Thanksgiving. An event here that’s bigger than Christmas. Getting into the swing of it, son in law and I went off with a shopping list. No thousand yard stare at a grubby handwritten note for us, we had the digital version on the phone, so problems with shorthand like wu liquid and stuff instead of stuffing did not arise, but still ‘men shopping’ with inherent danger of off piste decisions. We very proudly returned with all the right things in the right order. I know, not much of a story, but we were proud of ourselves. And a comparison to … Continue reading Bigger than Christmas…

Just a seed head. Location: 30 minutes out of Ojai which is a 2 hours drive north of LA. More about this trip within a trip later, but for the moment please let me know if you know what this might be. Seen on a long walk in the hills. Continue reading A gem in the hills

We are now in an area North of LA which could best be described as cowboy country. Staying on a ranch which a has loads of goats, sheep, ducks, birds, horses and a camel called Albert. So we’ve got away from it all when we’d already got away from it all in LA. ‘It all’ is perhaps everyday life, or a change is scene, so we are changing scene and scenery yet again. This area is dry and stunning, a victim of fires but where we are was not itself affected, just surrounded by them. It’s a flat area of … Continue reading Getting away from getting away…

A good friend of my daughter out here in the promised land of California, is on mission to eat better .To this end she’s been shopping at a supermarket that is what we might call ‘Waitrose on speed’. Very high quality and with a worthy mission statement writ large on the ecologically sound brown paper bag that advertises to the world, that you are indeed a worthy person. As you walk out of the store. Her other half is somewhat underwhelmed by the direction this is all going in. An admittedly large cup of soup was revealed to have cost … Continue reading $22 for a cup of soup?

People here don’t really talk much about the weather, probably because it’s mostly the same everyday, so the remark ‘ What a lovely day today’ seems oddly out of place as it’s just not that unusual. The second time I visited LA I came with a fellow illustrator, and he was definitely an illustrator whereas I’ve always been conflicted over my art gender, and have only really come to terms with being called and calling myself a cartoonist in the last10 years or so ( when for most of that time I was actually a print salesman ) I digress. … Continue reading More of the same?

You need to have insurance out here. Medical is a must as health treatments are so expensive. The guys selling this stuff must be making a bean or two too. The Accident Guys for instance, they must be making enough to have a big sign like this. Interestingly no contact info on their poster, sold entirely on the name so no doubt easy to find on Google. Signs are just everywhere and fight for attention, they must work or people would simply not buy them but in parts they seem to overwhelm the street. As for Shakey’s, they’ve been there … Continue reading On the street, again.

Aborted trip to LACMA, the art museum here in LA because of Wednesday closing resulted in an extra few minutes walk to the Movie Museum nearby. There’s enough going on in here to keep you interested for days, so like a good movie, we had to edit it all a little and then we’ll take a look at what’s left for another trip. First of all a typographical gripe, why the hell does someone think that setting white text on black is a good idea? It’s not. Then further along setting white on pale green for crying out loud. Fire … Continue reading Movie musings in a museum…

A trip across town via Laurel Canyon to see the art gallery, strange to get there and discover the place closed on a Wednesday, when everything else in this town seems to be open 24/7. Anyhow we did get to see these magnificent sculptures by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei The pieces are set out in a huge circle outside the gallery, and there’s a story behind them about ancient Chinese clocks. Worth looking into. Not to be too disappointed we then headed to the Academy Museum, which is all about film of course. More about this later, but for now … Continue reading Ai Weiwei

Apparently these little gems are common in these here Californian parts. This one in my daughter’s garden. Photo taken from a balcony on full telephoto zoom and the only one to come out half decent. They zip about at some speed. Continue reading Humming bird

My brother and I both worked as students at Haydock Park racecourse where we shovelled horse manure! It was however pedigree horse manure, not just any old s***! We also occasionally witnessed this sort of thing on race days. It’s his birthday today. Happy Birthday John! Continue reading Not just any old s***!

It’s English, but not as we know it. It’s one of those phrases that I heard with my own ears outside Woolworths ( always named in the plural despite being singular on the sign ) in Wigan when I was about 12 years old. As I went to school with kids who grew up with a strong local accent I found it quite easy to translate especially as I was a witness to the incident that gave rise to the question. A small child, no doubt called Wallace, or Wally for short, had fallen down outside the aforementioned Woolworths in … Continue reading “Was wont Wally, as ford?”

They love their wires here, strung out over the whole city, apart from Beverly Hills, where they like to hide them underground. We get our wires crossed here in many ways, like they think we’re Australian and that maths has no ‘s’ on the end of it. The phrase “Do the math” sounds like something uttered by someone with a lisp, and is possibly the most annoying sentence along with the single word: “Awesome” which generally means that whatever is being referred to is not, and is over used everywhere. But that’s just me being boorishly British. I can almost … Continue reading Wires crossed.