.
The man at the new place was nice enough there but he shut at 3pm, which left us with the dilemma of what to do with our luggage between then and train time.
We mooched off to the market, it was hot and NN2 got impatient with people 'walking so slowly'. Trying saying it that in a Yorkshire accent 'warkin sirr slurr-ly'. It was lunchtime, so we stopped for the most delicious bbq meat at a little booth near the large pig, under the market sign. The pound of chopped, bbq pork he ate really cheered him up.
After that we wandered down to the piers and found some arcades. One of us thrashed the other at Beatlemania pinball and Space Invaders.
We saw some fun sights.
The collection of stuffed animals in the Klondike Gold Rush arcade was less fun.
Eventually we headed back towards the luggage. An angry man who was obviously under the influence threw a fist sized rock towards us then picked it up again, to which NN2 yelled 'cross' and we dived across the nearest road. Cars stop here. Drivers are much more polite than at home.
As we neared the luggage we saw an Underground Tour. We decided to go for it. A little because we were intrigued. Mostly because they promised to look after our bags. It's a decent tour. You get to see the basements of some of the buildings and to learn how Seattle grew up. Its interesting. It costs $22 dollar, which - when compared with the free tours, where we tip handsomely and fairly - it's not what I would Highly Recommend.
They talk about rats a lot.
They also talk about poo.
Seattle was founded on seven hills.
When Art Denny (remember him from the Denny party?) landed in 1851, he measured a piece of land which he fancied and - as it fit government approved guidelines for what you could claim - he declared it his own. Art was from a landlocked state (in the previous tour Minnesota and Ohio / in this tour, Illinois). He measured the land. Then the tide came in. Not to be deterred he kept it and started to build. Others followed.
Where people live, people defecate and this was no exception. Seattle was affected by tides. This meant that the streets were frequently flooded (twice daily in fact) and when the tide went out pot holes and erosion were evident. The people combated this by taking sawdust from the sawmill and packing the holes. The dry sawdust was efficient in soaking up the water. The old sawdust at the bottom of the hole was not. It would start to rot, leaving treacherous roads where horses, carts and people could sink at a moment's notice. Leaving you sitting in a pool of sea water and feaces. A visiting journalist described it as 'intersections of oatmeal'.
Then the townspeople heard of an amazing invention. Across the pond Thomas Crapper had invented the first flushing toilet. In 1871 the town ordered 1000 flushing toilets.
Next day delivery did not exist at that time. Remember Cape Horn?
TEN YEARS LATER the delivery of 1000 Crappers arrived. The townspeople were overjoyed. Bingo! They unboxed their Crappers and set about placing them in their homes.
This was wonderful.
Until.
They realised that the flushing facilities only worked when there was a local sewage system to connect to which would remove the fetal matter. So they set about building one. Now, remember the water table? You couldn't dig down to bury anything. It would get flooded. So they took a number of 1000 year old Douglas Fir trees and hollowed them out. They placed them together on land to form a tunnel system and plumbed the toilets into them. Go for a poo, flush, adios. Worked brilliantly.
Until.
The tide came in.
When this happened the Douglas Fir sewage system, would get backed up, sea water would force its way back up the pipe.. redelivering the toilets' contents back to the unlucky inhabitants. The town's people had a solution. Block the lids down on the toilets. This was a great idea.
Until.
The water pressure became greater than the weight of the block. Result? Wrathful, exploding toilets!
They lived like this for ten years until the fire of 1889. 98% of the town was razed to the ground, though no one died.
This is when Shit Shaped Seattle.
The local council told the shop keepers and businesses they could rebuild in the same place, but with three provisos:
1. They had to be built of stone
2. There had to be a retaining wall between the block and the street.
3. The first floor would become the entrance, so the door would be placed there.
The plan was then to flatten two of the seven hills which Seattle was built on and to use this land to fill in (and build Up) the roadways. These would be held in place by the retaining walls.
Part two of the plan: before the earth went in, pipes would be placed on filled in earth, above the existing water table but under the road surface. This would create a system of higher plumbing, for managing utilities which was not affected by the tide.
An illustration:
It worked. Though during the four years of house and road construction, people had to shop by crossing a current level low street, which still contained sewers, climbing up a 20ft ladder and then either down to the shop's basement or up again to the new pavement and entrance to the shop. During this time not one woman, climbing the rickety ladders in her skirts, hoops and bustles carrying a basket, died from falling off a ladder. 17 inebriated men did though.
And how did the city fund this rapid growth project? On the backs of women. Or more correctly, from women on their backs. 12 months before the fire and rebuild project the city decided to shut down the brothels. The mayor was pretty corrupt though, so one of the main brothel owners, Madam Graham went to him and said, you will not do this. You will legalise prostitution. Every month my 'seamstresses' (as they were known) will each pay you £10. This was done and the city coffers quickly swelled. The mayor then decided to tax gambling and booze. The three together were called the sin tax.
Madam Graham photographed with her four biggest earners. However, they weren't all women. Study picture carefully.
People used the basement walkways as routes around the city, until they were banned from use on 1907 due to a rise in bubonic plague deaths (rats lived in the basements). After the ban the rats flourished and so did illegal life in the basements. As they became illicit gambling dens, brothels and dumping grounds.
They are still full of rubbish.
The tunnels are now lit by electricity but, when built, were furnished with glass filled sections of pavements, which allow a surprising amount of light to filter through. Many still exist today.
We collected our luggage (again) and set off towards the station. Which is actually pretty, ornate and fairly empty. Studying the board I realised something slightly alarming. I had booked a ticket to the wrong Vancouver. Argh. We were going to Vancouver, Washington, not Vancouver, British Columbia. Gulp.
Bloody Vancouver, naming places after himself.
After some faff, a bit more cash, another WiFi issue, a very helpful man and three hours wait. We boarded a bus to Vancouver, BC.
We arrived very late. Someone had left flowers for us at the station.
We stumbled out a little confused, walked 10 minutes to find the transport link which would take us to our accommodation and managed to find the dodgiest part of town with the most homeless people I have ever seen and no sign of pavement because it was covered in tents.
I followed my age old strategy when I am not at all comfortable. Look like you know where you are going. Pretend not to hear people when they talk to you. Act like you're purposeful and busy. Walk. Talk on your phone. NN2 wasn't aware of my strategy. Kept sort of wandering off and turned his head everytime someone spoke to him. Drifting more than 4m away from me. Eventually I stopped outside a hotel (which was behind a cage) made him stand facing me on the road, so we could watch each other's backs and celled a taxi.
It was fine. We arrived at the loveliest little place to stay. I had splashed out and we had a bedroom each.
Later I wrote this blog.
It didn't save and I had to rewrite this day.
Pffft.
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