A photo posted by @peternocturnal on

"The center could not hold," the above Instagrammer captions this shot — perhaps channelling Yeats by way of Didion but I could be overthinking it!

Anyway, what are we looking at here? This would be the loosely approximate geographic center of San Francisco, as was, very briefly, indicated by a bronze marker installed on the slope of Twin Peaks some days ago. That marker, on the 700 block of Corbett Avenue, was put in place, let's be real, for no discernible reason, with DPW director Mohammed Nuru unable to provide a justification. "Something something this is important to know" okay sure!

“I’d give it about six weeks,” surveyor Michael McGee told the Chronicle, indicating he expected the bronze disc to be purloined in little time. Like the placement of the marker, that estimate was a little off.

Plans were already announced to install a more significant plaque of some kind, at a future date. As for the disc...

"We’ll replace it, and we’ll secure it even better,” Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon tells the Chronicle. Wait, but why?

Related: City Surveyors Mark Actual Geographic Center Of SF, Sort Of