See how they glisten

These are my friends, see how they glisten

These are my friends 

Matt and I were both up early. I was moving on to my final LA gay and Matt was headed off up the coast ahead of a work thing. I felt sorry for him that he had to do work stuff on a Sunday. He told me that he could give me a lift to the subway as he would be passing it on his way out of town. We had coffee and packed our respective suitcases. Matt’s was nearly the same size as mine despite the fact that I was travelling for a year and he was going to be away overnight. The subway was only a few blocks away so it wasn’t long before I was being dropped off. Having said goodbye and thank you properly back at his apartment I gave him a big “Thanks for everything, Mary” as I jumped out of the car.

I got the subway and made my way north to Hollywood to meet Sal who would be Gay 35 of my travels. Sal was a guy I had met a couple of years ago through my friend Simon. We had struck up an immediate rapport and had quickly become good friends, which if you know Sal, is inevitable. He is such a sweet, funny & caring guy. There had been some mild flirting on my part when we had first met but it led nowhere, other than a great friendship. I had stayed with Sal for a week in 2010 for Halloween in NYC. During that stay I acquired a new favourite hobby of trying to make Sal feel uncomfortable by telling him he was my one unrequited love. He took it in good spirits and had perfected an exasperated look to use on me. While in NYC I had confided my 80 Gays travel plans to Sal. He was one of the first people I had told about it and he was a great sounding board. He has such a positive outlook on life and is great at giving good advice. Quitting my job and going off for a year didn’t seem anywhere near as scary having talked to him about it. He was originally going to be Gay 1 but had moved from NYC to LA. I think this was in a vain attempt to escape me but I tracked him down and was now staying with him for a couple of nights in LA.

The Getty

Sal had insisted on picking me up from the subway station. I stood waiting for him to arrive, not sure which direction he would be arriving from. I heard a familiar voice shout “Jess” (a long story) and I turned in the direction it had come from. I saw Sal bounding up and we had a big hug. I couldn’t believe it had been a year since we had last seen each other. We simultaneously said “So, tell me everything” as we began a big catch up chat. Sal has an amazing ability to talk for a very long time without pausing for breath, but with going off on a tangent numerous times. Our conversation was interrupted by a stop at In & Out burger to pick up some lunch. By the time we had done lunch we were pretty much caught up. LA was working for Sal, he looked well and happy, was busy with various projects (Sal is a slash person) and had a growing circle of new friends. After a post lunch trip to the gym (for Sal, not me) we headed out to the Getty Museum.

See how they glisten

The Getty, up on the hill, on a sunny autumn afternoon is an amazing place and I really liked it. We spent a bit of time walking round the grounds and gardens first before heading in to the Museum. Sal always brings out my childish side and we would do stupid things like point at the paintings where you could see naked bits, stand still next to statues for as long as we could  or look a modern sculpture and say in a very loud voice some ridiculous comment on what we thought it looked like, trying to out-bizarre each other with our descriptions. We ended up following a couple of gay guys and played “What’s their story?”. I guessed that they were on a date, probably a third or fourth date. It seemed like a third or fourth date venue. We spent a couple of hours at the Getty leaving as the sun set turning the white buildings a lovely orange colour. You could easily spend a day up there.

Sal was up for going with me to see Sara(h) Squared for dinner as it was their last night in LA before they were returning to London. We headed to Santa Monica via the shops as I decided I needed some new trainers. Sal had been a help in NYC when I had been trying on trainers and was torn between two pairs (his help had been to tell me to get both pairs, which I did). The first place was a bust with nothing that I liked (trainer-wise) but the man in the store gave me directions to another store that he said had a better selection. He was a little flirty and overly helpful and Sal and I both had our gaydar going off. He wrote down a phone number telling it me it was the number of the other store just in case I couldn’t find it. Sal teased me once we were out of the store that it was probably his own phone number. He told me to phone it to see. I didn’t. Sal dropped me at the second store and told me he would find a spot to park up. I found a pair I liked almost straight away and I was at the desk paying for them when Sal walked in. He approved my choice of style, which was lucky as my credit card had already been swiped.

Me with Sal & Sara(h) Squared

We headed to Santa Monica and met up with Sara(h) Squared who were already safely ensconced at the bar of a hotel and nearing the end of their first cocktail. I introduced them both to Sal and he was instantly chatting away to them. I got to sit back and observe for a while. It is always nice when your friends get on when they first meet. The girls were both soon being a little giggly and flirty with Sal and I was pleased that it wasn’t just me who had that reaction when I had first met him. We had a cocktail at the bar before heading off to find a place for dinner, followed by a post dinner nightcap. Ricey and I both had something alcoholic, Sal opted for water as he was driving and Spangles had a cup of tea. It was soon time to say goodbye to them for a final time and there were big hugs all round. On the drive back to Sal’s he said to me that they both seemed like really nice girls. I agreed, saying “They have their moments”.

“These are my friends, see how they glisten” 
Lyrics from My Friends from the musical Sweeney Todd

Braver and surer

How do you compare it to the views you've seen? I know I am better, braver and surer too

How do you compare it to the views you've seen?

I woke the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee. Matt was up and about getting ready to go to work. He told me that he was going to try and finish at lunchtime so we could go for an afternoon hike. With that in mind I spent my morning conserving energy. Matt got back from work around lunchtime but then had to deal with some work emails before we could head off. A short while later we were good to go. We grabbed some water and energy bars and headed off for our hike. Matt took me to Runyon Canyon Park, a regular haunt for LA locals who want to get some outdoor exercise. We met up with Chris who I had met the other week at Josh’s and we set off up the hill. The three of us chatted away as we started the climb. As we got to the steeper bits the conversation (at least from me) waned a little. It was a good hike though and from the top of the mountain (hill) you could see a lot of LA. It sprawled in every direction pretty much as far as you could see. Compared to a lot of the places I had been to it was a fairly unremarkable skyline.

Our Friday night started with a trip to Little Tokyo. Matt had recommended a place called Daikokuya for dinner. The street the restaurant was on had several other eateries on it. The one that we were headed to was the only one with people waiting outside, all of the tables inside were full. The others were half empty. I figured it must be good. We put our name on the list for a table. They were at number 1, we were number 28. We headed off to a bar just down the road for a couple of drinks while we waited for our number to come up. We sat at the bar chatting away and I reminded myself again it was not a date. I asked Matt what dating in LA was like. He said that he found it difficult sometimes & felt in a minority having a Monday to Friday office hours job (although knowing the company, office hours had a habit of encroaching into evenings and weekends).

I know I am better, braver and surer too

It got me thinking about my own rather chequered dating history. Two semi-serious relationships and several that had lasted between three and six months was my tally. Had I not met the right man? Had I been too picky about ones I had met? Did people give up too easily when things weren’t 100% perfect?. I knew that I was now much happier in myself and that the trip had made me realise that I was ready for something more serious. I was finally beginning to see how this trip was changing me and my outlook on life. Perhaps I just needed the confidence to go for it if and when the opportunity arose.

Post dinner drinks were at MJ’s in Silver Lake. With no hint of irony Matt had looked at me and said that I would fit in there as the crowd was older and more hairy. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It turned out that Matt was right, the crowd seemed a little older and less LA than the previous night. For a while we stood out on the back patio, drinking. As we chatted away a go-go boy in just a jock frolicked in an inflatable paddling pool while sucking on a lollipop. He was extremely supple and contorted himself into a number of positions that would render a boyfriend obsolete. I couldn’t help but stare.

We had a bit of a dance, bumped into Chris and Martin and had a few more drinks. The music died down and the host of the club cleared the go-go boys from the stage so that they could have a competition to find the sexiest man in the place. It was clear that it would involve having to remove at least some clothing so I stayed exactly where I was. As the guy called for volunteers he looked right at me & Matt and tried to convince us to go up on stage. Both of us refused. The host told me that there was a $50 prize for the winner. I told him I didn’t need the money. There was no way I was about to get on stage & have to strip just to try and win $50. I have standards. The prize would need to be three figures for me to strip in public.

Saturday was Ricey’s birthday and the celebrations were taking place in Santa Monica. The timing had worked out perfectly as Matt had already got plans for the evening (a swanky work gays event – he had tried to get me a ticket but they were rarer than hen’s teeth) which meant I could head off to meet Sara(h) Squared. After a quick drink with Matt and his friend Jo on the roof terrace of the Standard Hotel I made my way to Santa Monica. I was escorted by Matt & Jo to the bus stop that would take me to Santa Monica. Using public transport to cross LA seemed an alien concept to them. I think it is something that is reserved for the poorer sections of society. My $2 fare got me to Santa Monica in around 40 minutes so I wasn’t complaining.

I walked for a good ten minutes from the bus stop to the hotel where Sara(h) Squared were staying. I gave them a call to let them know I was outside and miraculously they were both ready at the time they had said they would be ready. As we walked to the restaurant that Ricey had booked for dinner we caught up on our respective travels since San Diego. Ricey asked me how I was getting on with Mary, I asked her if Spangles had come out with any corkers that couldn’t be posted on Facebook. The restaurant turned out to be half a block from where I had got off the bus. I gave Ricey her birthday card, telling her that my presence was my present. She handed me a birthday card and a present for my upcoming birthday, three weeks away. I felt suitably guilty and vowed that I would be a better birthday present buying friend (starting once I get home). We had a post dinner drink in an English pub listening to three Northern women discussing their favourite sandwich filling.

Having done yet another goodbye with Ricey and Spangles I set off to get the bus back to Matt’s. Sara(h) Squared stayed with me at the bus stop to make sure that I was ok. There were plenty of people around but some of them seemed a little crazy and/or drunk. I told them I would be fine. It was just like getting the 176 night bus (only a little more Latino). As I got on the bus Ricey told me to sit close to the driver and not stare at anyone. I followed her instructions. There were a few crazies on the bus but I concentrated on looking out of the window and texting Matt to give him an update on my position. I made it back without incident and without falling asleep on the bus and ending up in some random part of LA.

“How do you compare it to the views you've seen? I know I am better, braver and surer too” 
Lyrics from Who Are You Now? from the musical Funny Girl

Large measures

Gin toddies, large measures

Gin toddies

I was back in LA, my final stop in the US before I headed across the vast Pacific to New Zealand. I had two gays lined up for the few days that I was back. The first was Matt, who I hadn’t met before but had emailed a few times while planning my trip after a mutual friend and colleague had put us in touch. Matt still worked for the company I used to work for and had agreed to be one of my hosts way back in March, three months before I had even set off on my travels. When he had first contacted me I had looked him up on the internal directory at work and chuckled at his email address. The norm for our work email addresses was first initial and surname before the @ sign. Someone had beaten Matt to that so instead of being “mryder” he was “maryder”. I couldn’t help but think of him as “Mary Der” and had referred to him as Mary when I had been discussing my hosts with Ricey. I hoped I didn’t accidentally call him Mary.

I gave him a call to let him know that I was downtown and only a block away from his. He said he would come down to meet me in the lobby of his building. I arrived in the lobby as Matt was leaving the elevator. He walked across to me and I held out my hand to shake his. He gave me a hug, telling me he was a hugger. I hugged back. We headed up to his and he gave me a little tour of his apartment. He had laid out a towel, some toiletries and a cookie for me, which was really welcoming. He asked me what I fancied doing that evening and that he had thought we could do dinner downtown followed by drinks in West Hollywood with a couple of his friends. I said that it sounded like a grand plan so had a quick shower and changed ready to head out.

I hadn’t spent much time in downtown LA so as we walked along to the restaurant Matt pointed out a few landmarks to me, including his office. Matt suggested a place called Bottega Louie for dinner. The place was buzzing when we got there and we had a drink at the bar while waiting for our table. We were soon shown to our table and the waitress handed us our menus and went through the specials. Matt had been a few times before so told me what on the menu he thought was especially good. We went with some calamari, Portobello mushroom fries and a pizza to share between the two of us. The candlelit table for two, the shared food and the conversation of two people who had never met getting to know each other made me feel like I was on a date. It felt very strange, as I knew I wasn’t on a date. I’m normally not very good at dating so I decided the best thing to do was to view it as practice for when I get home from my travels and end up, hopefully (eventually), on a proper date.

Large measures

Dinner was great – the recommendations from Matt were spot on and I could have easily eaten bowl after bowl of the Portobello fries. We walked back to Matt’s through a busy downtown. It was Downtown LA Art Walk – a monthly event where galleries, bars and restaurants open their doors and display various artists’ works. It made for a very mixed and interesting crowd being out on the streets. From Matt’s we headed to West Hollywood with a friend of his, Michael, for a drink or two. I had asked where we were headed and thought Matt had said that the place was called “Sewer”. I asked him to repeat it a couple of times. I said “Sewer” didn’t sound like a great name for a bar and restaurant. He clarified by spelling it – we were headed to a place called Sur. The place was owned by Lisa Vanderpump (some woman off the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and she sometimes frequented the place. I had no idea who she was or what she looked like.  There was also a rumour going round that Paula Abdul was somewhere on the premises though and we did a scout round trying to find her but to no avail.

The place felt (at least to me, an outsider) very LA. There were a lot of really well dressed, attractive people who seemed to be there to be seen. Some of the outfits they had on virtually guaranteed that they would be seen. The venue was a great place for drinks, despite the barman doing his best to make it otherwise. The first issue was he didn’t have change for my $20, which actually meant he didn’t have enough $1 bills to give me five of them in order to make sure I had plenty to give him a tip. He also didn’t know that Hendrick’s should have cucumber in it and seemed to take great offence at me removing the piece of lime (despite me telling him not to put lime in it). He also had to take a break every couple of minutes, seemingly to stand and pout. I figured he was one of the slash people (barman-slash-actor, waiter-slash-singer) and his heart wasn’t really in bartending. I still left a dollar tip for him though. I blame my English manners that I left a tip despite the poor service.

While at Sur one of Matt’s friends called him Mary which gave me a chance to tell him that I had been calling him that to other people for months. He said it happened a lot and he often got emails address to Mary Der or Ms Der. I also told him that in a fit of boredom at work I had scoured the work directory looking for other people who had funny email addresses as a result of the combination of their initial and surname. The funniest one I found was someone in the same office as Matt whose email address started “munter@”. Matt looked at me with a blank expression. We were two people separated by a common language. I explained what a munter was.

After Sur we went to The Abbey for a nightcap. I was told (repeatedly) that The Abbey had been voted the Best Gay Bar in the World. I wasn’t sure by whom and wondered if it was one of those self-aggrandizing American things like the World Series. To give it credit though it had the best go-go boys of any venue that I had been to on my travels, the barman got my drink right (a whole lot of gin with the merest hint of tonic) and the music was danceable to. If I was local then I figured it would be a regular haunt for me. We only stayed for one drink and a quick dance as Matt had to be at work in the morning. A rather scary taxi ride home (I think the driver had got his driving skills from playing Grand Theft Auto) rounded off a fun first evening with Number 34.

“Gin toddies, large measures” 
Lyrics from It’s a Fine Life from the musical Oliver!

Take me to a zoo

Take me to a zoo that’s got chimpanzees

Take me to a zoo

Sara(h) Squared were up early again the following morning. We had decided that we would head up to Balboa Park for the day. Our walk through the park took us past the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages. I chuckled at the name, remembering the conversations I had had with my Ottawa gays, Drew and Gray, about what a cottage meant to a gay Englishman. I didn’t want to explain to Ricey and Spangles though. A couple of the “cottages” were open and Spangles went off to explore what was inside the Swedish cottage. Ricey and I ducked round the corner and hid behind the wall of the cottage next door. We waited a while then went to see where she was. I expected her to be outside the cottage looking for us but she wasn’t there. I panicked a little. We eventually found her looking a little lost, phone in hand on the verge of calling us to find out where we had gone.

We walked up through the park and found the entrance to the San Diego zoo. We started our adventure by taking a cable car from near the entrance to the far side of the zoo. As we got into the capsule Spangles pointed out that she wasn’t very good at heights. I had to fight the urge to rock the capsule. The ride was relatively short and I think we were all disappointed that we didn’t spot many animals as we crossed over the tops of the enclosures. We saw some sort of gazelle type animal as we neared the end, which was a relief as Ricey had said that unless she saw an animal she would refuse to get off the cable car.

The zoo lived up to the reputation of being one of the worlds finest. We spent the morning walking round pointing out things to each other, both animals and people. I left Spangles and Ricey in charge of the map and they did a tour for us, taking in virtually the whole zoo. When we go to the panda enclosure there were a couple of pandas sat in the shade not doing much but one was fairly active, pacing along a tree trunk and climbing along the branches. We all tried to get some good photos. Spangles announced that she thought she had several lovely photos of nothing other than panda bum crack. As we past the camels I asked Ricey and Spangles if they knew what a camel with no humps was called (Humphrey). I also told them about the zoo that only had one animal, a dog, on display. It was a shit-zoo. Ricey told me that she really hadn’t missed my jokes while I had been away.

That’s got chimpanzees

After the zoo we were all a little bit peckish so we jumped in a taxi and asked the driver to take us over to Little Italy. We didn’t have a particular place in mind for lunch so took a guess at a cross street to be dropped off at. A few minutes later we pulled up at the side of the road. Ricey told me to get my wallet out and pay the driver.  The driver looked at me in his rear view mirror. “Bloody women” I said to him “Always making the man pay”. He replied that I was lucky to have two women. I offered to leave him one behind in the taxi but he just laughed politely, assuming I was joking.

We wandered up the street, spotting a couple of busy looking places with patios. It was such a lovely day we wanted to try and sit outside. We walked a little further before turning round a retracing our steps. One of the places had an empty table for two and we asked if we could squeeze three of us round it, which we could. The waitress took our order, returning shortly after with our beers and some complimentary garlic bread, which we demolished rather quickly. When our meals arrived the waitress asked if we would like some more garlic bread. She got a three way stereo yes. We all ate well, Spangles announcing at the end of lunch that she didn’t think she would need any more food for the rest of the day. After we left the restaurant and walked back into town we passed a patisserie. Despite the fact that we had only just had lunch Spangles announced that she might be developing a pudding stomach. She resisted temptation though.

We had a nice bimble back through town and to the apartment where we all enjoyed a nice little siesta. Ricey had suggested a place for dinner that had been in her guidebook and had good reviews online. It was a Mexican place called La Puerta and they had plenty of special offers on every Tuesday. By the time we got there the place was very busy, all the tables were full and the bar was packed with people waiting. We put our name on the list and made our way to the bar. We found a tiny spot and ordered a round of cocktails to keep us going until food. We were on to our second cocktail by the time we were shown to our table. The tacos were good and helped soak up some of the alcohol. After dinner we walked back home and finally made it past 10pm before we headed to bed.

Sara(h) Squared with Dean & Horse

Our final morning together in San Diego had arrived. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone by. We loaded the car with our cases and then headed to La Jolla, a little town up the coast, for some breakfast. It was a good American breakfast, the sort that would probably keep me going for the rest of the day. We tried to walk some of it off by taking a walk along the coast. The rocks along the coast were home to large colonies of seals and pelicans. The smell however nearly had us all revisiting our breakfast. I did think about making some comment about the birds smelling but thought better of it. We had enough time to get a couple of photos of Sara(h) Squared with Dean. Ricey had been co-purchaser, along with Marcella, my old secretary from work. He was a perfect travel companion. We headed back to San Diego and they dropped me off at the train station where we said goodbye. I would be seeing them in a few days for Ricey’s birthday but I still had a tear in my eye as I walked into the station. Don’t tell Ricey though, she’ll just call me a great big puff.

“Take me to a zoo that’s got chimpanzees” 
Lyrics from Tell Me on a Sunday from the musical Tell Me on a Sunday

On the job

And folks like me on the job from nine to five

And folks like me

Having survived the car journey from LA to San Diego we found the apartment that Sara(h) Squared had booked. They were letting me crash on the couch. I told them that if they wanted to go lesbian for the duration of their stay in San Diego I would be able to count them as two of my 80 gays. They didn’t seem up for it. Spangles and I jumped out of the car leaving Ricey to do a loop round the block while we found the apartment keys and the fob for the parking garage. The apartment keys were in a security lock box, the opening of which, despite detailed instructions, was beyond me. I told Spangles that I was not accustomed to having to deal with getting into boxes. I’ve also never been good at practical things. I remember the first time I ever used a power drill unsupervised. I drilled the hole without hitting any pipes or wires but the experience left me a little light headed and I had to have a sit down before I could resume my DIY. Anyway, Spangles had a go and opened the box straight away. We let ourselves in to the apartment and hunted for the garage fob. I felt just like Anneka Rice in Treasure Hunt (without the helicopter or Wincey Willis giving me hints on where we could find it). Spangles found it so I didn’t get to shout “stop the clock, stop the clock, I’ve found it”. Ricey returned having done a loop and we jumped back in the car, parked up and unloaded our cases.

Having gone for a bit of a wander to get our bearings and a coffee to keep us all awake we decided it was time for something a little stronger to drink. We had a quick flick through the guidebook and I checked online to see what was near. We weren’t doing a very good job of deciding where to go so in the end we opted for going out and walking along until we spotted somewhere that looked ok. We found ourselves sat at the bar of a place called the Knotty Barrel. The barman explained that they were in the middle of San Diego Beer Week and had a number of special ales still on tap. He seemed to take a bit of a shine to Ricey and she asked if she could try a sample of them so help her decide what to order. We all sampled several of the ales, Ricey and I both opting to get a pint of local pale ale and Spangles getting a glass of white wine.

On the job from nine to five

We sat at the bar enjoying our drinks and the conversation turned to the latest gossip from the office. I was totally out of the loop on what had happened in the six months since I had left. I enquired who had filled my desk, how certain people were getting on & whether there was anything exciting going on. The office rumour mill seemed to be working, churning out the same gossip as always with the occasional new juicy piece. For the first time since I had left on my travels I actually realised that I was missing the office, if not work. It was mostly a feeling of missing the people I used to work with and the regular interaction a part of me was missing the structure and routine. I didn’t say anything to Ricey and Spangles as I don’t do talking about feelings. Besides, if I said I was missing work I think they would have both laughed at me.

After I was all caught up on the office happenings the conversation turned to food. We all admitted that we were “a bit peckish”, a phrase that had become standard on our previous holidays regardless of the time of day or proximity to our last meal. It was probably second only to “Is it beer o’clock yet?”, the answer to which was invariably yes regardless of the time of day. The food menu at the Knotty Barrel didn’t tempt us so after settling our bill and thanking the barman we headed a couple of doors down to get some food. We split a few appetizers between us and then headed back as we were all getting sleepy. We are such a rock and roll gang that we were all in bed (separately) by 10pm.

I woke early the next morning and could hear stirrings from upstairs. Ricey and I were in the Starbucks across the street by 6am getting the coffees in. It felt like being back in the office again when we would do the coffee run together, chuckling about how one of the women we worked with once got a bit confused with her order and asked for a “short, black American”. From then on that was known as a Gary Coleman. Ricey and Spangles did a bagel run a little later on as the bagel place hadn’t been open when Ricey and I passed it on the way back with coffee. I asked for either a cheese bagel or an “everything” bagel. I mused that an “everything” bagel really should have cheese on it otherwise it really wasn’t an “everything” bagel. Ricey told me to stop my wittering. I feel like Ricey is my London big sister, taking the piss out of me, telling me to shut up and giving me the same exasperated look my sister gives me when I am being annoying. 

Despite having a leisurely breakfast and having to wait for two girls to get ready we were out exploring before 8am. Ricey was in charge of the guidebook and we did a nice little tour of the Gaslamp Quarter, Ricey pointing out various buildings of historical importance and reading out loud from the book. We continued on along to the harbour walking along the sea front to Seaport Village where we took a seal boat ride out into the harbour. The ride was a great way to see San Diego. We also spotted a number of seals out sunbathing on the pontoons. Much to everyone’s disappointment they were of the aquatic mammal variety rather than the US Navy variety.

That evening we decided it would be nice to see the sunset while having a cocktail. I did some research and found the sunset time and a rooftop bar on a nearby hotel. We set out, cameras in hand. As we got to the hotel we walked through the lobby and to the lifts. There was a lift waiting and we stepped in. I pressed the button for the top floor. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing, the light didn’t light up and the lift stayed where it was. Just as we were contemplating getting out of the lift the doors closed and the lift went down. The doors opened and we found ourselves in the underground car park. A guy got in, swiped his hotel key against the pad and pressed the button for his floor. I pushed ground hoping that it would also stop there to let us back out. The three of us were all stifling laughter as we piled out back into the lobby. Having avoided getting stuck in the lift we check with reception how to get to the bar. He told us that it wasn’t open yet and would open at 7:30pm. The sun would have already set by then. We didn’t have a Plan B so we just headed back to the harbour to watch the sun set from there.

As the sun dropped over the water, creating a spectacular sunset, we all said the same thing – it was time for a drink. We found a spot for a pre-dinner drink, sat outside a place called Harry’s Pub. A couple of drinks and some great Thai food later we were all sat at the table yawning. For the second night in a row we were all in bed before 10pm.

“And folks like me on the job from nine to five” 
Lyrics from Nine to Five from the musical 9 to 5

Drive a person crazy

You could drive a person crazy, you could drive a person mad

You could drive a person crazy

I was stood at LAX waiting for the arrival of Sara(h) Squared. Two good friends from back home, Sarah (Ricey) and Sara (Spangles), had got to Los Angeles the day before and we were off on a road trip down to San Diego for a few days. The get together had been planned since before I left and billed as a joint birthday present for the three of us as we would all be gaining another year within a three week slot. Having not seen them for over five months I was really excited about seeing them. We’ve been friends for several years having all worked together and we have been away a few times together. The holidays have always been a lot of fun, involving a good mix of eating, drinking and laughing. A lot of the entertainment on the holidays was provided by one half of Sara(h) Squared coming out with some classic lines and not realising what she had just said was highly amusing. Many of them made for great Facebook status updates. I won’t tell you which half as I don’t want to embarrass Spangles.

A taxi approached and I could see them in the back seat. I started jumping up and down and waving at them. The taxi driver looked a little startled as he pulled up to the kerb in front of me. They got out of the taxi and we had a big hug. I asked how their flight had been (good but long) and how they were adjusting to LA time (not so good). I pointed to the bus stop across the road where the bus we needed to get to the car rental place was waiting. We grabbed our luggage and made our way over. It was reassuring to see that they both had cases the same size of mine despite the fact that they were only here for 10 days. On the short bus journey to the car rental place we did a quick catch up on major life events over the past few months.

We got to the car hire place and Spangles dealt with collecting the car they had booked. I wasn’t listening to the instructions given out by the car hire man as I wouldn’t be driving. Spangles picked up the paperwork and we headed out in to the parking lot. We went to the section that the man had told her to go to. Ricey asked which car it was. Spangles wasn’t sure and couldn’t remember what the car hire man had just told her. She looked through the paperwork to see if there was a car registration number anywhere on it. After a couple of minutes she went in to see the man, returning shortly after. Apparently we could select any car in the section of the lot we had been directed to.

Faced with several different models of car we picked one based on the colour and the fact that it had an iPod connection. We headed out towards the exit of the parking lot. Spangles drove up slowly towards the barrier blocking our exit, waiting for it to rise. She edged closer and closer but nothing happened. I was sat in the back and looked out of my window. There was a woman sat in a little booth watching us. I pointed out to Spangles that she might need to back up to speak to the woman to raise the barrier. We backed up, talked to the woman who checked through the paperwork and then lifted the barrier for us. I sat in the back chuckling. Spangles blamed it on being a little bit jet lagged and told me not to post anything on Facebook. I didn’t. She never said I couldn’t use it in my blog though.

You could drive a person mad

We drove out to the street. I was navigating from the back. We were headed out on to a one-way street and I told Spangles she needed to head right. She started to go left. Both Ricey and I screamed “right, right”. Spangles said that it might take her a little while getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road and being on the wrong side of the car. She explained that when she drove back in the UK “right” would be next to the window but here she was sat on the wrong side of the car. I did my seatbelt up as Spangles told me not to post anything on Facebook.

Spangles quickly got the hang of driving, aided by Ricey who would point left or right whenever directions were given. Ricey tried to get the iPod to work as they had put together a special California/American playlist together for the road trip. A couple of attempts resulted in us hearing the dulcet tones of Kirsty Young welcoming us to Desert Island Discs. We dug the instruction manual out and tried again. Our soundtrack for the journey turned out to be repeatedly hearing “Hello, I’m Kirsty Young and welcome to Desert Island Discs”. I never even got to find out who was headed over to the Island. We finally admitted iPod defeat so I offered to sing instead. My offer was declined. 

Our drive took us down the Pacific Coast Highway toward San Diego. We stopped off at Seal Beach to stretch our legs and get some fresh air before carrying on for a few more miles to find somewhere for lunch. After lunch there was a change in driver, Ricey taking over as Spangles was a little tired. I suggested I sit in the passenger seat to navigate and Spangles could nap in the back. Spangles said that was a good idea and that I could “keep Ricey entertained up front”. I started chuckling about the notion of entertaining Ricey “up front”. Spangles told me not to post anything on Facebook.

The road trip took us a couple of hours and after the slightly scary start we finally arrived, safe and sound. As we passed a sign welcoming us to San Diego I pointed it out to Spangles. She said she was very excited as it was the first US city she had ever been to. She then went on to say that she had only ever been to New York before. She told me not to post it on Facebook.

“You could drive a person crazy, you could drive a person mad” 
Lyrics from You could drive a person crazy from the musical Company

That windy little beach

Do you recall that windy little beach we walked along? That afternoon in Fall

Do you recall that windy little beach we walked along?

The skies were clear the next day so we took advantage of the sunny weather to head over to Santa Monica for my first experience of a California beach. We parked up and had a bimble down to the beach and along the pier. The beach was relatively quiet as we got to the outdoor gym that marked the site of the original Muscle Beach. There were a couple of shirtless guys exercising so we sat and watched for a little while, as you do. I had my camera over my shoulder, the zoom extended fully. The button may have been “accidentally” pressed a couple of times resulting in me inadvertently ending up with a few photos of the guys exercising. 

After the beach, pier and lunch we walked through the main shopping street and Chris, Josh and I pointed out various things that caught our eye, both men and clothes. We found a toyshop and Josh asked if we could have a quick look in. The place had an amazing selection of board games and it suddenly occurred to me that they might have Spot it!, the game I had been introduced to and had so much playing with Rhett and Mama T back in Nashville. I asked the shop girl if they had it. She said it sounded familiar and took me to the section where all the card games were. They had it! I was so excited. I was like a kid in a toyshop and I couldn’t wait to get home for a game.

Our journey back was via Trader Joe’s. Chris said that he would cook dinner for us so all I needed to do was grab some wine while he picked up the things needed for dinner. They had some wine for $1.99 a bottle. I thought it must have been some sort of mistake but Josh assured me that it was the right price and the wine was drinkable, if not an amazing quality. I picked up a couple of bottles figuring that if I drank the whole of the first bottle then the second would taste fine regardless. As I waited for Josh and Chris to finish up the food shopping I made a reference on Facebook about my purchase. It prompted a flurry of responses from a number of my American friends that I was obviously drinking “Two Buck Chuck”. I couldn’t believe that my American friends hadn’t pointed this bargain tipple to me earlier.

Once we were back I cracked open my first bottle of Two Buck Chuck. I’m not a massive wine expert (unless expertise can be measured by volume of wine consumed) but I found it a decent drink. I have certainly paid a lot more for a lot worse. I had made a good dent in the first bottle by the time Martin, a friend of Chris and Josh, joined us for dinner. After dinner I cracked open Spot It! and we played a few rounds. Everyone got very competitive. From there I was introduced to a game I had never heard of called Apples to Apples. I’m still not 100% sure how to actually play it but I seemed to do ok. Our final game for the evening was Cluedo/Clue. We had been playing for a little while (I had worked out that Miss Scarlett was the killer) when I showed Josh my Ballroom. He looked down at his paper, then asked me to show him again. I did. At that point he said something had gone wrong and showed me his Ballroom. Somehow there were two cards for it so we decided to call it a day on the board games. It had been a great evening. I had not had a night in playing board games for ages.

That afternoon in Fall

The following day the weather was horrendous. Heavy rain fell for most of the day. Josh gave me a couple of options for indoor things that we could go and do but I told him I was more than happy to have a day in doing nothing more than watching tv & playing on the Wii. We spent the entire day doing just that as well as chatting. The things I took from the day are:

1) I suck at Marioland on the Wii. I kept getting killed leaving Josh on his own to finish off the level. A couple of times I got bored and pushed Josh off the platform killing him;

2) I can sound very convincing when talking b*llocks. We got chatting about childhood television programmes at one point and I showed Josh the infamous Rainbow clip convincing him that it was genuine children’s television. I did eventually point out it was a spoof episode done for their Christmas party and was never shown on tv;

3) YouTube has changed the nature of conversations. Now you don’t have to describe something in great detail as you can probably find it on YouTube in some form or another.

My final day with Josh he took me to Hollywood. I had yet to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was a little disappointing and wasn’t like how I had imagined it. I was expecting it to look as sleek and glossy as it does on the Oscar coverage but it was a little grotty. I did get a photo of the star for Julie Andrews though so I was happy. I was going to put Dean down on it for a picture but it was just so busy I was scared he would get squished. We had lunch at a place called Johnny Rockets and were joined by Josh’s best friend, Danielle. For reasons I never found out her nickname was Junebug. I was introduced as Hairy Poppins. The two of them chatted loads and I could barely get a word in edgeways. I sat watching them, the close friendship between them was obvious. It made me smile as it reminded me that soon I would see a couple of my good friends from back home.  After lunch we headed up to the Hollywood hills so I could get a closer look of the sign before we made our way back to the house for a chilled evening.

The next morning Josh was up early to drop me back at Van Nuys so that I could get the bus back to LAX were I was meeting up with a couple of friends, Sarah and Sara (not a lesbian couple). They were friends from back home who were here on holiday and we were going to spend a few days in San Diego together. I hadn't seen them since the end of May when we had all gone up to Suffolk for a wedding of another friend, Jess. I couldn't wait to see them, catch up on all the gossip and do a bit of a road trip from Los Angeles to San Diego. The bus dropped me off at the airport and I texted them to let them know where I was waiting.

“Do you recall that windy little beach we walked along? That afternoon in Fall” 
Lyrics from Song on the Sand from the musical La Cage Aux Folles