I'm sitting at a coffee shop in LAX drinking a superfood antioxidant drink which looks like green sludge but tastes surprisingly nice, waiting for my plane back to London. I am here way too early, as I was told to be here 2-3 hours in advance because of the American full body scan/full body grope. So far, no gropeage or scanning of any sort. Am somewhat disappointed.
I have really mixed feelings about leaving. I may have bitched and moaned (mainly about driving), but now that I am about to leave, I'm actually sad about it. I don't LIKE the city. It's not pretty, there's not a lot of culture, even Hollywood Boulevard, or Beverly Hills, and you have to drive everywhere. Yes, there it is, another moan about driving, but you do not understand how this affects your existence until you live here and have to do anything during the day. You HAVE to have a car. I had two meetings in Burbank on Wednesday, they were on the same road, but a few blocks down. So I had about 45 mins to kill in between, and wanted to grab a coffee, so I ask for the nearest coffee shop.
"Oh sure, there's one really close. You drive out of the car park, make a left on West Olive, follow the road and turn into Riverside. Keep going a few blocks and you'll pass Pass Ave, then take the first right after that and there's a Starbucks with free wifi".
He's mistaken, there must be a closer one nearby. So I ring up my second appointment to ask the same question.
"Yeah there's one about 2 minutes away, I can't think of the road, but you go down Riverside and it's around Pass Avenue".
That's the same place. This, in LA terms, is close. The thought to driving to get a coffee... to kill time... is crazy in my mind. By actively driving, and parking, you make an EFFORT to do something. Walking is different. You switch off. Your body is engineered to walk. It's good for you and you don't really need to concentrate to do it. Thus by operating a machine to do anything, even the smallest things, is fucking annoying, and if I'm going to be really facetious, against our genetic programming. You can't get by yourself, so a big part of your independence is taken away. And if you get stuck in traffic, you're screwed. The sense of mobility and fluidity doesn't exist. It relies upon machines.
But I came to terms with this in my last few days, and when I had to give my car back, I was actually quite sad. I drive in England, but I didn't feel an attachment to my car. But in LA I did. Because that's how you have to live. I told people about the Jean-John couple that I crashed into on my first day and how ridiculously nice they were. I was told that in LA, people expect others to crash into them, or that it's just such a normal part of life that people are used to it. No biggie, someone just wrote off my car. I'll buy them a coffee and make sure they're OK. Crazy. But that is part of the culture here.
Aside from the driving, which has dominated this blog, I enjoyed the lifestyle. It's SO different, and I wasn't sure if I could live here, and I'm still not sure that I can, but then I look at London and wonder why I live there. I've never been a big fan of London, and just sitting at the airport now, knowing I'm heading back, has automatically made me more angry and impatient. I can feel the London in me being released.
But really.... overcrowding, congestion, crap weather, expensive rent, bills, food, expensive everything really, dirty night buses, slow walking tourists and above all, everyone is so fucking miserable. Everyone moans. Yes, I know I moan, I'm moaning right now, but maybe that's because I am a Londoner. No one makes eye contact with you as you walk past them in the street, in fact, people would probably think you're deranged if you smiled at someone and looked them in the eye. Everyone scowls. No one apologises if they bump you. Everyone's in a hurry. Everyone's so important and busy. And so reserved.
OK, I know I've only been in LA for 10 days and it's not the same as living there. But I wasn't exactly a tourist and I had to do a lot of 'working' day to day stuff. I got groceries. I went to yoga, I parked my car, I even smashed it a few times. And people were lovely. I was studying a 3-placard long parking notice the other day, and just as I was figuring it out, a lady walking her dog says to me 'you can park here until 6, but I'm not sure', and proceeded to help me study the sign, with her dog also. We finally established I could park here, and she wished me a great day and off I went.
That makes you feel good. It really does. My opinion of Americans has completely changed since I've been on the trip. Well, I speak for LA. They are friendly, helpful, and conversational. You can just strike up conversation with anyone. You walk in anywhere, and people ask you how you are. I get stopped and asked about my accent all the time and people telling me how much they love London and how much they wished they were there. Maybe I am lucky to be living in one the of the most influential and cosmopolitan cities in the world, but am I happy? Yes, I have great friends in London and a gorgeous boyfriend, and parents that are just over an hour away, but if I could take them anywhere in the world, I think I'd try to move them over to LA, just for a while.
And the food, AMAZING. I've had better food in LA than anywhere else in the world. Sorry food snobs, it's true. But you have to go with locals!
I have really mixed feelings about leaving. I may have bitched and moaned (mainly about driving), but now that I am about to leave, I'm actually sad about it. I don't LIKE the city. It's not pretty, there's not a lot of culture, even Hollywood Boulevard, or Beverly Hills, and you have to drive everywhere. Yes, there it is, another moan about driving, but you do not understand how this affects your existence until you live here and have to do anything during the day. You HAVE to have a car. I had two meetings in Burbank on Wednesday, they were on the same road, but a few blocks down. So I had about 45 mins to kill in between, and wanted to grab a coffee, so I ask for the nearest coffee shop.
"Oh sure, there's one really close. You drive out of the car park, make a left on West Olive, follow the road and turn into Riverside. Keep going a few blocks and you'll pass Pass Ave, then take the first right after that and there's a Starbucks with free wifi".
He's mistaken, there must be a closer one nearby. So I ring up my second appointment to ask the same question.
"Yeah there's one about 2 minutes away, I can't think of the road, but you go down Riverside and it's around Pass Avenue".
That's the same place. This, in LA terms, is close. The thought to driving to get a coffee... to kill time... is crazy in my mind. By actively driving, and parking, you make an EFFORT to do something. Walking is different. You switch off. Your body is engineered to walk. It's good for you and you don't really need to concentrate to do it. Thus by operating a machine to do anything, even the smallest things, is fucking annoying, and if I'm going to be really facetious, against our genetic programming. You can't get by yourself, so a big part of your independence is taken away. And if you get stuck in traffic, you're screwed. The sense of mobility and fluidity doesn't exist. It relies upon machines.
But I came to terms with this in my last few days, and when I had to give my car back, I was actually quite sad. I drive in England, but I didn't feel an attachment to my car. But in LA I did. Because that's how you have to live. I told people about the Jean-John couple that I crashed into on my first day and how ridiculously nice they were. I was told that in LA, people expect others to crash into them, or that it's just such a normal part of life that people are used to it. No biggie, someone just wrote off my car. I'll buy them a coffee and make sure they're OK. Crazy. But that is part of the culture here.
Aside from the driving, which has dominated this blog, I enjoyed the lifestyle. It's SO different, and I wasn't sure if I could live here, and I'm still not sure that I can, but then I look at London and wonder why I live there. I've never been a big fan of London, and just sitting at the airport now, knowing I'm heading back, has automatically made me more angry and impatient. I can feel the London in me being released.
But really.... overcrowding, congestion, crap weather, expensive rent, bills, food, expensive everything really, dirty night buses, slow walking tourists and above all, everyone is so fucking miserable. Everyone moans. Yes, I know I moan, I'm moaning right now, but maybe that's because I am a Londoner. No one makes eye contact with you as you walk past them in the street, in fact, people would probably think you're deranged if you smiled at someone and looked them in the eye. Everyone scowls. No one apologises if they bump you. Everyone's in a hurry. Everyone's so important and busy. And so reserved.
OK, I know I've only been in LA for 10 days and it's not the same as living there. But I wasn't exactly a tourist and I had to do a lot of 'working' day to day stuff. I got groceries. I went to yoga, I parked my car, I even smashed it a few times. And people were lovely. I was studying a 3-placard long parking notice the other day, and just as I was figuring it out, a lady walking her dog says to me 'you can park here until 6, but I'm not sure', and proceeded to help me study the sign, with her dog also. We finally established I could park here, and she wished me a great day and off I went.
That makes you feel good. It really does. My opinion of Americans has completely changed since I've been on the trip. Well, I speak for LA. They are friendly, helpful, and conversational. You can just strike up conversation with anyone. You walk in anywhere, and people ask you how you are. I get stopped and asked about my accent all the time and people telling me how much they love London and how much they wished they were there. Maybe I am lucky to be living in one the of the most influential and cosmopolitan cities in the world, but am I happy? Yes, I have great friends in London and a gorgeous boyfriend, and parents that are just over an hour away, but if I could take them anywhere in the world, I think I'd try to move them over to LA, just for a while.
And the food, AMAZING. I've had better food in LA than anywhere else in the world. Sorry food snobs, it's true. But you have to go with locals!