“I’m the Mayor,” he said. “I know,” she said.

Barbara and I spent an enjoyabe hour touring the beautiful classic interior of San Francisco’s magnificent City Hall. Highly recommended!

Departing City Hall via its east steps, we observed commotion heading toward us. A well-dressed movie-starish young man was riding a municipal sidewalk sweeping machine, trailed by running reporters and photographers. He stopped abruptly directly in front of where we were standing.

I reached for my digital still camera, hoping to get a quick photo of Mr. Whoever. Then I recognized Gavin Newsom, controversial new mayor of San Francisco.

Mayor Newsom jumped off the machine and walked over to Barbara.

“Where are you from?” he said.

“Tucson,” she said, caught off guard by his directness.

“I’m the Mayor,” he said.

“I know,” she said.

“Hold it, please!” I said, and took one quick photo (below):

“Who is she?” said a reporter.

“Who are you?” I said. “What’s going on?”

“The Mayor was involved in an event for the homeless, and he saw the sweeper, hopped on, and drove it back here to City Hall.”

“I hope my joyride doesn’t get you into trouble,” Mayor Newsom said to the perplexed city employee who was supposed to be using the sweeper.

“No comment, Mayor,” said the employee.

Ha ha, we all laughed.

A brief, somewhat serious impromptu press conference began, with another city worker touching up the gold trim on City Hall’s lovely doorways. (Photo below):

Mayor Newsom is smart, attractive, unpretentious, and charming. Barbara and I can’t wait until he runs into us again!

Only in San Francisco.