Los Angeles - the return of Niagara Falls
Los Angeles - 34° 3'8.00"N 118°14'34.00"W
I've not been well, and it's Wendy's fault! She's the woman with pigtails that makes square hamburgers over here..........sqaure hamburgers that make you throw up for two days..........at $5.87 (including tax) that's an absolute bargain.............not!
I got into Los Angeles on Sunday evening, on a plane that should have said "Heinz 57 varieties" on the side. It was only 3 seats wide (plus aisle) and swung from side to side like a drunk in a hammock every time the captain breathed near the flight controls! It almost seemed pointless that I was swabbed and hoovered for C4 plastic explosives at security in Vegas. An overly sharp and misplaced elbow could just have easily casued the thing to de-pressurise!
Anyway, we landed and I got a shuttle bus to my cousin Julie's house near downtown L.A and on the doorstep of the USC campus. We went out for a a drink, met up with her friend Peter and got a bite to eat. Peter told me he'd just seen Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers outside the bar we were in. I told Peter to stop winding me up but he looked at me like I was being a typical British tourist. I was forgetting that L.A really is the land of the rich and the famous and seeing international celebrities walking the streets is part and parcel of being in town.
The next day I took some time out to do some laundry, buy some Christmas cards (it's in the post, hope you like it) and get something to eat at Wendy's. By the evening I was going nowhere fast, other than the bathroom every 15 minutes or so...........I HATE YOU WENDY!!
So after a restless night with not much sleep I spent the next day never too far from the bathroom, but I did feel well enough at one point to take a walk out to the L.A Auto Show that was being hosted at the convention centre just down the road. I spent a cautious hour or so watching rich women with blonde hair and plastic heads walking round spending their daddy and husband's money on the latest sports cars that were on show. I on the other hand took some photos, pretended that I really knew what I was looking at under the bonnet of the BMW M6.........and then ran home because I felt ill again.
In the evening I met up with an old pal from NTU (Elliot Norman to those of you that know him) and we went to watch the L.A Clippers (basketball team) play the Miami Heat. Julie had very kindly managed to get us tickets to see the game and it was awesome. The Clippers won! I'd hoped to go out for a beer with Elliot, but by the end of the game I was doubled over and praying for unconsciousness, so we got a cab back and I resumed my duties in the bathtroom.
On Wednesday I had meetings with the community engagement staff at USC that went really well........which I should stop mentioning because it'll only serve as online evidence when my boss asks to hear about what I've learnt out here!
I was feeling much better by this point, so in the evening Julie took me out for a tour of
Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard. We went to see Man's Chinese Theatre, but we couldn't get close to it because Leonardo Di Caprio was mincing the red carpet for the premier of his latest film. So we got a bite to eat and then headed off to a bar to watch one of Julie's friends who's in a band. It was a good night out and illness free! Result!
And now it's Thursday, and I'm sat at a computer in the Santa Maria Inn, in Santa Maria California.
I picked up a car this morning from L.A.X (the airport in L.A) and started my 3 day road trip up the coast to San Francisco.........but I'll save the details of the full trip for the next posting though. I'm getting my apetite back and I need something to eat.
Be in touch again soon.
M
I've not been well, and it's Wendy's fault! She's the woman with pigtails that makes square hamburgers over here..........sqaure hamburgers that make you throw up for two days..........at $5.87 (including tax) that's an absolute bargain.............not!
I got into Los Angeles on Sunday evening, on a plane that should have said "Heinz 57 varieties" on the side. It was only 3 seats wide (plus aisle) and swung from side to side like a drunk in a hammock every time the captain breathed near the flight controls! It almost seemed pointless that I was swabbed and hoovered for C4 plastic explosives at security in Vegas. An overly sharp and misplaced elbow could just have easily casued the thing to de-pressurise!
Anyway, we landed and I got a shuttle bus to my cousin Julie's house near downtown L.A and on the doorstep of the USC campus. We went out for a a drink, met up with her friend Peter and got a bite to eat. Peter told me he'd just seen Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers outside the bar we were in. I told Peter to stop winding me up but he looked at me like I was being a typical British tourist. I was forgetting that L.A really is the land of the rich and the famous and seeing international celebrities walking the streets is part and parcel of being in town.
The next day I took some time out to do some laundry, buy some Christmas cards (it's in the post, hope you like it) and get something to eat at Wendy's. By the evening I was going nowhere fast, other than the bathroom every 15 minutes or so...........I HATE YOU WENDY!!
So after a restless night with not much sleep I spent the next day never too far from the bathroom, but I did feel well enough at one point to take a walk out to the L.A Auto Show that was being hosted at the convention centre just down the road. I spent a cautious hour or so watching rich women with blonde hair and plastic heads walking round spending their daddy and husband's money on the latest sports cars that were on show. I on the other hand took some photos, pretended that I really knew what I was looking at under the bonnet of the BMW M6.........and then ran home because I felt ill again.
In the evening I met up with an old pal from NTU (Elliot Norman to those of you that know him) and we went to watch the L.A Clippers (basketball team) play the Miami Heat. Julie had very kindly managed to get us tickets to see the game and it was awesome. The Clippers won! I'd hoped to go out for a beer with Elliot, but by the end of the game I was doubled over and praying for unconsciousness, so we got a cab back and I resumed my duties in the bathtroom.
On Wednesday I had meetings with the community engagement staff at USC that went really well........which I should stop mentioning because it'll only serve as online evidence when my boss asks to hear about what I've learnt out here!
I was feeling much better by this point, so in the evening Julie took me out for a tour of
Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard. We went to see Man's Chinese Theatre, but we couldn't get close to it because Leonardo Di Caprio was mincing the red carpet for the premier of his latest film. So we got a bite to eat and then headed off to a bar to watch one of Julie's friends who's in a band. It was a good night out and illness free! Result!
And now it's Thursday, and I'm sat at a computer in the Santa Maria Inn, in Santa Maria California.
I picked up a car this morning from L.A.X (the airport in L.A) and started my 3 day road trip up the coast to San Francisco.........but I'll save the details of the full trip for the next posting though. I'm getting my apetite back and I need something to eat.
Be in touch again soon.
M
posted by Wallace at
7:26 PM
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