You’d expect a car in the drive in many American homes but this is a little on the unusual side. As houses go this is also quite modest. A walk around the area makes you aware of the wide variety of houses around here. From the one above to others that are simply huge. I took a look around. Continue reading The family runaround and home looking.

A walk by the Los Angeles River with concrete, cranes ( the bird variety ) coffee shops, industrial units, sports cars,and a bike path. The start of the walk under a huge highway roaring with traffic, so how the trumpeter heard what he was playing is beyond me. A strange mix of old industrial units and scrap metal places with the occasional small house here and there. Some great yellow vehicles too, well set off by the blue sky and some considerable mobile phone masts. Continue reading On the streets and by the river

It’s not in short supply, there are shelves full of it, but when daughter went to buy a tube of her favourite, it was locked behind a see through cabinet. I asked why that particular brand was behind locked doors and the assistant told us: “They steal it, they come in and sweep it off in armfuls and walk out with it”. Are these dental outrages for a reason I ask. “ They resell them and use the cash” Why don’t they take these I asked pointing to another unguarded brand. “Not a popular brand” she responded. Toothpaste retails at … Continue reading They steal toothpaste?

Malibu beach is famous for its collection of the homes of the wealthy, it also has a road like the M4 running right behind the beach as do many of the beaches on the Pacific coast. Contrast this with the British beach which might be signposted from a small country road not as wide as many of the cars out here. The woooden signpost may not tell you that it might be a mile or so trek to the beach with some rock scrambling in places and when you get there it will be charming and without any facilities. It’s … Continue reading Beaches here and there.

The blue sky and seemingly never ending sun suits the fruit in the garden here in L A. It’s supposed to be approaching winter but sun screen is still in constant use. So hot in fact that going out is best done at the start or end of the day. My daughter tells me to not open windows as that will bring the heat in!.It seems counter intuitive to us Brits who value our fresh air even more when we are in hot climes. Double glazing and insulation over here is to keep you cool not to protect you from … Continue reading Lemons in the garden

I wonder if the owner of the bar thought that to get customers into his place best put up the sign as high as possible so that passengers in cars some distance away can see that they will not go short of a drink. The driver will, of course, be imbibing non alcoholic orange juice probably from the locally grown oranges, or perhaps root beer, whatever that is. When they all get home they can all genuinely say they’ve been at a bar. It has no name on the sign so it keeps its secret. They just saw a sign … Continue reading Evening signs on another hot one.

Just parked in the street out here and looking like no one has driven or got into it for months sits this dusty car. Ferraris cost at least 150 grand and it seems odd to find one just parked in a street and with a layer of dust. Perhaps it’s cool to be dismissive about such a thing. A trip to the supermarket with daughter gave me another insight into the place. Los Angeles is an expensive city to live in. Driving to the supermarket we pass under a bridge with a tiny tent, a table to eat on the … Continue reading Dust on the Ferrari and expensive gravy.

A short walk around Studio City and a trip to a coffee shop. A bright day in November with summer temperatures of 30 degrees plus. Everyone in the seats outside the coffee shop on their mobile, and you can order your coffee from outside then collect inside when ready. You really could probably fry and egg on the sunny part of the pavement, but you might not want to. This weather unusual even for here . It’s only really day 2 of the trip but the camera is already being well used. Signs over here are one of my very … Continue reading Signs revisited

A trip to America now that they will let us in to see family. I’m writing this on a plane that recently took off from Heathrow. Idiotically dressed in a fine new pair of trousers that I’ve managed to vandalise within ten minutes of arriving at the airport dropping a blob of mayo from my home made sandwich right onto my crotch. After wiping myself down I looked like the result of pre flight nerves on my bladder, and assured my wife that other people would keep will out of range of us as my look was starting to look … Continue reading ”Mayo” weather in Merica.

I was a salesman for a print company. I got myself a proper job after over 30 years as a freelance cartoonist. In my new role I was tasked with finding customers that were new to print or those starting new businesses. It occurred to me that if I went along to the local Farmer’s Market the marketeers would fill the profile very well, and I could easily engage with them, even better if I bought something from them. I generally liked the stallholders, there were few of them that I did not take to, or thought it worth my … Continue reading Market Sunflower and my black sweatshirt

Just the sort of thing you might see on a beach in the UK. Make sure you spell it right, we don’t want any double meaning here. Theses super samples are at Lynmouth in Devon and look like that have been there for many years. They are the sort of thing that these modern gift shops would give many banknotes for if they can then repurpose them for use in the modern kitchen with words written somewhere spelling out slogans like: ” I’d rather be on the beach”. They ought to have special status and a brown sign on the … Continue reading Sunny Groynes

I have no idea what his name is and it’s a while ago. All those photos behind him are his family snaps. When I popped in he proudly pointed out a faded baby and said things like ” she’s married now” or pointing to a young toddler “he’s in the army now” He sportingly let me take his picture. The garage is on the A38, one of those old ‘A’ roads that used to be what we called trunk roads. It’s on a flat area just outside Gloucester, parallel with the M5 which takes all the traffic now. I was … Continue reading Man who mends cars 2009