Whisky in two successive posts .. Last week I went to the Tartan Day reception (part of Scotland Week), held in the British Consult's residence in San Francisco. Events there are very civilized, carefully catered, and Diageo generously provides single malt whisky. Food included haggis, served as finger food, in small pieces in the bowls of Chinese soup spoons.

There were some potentially useful conversations - talked to a couple recently moved from Edinburgh - he's managing Asian equity funds for private clients - and to someone in the high end optical component business. Also exchanged cards with people from SDI (our hosts) and UKTI. I'm looking for more ways to help with Startup Britain than answering questions on Quora.

To get there, I walked across the city from the Caltrain station at 4th and Townsend.

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Despite visiting the city fairly frequently, I've never had the sense of appreciation and understanding for it that I do for London. The usual way to improve one's sense of a place is to walk it - often the City is either too cold and dark, or too hot and sunny, for that to be pleasant - this was a dry sunny late afternoon with a brisk wind. Conclusion - San Francisco has some fairly seedy areas; in the nicer residential parts there are very few cafes or good quality retail stores - it doesn't at all compare with Knightsbridge, or Stockbridge in Edinburgh. There are very few good views, despite all the hills - the streets are built up preventing long aspects.

References

Scotland Week highlights
SDI page
UKTI page
Startup Britain on Quora

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