Angelika For the whole last year we felt like we were in a perpetual lockdown, and the whole world pitied the USA. It seemed like this great country couldn't get a handle on the pandemic. Now it seems like everything has turned around, because after some initial stumbling blocks, the vaccination campaign has gotten off to a good start. In San Francisco, 60% have now received their first vaccination and almost 40% are fully vaccinated. There is no longer any prioritization, but anyone over 16 can make an appointment for a vaccination.

Michael I remember my first visit to the electronics discount store "Fry's Electronics" 24 years ago. We had just moved to California, the gold rush in Silicon Valley was in full swing, and anyone looking to buy computer components regularly hung around one of the many scattered Fry's branches to marvel at the incredible prices and even more incredible discounts. At Fry's I saw for the first time that a product was offered in a store at a negative price, a package of disks for $0.99, with a $1.99 mail-in rebate.

Michael Occasionally we have to exchange items that we have purchased online, whether it be a piece of clothing that doesn't fit or an electronic device that doesn't work as expected. No problem! At Amazon, the customer is still king, exchanging items is relatively uncomplicated, just repack it, put it in a box, print out the free shipping label, but then you have to take the package to the post office or to a branch of the FedEx or UPS delivery services.

Angelika We still go out for a walk almost every day. By now, our walks through the city have become part of our daily routine. Since San Francisco is famously hilly, we often have fantastic views of the city. For months, we have now noticed that huge container ships line up in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay, waiting to be unloaded at the Oakland port, but stuck in traffic. This is not a side effect of the container ship got stuck recently in the Suez Canal, this has been going on for quite a while now. By the way, there is no port in San Francisco that can handle container ships, but there is one in Oakland, which is on the other side of the bay.

Michael I still remember clearly when I had dungeness crab for the first time, many years ago. We were up in the wine country, in Napa Valley, at a now defunct establishment called "Tra Vigne", and we had just managed to snag a spot at the bar. I ordered the daily special, a giant crab, along with a type of beer I had never heard of before, "India Pale Ale". I initially thought it came from India. Okay, folks, that was twenty years ago, nowadays everyone knows better! I clumsily fumbled with the cracker, picking the meat out of the crab's leg shells until my fingers were all greasy. It tasted great, and also since then IPA has been my favorite beer.