Breaking Waves - day 2 - Getting to know LA
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 at 5:21PM In that brief moment between realising you have made a mistake and then taking divertive action it is surprising how much goes through your head. Heading down a now much quieter Pacific Coast Highway towards downtown LA, we hit Sunset Boulevard in 20 minutes, drift into Beverley Hills by just following our nose; the massive houses; and the hundred foot trees, and then are upon Rodeo Drive before we knew it. Lucky for us it was labour day holiday, the shops were closed and the traffic very light. Very lucky indeed as I missed a sign and found myself eye-to-eye with the driver of a large black sudan which was coming to a stop at a red light on a one-way street. I say lucky because we, in turn, were driving the wrong way down the one-way street. I looked at the driver who looked back at me. He didn't have to articulate "you're a dork" for me to know it. It was, I am glad to say, my only major traffic faux pas.
Later, lost despite the sat nav which was turning out to have a somewhat idiosyncratic personality prone to mood swings and moments of petulance (not, I am sure down to operator error) in our quest to find the Hollywood sign we stumbled off the beaten track and into the edges of an industrial district which majored in 'gentleman's clubs' and dumped cars. Feeling the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up, and recalling that all Americans have the right to bear arms (are they mad?) I cursed the hire car companies policy to stick bar codes on their car windows which clearly set us apart as visitors to the country. Being thirteen shades paler than everyone else might also have been a giveaway.
It is nearly seven years since I was last in the United States and I had forgotten what a strange country it is. It is hugely entrepreneurial - there are small businesses and independent traders where ever you look and there appears to be no stigma attached to wealth and celebrity (but then we know that already). But, scratch just a little on the surface and there is a parallel world which seems to exist completely independently. Having had trips in recent years which could be considered interesting but hardly relaxed or chilled (Argentina, Cuba, Arctic Circle come to mind) I had picked a month in the States as much for a shared language as for anything. Two days in I realise I should have packed my Spanish phrase book.
Reader Comments (1)
Just read this and laughed out loud .......I'm sure the sat nav was just playing up.....it was"nt me.,.......it was really.lol!!!