Avoiding the Issue

Next month, Jose and I are off to Rome for a friend’s wedding. When the invitation arrived, we deliberated for some time whether we ought to go. We already had a trip to England planned for August and, after last Christmas, we’d decided to go somewhere far from LA this December. In the end, we decided we really couldn’t stretch the budget to another European trip, but I whipped out my trusty credit card and booked the thing anyway. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

The thing with flying from L.A. to Rome is that you can’t do it in one shot. The alternatives for connections seemed to be Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam, but the cheapest flight I could find was on British Airways via Heathrow. In my opinion, BA has gone down the tubes a bit recently; their fleet is getting old and their service has become shoddy. After flying airlines such as LAN Chile, Virgin or Air France, I’ve come to expect a certain level of comfort and attention on my long-haul flights and BA is just not up to scratch.

The bigger issue, though is the fact that in going via London, we would practically have to fly over my mother’s house and the thought of being in England, being “home,” and not getting to see my Mum was just too much to handle. I considered cutting our time in Italy by a day or two, and making a whistle stop visit to Mum, but in the end, I did the more sensible thing—bought a more expensive flight via Paris, because Paris really is too far to justify hopping over for a day.

So, if anyone has recommendations for ways to while away some time in Rome, I’m all ears. And if anyone is planning a trip to England anytime soon, please look in on my Mum for me. She makes and excellent cup of tea.

Clay

OK, so I don’t post anything for weeks and then I post twice in one day. I know, but I was compelled to share this gem.

Last night, Jose and I saw a fantastic new play, premiering here on the West Coast. Clay is a one-man show telling the story of a young man from a troubled home, who discovers hip-hop as an outlet for his discontent. The writing was tight, the staging was fantastic and Matt Sax, the show’s writer and star was incredible. He not only portrayed the title character, Clay, but also the entire cast of the show, including Clay’s manipulative father, disturbed mother, scheming stepmother, and fascinating hip-hop mentor, Sir John.

I’m not ordinarily a great fan of hip-hop, but the play helped me to better understand the roots of true hip-hop and to weed out the trash. Matt Sax is an incredible talent and I’ll be keeping an eye open for more of him.

If you find yourself in Culver City with nothing to do, I can highly recommend an evening at the Kirk Douglas Theatre with Clay.

Farewell to Summer

With Labor Day now behind us, and most of the kids back in school, summer is well and truly over. To be honest, I’m glad to see the back of it. As a beach dweller, I’ve been missing certain luxuries that make life bearable--things such as air-conditioning and a personal parking space.

For most of the year, I can live perfectly happily without either of these things, but come the summer, I miss them dearly. When the temperatures soar (as they did over the Labor Day weekend) and the ocean breeze drops, life without air-conditioning is hell. The obvious solution is to hop in the car and head somewhere cool, like the movies, but that means giving up my valuable parking space. I’m not opposed to a little exercise, but having to walk four blocks with my groceries when what I really want to do is flop on the couch with a Popsicle, is no fun.

But today, normal life resumed and everything was beautiful. The sun shone and a cool refreshing breeze swept off the ocean and through my open windows. My plants seem to be once again flourishing, rather than cowering from the blazing sun, and my cat resumed her spot in the sunny window, rather than flopping, panting in the middle of the living room floor.

But the surest sign of the passing of summer is my desire to once again venture out on my bike. Without having to dodge wandering tourists or drunks on beach cruisers, a long leisurely ride up the bike path to lunch is bliss. It’s now cool enough to sit outside without frying, the path is relatively clear and I am able once again to relax, enjoy the ride and remember why it is I chose Southern California for my home. I don’t know about you, but I’m even looking forward to some rain.

Now that summer’s over, what are you looking forward to most?