Sorry to have been away for so long; I had a chest infection last week and it put me back a lot on my recording. So this week I have been almost exclusively making sure the chapters in my audio book are the right length for the CDs etc and now I have finished it.
The title – Who Was Gertie Ford? - will be available on Audible.com soon.
Sometimes when I am driving around Los Angeles I realise that there are things that happen here which don't appear to happen anywhere else.
In Britain at Christmas time the shops are full of things needed for Christmas; things you can buy for presents, food, turkeys, booze, clothes CDs etc – all at top price. Then on Boxing Day the sales start; here the sales start before Christmas so people can buy those bargains and in the long run the shops make loads of money and people get their presents before Christmas.
On Thursday it was St Patrick's Day; the local supermarket, Rock and Roll Ralphs, reduced the price of Jameson's Whiskey from $27 to $15; I bought two. In the UK they increase the price because when they think there's going to be a run on something.
I have been to Cannes a few times and the bars and restaurants would increase the cost of beer and wine for the rush at the festivals but places like Ralphs, and other stores over here, make a load of money and make everybody happy; especially the droves of people walking up to the check outs clutching their bottles of usquebaugh.
Last week I was taking my wife up to Ventura in our old Volvo Station Wagon when it blew up – gone!! The engine is now kaput and never to be driven again.
I had barely looked into my wallet to call the breakdown service when I saw in my mirror the So-Cal metro free breakdown service. I told the fella what had happened and he said they would come and tow me off the freeway within half an hour. If I'd run out of petrol they would have replenished my tank for free or even changed a wheel if I'd had a puncture – all free; California.
The breakdown truck arrived and dropped us at Denny's where we had a grand slam – 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 slices of bacon and 2 pancakes all washed down with coffee; $6.99.
When people visit me here they kind of stare gobsmacked in the street when they see a bus; nothing strange about the bus but they have bikes on the front on a special bike rack at the front for the passengers; they also have great room for wheelchairs.
You can just about make out the bike rack, above; I couldn't find a picture with actual bikes on them.
People put their bikes on the rack themselves and get out near a bike trail or even anywhere they want to ride their bike.
Yesterday in the San Fernando Valley I was stopped at the traffic lights when a light next to the traffic light started flashing – it said 'bus.' Then a bus came across unhindered as if it was a train.
So there are lots of things here in Los Angeles – including the weather – which add to the quality of life.
Of course there are a lot of silly people here who rush out and buy potassium iodide pills to try to prevent the radiation from Japan giving them thyroid cancer; it can protect against thyroid cancer, but not any other organ, and the people who need it are in Japan not California and because there has been a run on the pills here in the good old US of A the people in Japan, who need the pills, can't get them.
So it's not all sweetness and light – and last night, would you believe it rained!!!
While across the pond, on Thursday we were congratulating each other that now the temp has risen to 8c, spring is just around the corner. We had a sharp frost on Friday night.
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