Los Angeles, California

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Hey Folks

Here we are on the road again, heaps better than yesterday, jetlagged, nauseous, writing the furthest thing on the wishlist.

But, after re-assembling the CB, having a squirt round LA, and the imagination fired up, here we are!

First off, the JohnnyReb write de plume has to go.

There's about 3 pages of them on facebook, and a zillion hits on google, some of them pretty unsavoury looking if you ask me.

Then the connotation with the Southern losers.....

I'm outta here, hoping to pick up on a better one as i ride round US of A.

Mainfreight have been totally brilliant, kiwi boys in the big smoke, rounding the turn off a busy blvd to be met by the familiar big blue and white sign.

Spent the morning getting our bikes out of their crates, personally attended by kiwi boss Steve.

The warehouse was a pretty interesting place,

several Shelby mustangs and camaros, among others waiting for shipment.

Regs have been eased, and one can now get these and similar classics into NZ without having to do RHD conversions.....

for about $1800 freight!

LA's a featureless city, no skyline landmarks to orientate on,

vast and flat, not much high-rise.

Along Sepulveda where our hotel is you ride under the LAX runway, while a big jet glides in.

We drove 8km on a straight 6 lane street, turned right and did about the same,

still no end to the place.

One part through houses with grilles on all windows and doors.

Again, I'm struck by the hugeness of american consumption.

We're in the south tower of the hotel, tower of babel, all sorts of lingo in the elevator

krautish, japoneseii, korienseii, espanol......

I forgot, the loo-bowls here are half full of water.

Thats 40 odd rooms per floor, 8 floors, just in the south tower,

all that water coming from somewhere, going somewhere, 

all those vehicles on the streets.

In a Diamond "Collapse" sort of way, you'd wonder if "its" coming.

But I'm unusually comforted by this stream of humanity and a sense that there's enough resourcefulness to get us through handsomely.

I think the Mayans fell over because they were dumb bastards.

They might have been smart enough to count astronomical cycles,

but their human sacrificial practises and the associated mode de accompli sort of gives them away.

That Gorman bloke, in "Social Themes" talks about the banana complex,

equatorial peoples had their lives too easy, their food just grew as fast as the master-lords that controlled it.

The descendants of Isaac who moved north had a tougher life and grew their societies slower and solider.

Well, its a good theory.....

And again I'm overwhelmed as a kiwi, that we take our wordly responsibilities too seriously.

I dont think the average pleb in this vast metropolis gives a turkeys about what we do with ETS.

We're a bit like those old pensioners who turn off their heaters and shiver for the national good when we have power shortages.

Killing off farming and food production with an ETS load in the cause of climate change mitigation WILL cause "Collapse".

Or is it kama just putting the brakes on for us.

Dunno....

Anyway...

thats about it for today.

The GPS has been just brilliant.

The american version tells me which lane to get in, what the speed limit is (in kms), kms and meters to next turn,

time and date, whatever......

See, there's that human ingenuity at work.

And getting back to LHD has been a breeze.

I've had a swim, and found my drink favorite from last visit, SoBe, several flavours, each with different herbal additives.

I got a coffee and panini for breakfast also from the supermarket across the road

$8 US, the price being an indication of its size.

Had half for breakfast, and the rest for lunch, so i guess the price was OK in the end.

The cars here are smaller and more modern than i saw elsewhere last year.

Several women zipping round in mini cooper s's or BMW coupes,

more range rovers than i've ever seen in one place.

Santa Monica Pier, the end of Route 66

Wonder what they do with them here when they break down.

And wealth...

mile after million mile of homes in the Hollywood district,

but Santa Monica and the beach nothing to write about.

i've sort of noticed the people here are a bit bigger too.

A cop who couldnt get out of his car fast enough to catch somebody running away,

a couple of motorbike ones who'd look more like PR men than GI's, pleasant and laid-back they were.

A lady walkble-ing through the supermarket carpark cellulating through a bluetooth earpiece.

See you later.