They've been on the gin

There's a little ditty they're singing in the city, espeshly when they've been on the gin or the beer

There's a little ditty

My final full day in Los Angeles had arrived. I chatted to Sal before he headed off for work. He apologised that he wasn’t around to spend the whole day with me but we had plans to spend the evening together so I told him I would be fine entertaining myself for the day. I got a call from Josh who I had stayed with the week before. He had just found out that he had landed a national commercial which he had auditioned for a few days before so he was in a very good mood and off out for a celebratory brunch. I was invited along and he said he would swing by to pick me up. The commercial would be showing during the Superbowl no less (he appears around 0:39, holding the TV). I added Josh to my list of friends with a higher celebrity rating than myself. I rate myself as Y-list, one step up from a Z-list nobody on account that I appeared in Boyz on the same page as Ben Cohen, something I have yet to convert into actually meeting Ben Cohen.

Josh duly arrived and we headed over to Hollywood where we met his bestie, Junebug, and a friend of hers. Everyone ordered ridiculously unhealthy sounding brunch items apart from me. I opted for a salad. The amount of salad I ended up with was unbelievable in its size. It rivalled the infamous salad bar salad my sister managed to get back to the table once when we were kids. I can’t remember the restaurant but you could only make one visit to the salad bar so she had carefully doubled the size of her salad bowl by using cucumber slices round the side of it to hold in the mountain of salad she had piled into the bowl. She also produced two hard-boiled eggs and a few slices of pineapple out of her pocket. I sat back eating my salad listening to the rapid conversation going on mainly between Josh and Junebug. After half an hour of seemingly constant eating the salad seemed barely dented. I asked for a box and took the rest home where it joined leftovers from the previous nights dinner in Sal’s fridge.

They're singing in the city

Sal got home from work and we caught up on our respective days while Sal got ready for Musical Mondays. I asked him where it was on and he replied "Eleven". I said to him "No, where, not what time are you on". He clarified that the bar was called Eleven and was in West Hollywood and that he would be on at ten. MuMo in WeHo followed the same format as the event at Splash in NYC but was a relatively recent transplant to LA (just like Sal). He was going to be singing a duet with Kate, who I had met at the very start of my trip at Splash. She had also moved to LA and I couldn’t wait to hear the two of them singing together. I asked if Sal would be doing Diva Tag with Kate. He said he didn’t know what it was so I showed him the video of her doing it. I told him that seeing him playing Diva Tag with Kate would be the perfect thing for my final evening. We headed over to Kate’s and they had a short rehearsal while I listened & gave a belly rub to Kate’s pug. From there it was off to Eleven.

We found ourselves a table and were joined by a couple of Kate’s friends. Josh arrived shortly after and joined us (sadly, Mary got stuck at work so I didn’t get to do a photo of me laid across the arms of 33, 34 & 35). I chatted to lots of nice people and sang along (quietly) to some of the show tunes being shown on the big screen. Before long it was time for Kate to get up to do her live show. The show was great with Kate and Sal bringing the house down. It really made me wish I could sing. I can’t having tried singing lessons twice. My first attempt ended a lesson and a half in when my singing teacher and I got a bit side-tracked (we dated for 6 months after that). My second attempt was with a good friend who despite giving me numerous singing lessons is still my good friend.

Espeshly when they've been on the gin or the beer

By the time we came to head home I was several gins in to the evening. I had spent a while chatting to a good-looking guy at the bar and at one point had some sleigh bells to use as they played something from Fiddler on the Roof. As we all stood outside on the street chatting and saying our goodbyes I remember thinking I should tell the good-looking guy that he was good-looking. I bottled out and he headed off to his car. I stood for about 30 seconds mentally kicking myself before I set off after him. I think my new-found courage was 60% improved confidence in myself from the trip and 40% gin. I spotted him in his car, still parked up. I tapped on the window & he rolled it down. He looked a little surprised. I told him that I thought he was very good-looking and that I just wanted him to know. He returned the compliment and I got a good snog out of it, which was nice. I also still have the sleigh bells.

The following morning my head was a little sore from the previous evening but I was up early enough to go get breakfast with Sal before he headed off for work. I took advantage of an afternoon on my own to totally unpack my suitcase and repack it all nice and neatly. I spent the rest of the day eating leftover salad and watching gameshows until Sal came home. As Sal gave me a lift to the airport and I had two thoughts in my head about New Zealand. The first was slight puzzlement at where an entire day would go. I left LA at 11pm on the Tuesday and woke up 14 hours later to find it was early morning on the Thursday. The second was a realisation that I had no hosts lined up for New Zealand. I only knew a couple of Kiwis and so far hadn’t had any success in finding places to stay. It could turn out to be a very lonely month staying in hostels and hotels and I was a little excited and scared.

There was an emotional goodbye (at least from me) outside the terminal. Sal wished me luck with the rest of my travels. I told him I was a bit worried about New Zealand but he told me to stay positive. I told him to keep me posted on his latest acting job, Fabulous High (Sal plays a teacher, Tony). I checked in for the flight and went and found somewhere to sit down and read for a while. I had picked up some sleeping tablets as it was a long flight and I knew I needed to get some sleep. I contemplated taking them just before boarding so that I would be asleep shortly after settling in to my seat but decided against it. I had visions of me miscalculating the speed they would work and waking up hours later in the airport lounge having missed my flight. I took them once I was on board and woke up in Auckland.

“There's a little ditty they're singing in the city, espeshly when they've been on the gin or the beer” 
Lyrics from Oom-Pah-Pah from the musical Oliver!