More musings in week two...

We've found a brilliant radio station to listen to when we are in a five lane traffic jam. Its the Beatles channel. They not only play the Beatles version but jazz, folk and punk versions, some of which is laughably bad, but hilarious to listen to. The DJ played a particularly bad folk version of a song and he said that he'd play that again, but only if hell froze over. Who said they haven't got a sense of humour?

We discovered our post box is number 3 (?) and is one of two boxes which have numbers from 1 to 10 on them, we are the right box I think, or maybe the left box.... either way the boxes are 3 streets away as even the post man won't walk up our road!!

I have now booked my for guitar lessons every Wednesday in my bid to have my Groundhog Day experience and come back to the UK in 4 years an accomplished grade 8 musician....god I better get started!!

I met Jeff who owns the Music shop and organises all the lessons - lovely man. I start next week with Andre LaFosse. He looks like Lou the sax player from Blues Brothers or a little like the bass player from the muppets. He is so over qualified for me...as Max said....

"A 1997 graduate of the guitar program at CalArts, Andre LaFosse has studied classical, avant garde, jazz, rock, Balkan, hip hop, North Indian, ambient, Indonesian, and many other musical styles. He has played and/or shared performance bills with David Torn, Terry Riley, Michael Manring, Mike Keneally, Kronos Quartet, Carl Stone, Matmos, and many others. His solo work has been the subject of an episode of WNYC radio's New Sounds program, and has been used as an element in the original scores for several Hollywood films. He is a two-time performer at the New York Guitar Festival, and has been profiled in numerous media outlets, including Guitar Player, Alternative Press, MOJO, Electronic Musician, 20th Century Guitar, Tape Op, and many others."

Me: "Hey can you teach me Wonderwall by Oasis please"

More thoughts on shops here...

Sprouts is a grocery store which sells not only sprouts (they are mad on them here). Didn't Posh Spice have a diet which was purely sprouts? Don't they make you have wind?

Anyway I digress.... Half the store is a wonderful rainbow of beautifully presented fruit and vegetables, shiny and inviting. The other half of the store is aisle upon aisle of pills for every known illness. I bought 4 bottles - I will not only be an accomplished musician, but also skinny with no cellulite, with a raised IQ and memory skills and also a very chilled and centred person - you wait and see.

I was in Target buying another towel as the one towel Mark had bought wasn't quite working for us. A lady in the queue was only from Bournemouth. We had a good chat and she told me she's been here for 20 years. As I took my receipt from the shop assistant, I asked her what words of wisdom could she give me about being a brit in LA. She thought for a few moments and she said.....

"look out for the Gypsies, they steal anything!"

Well I suppose she didn't mention rattlesnakes and coyotes - refreshing really.

Watching CNN and Fox News - amazing! It's so opinionated and they mention each other all the time. Both appear to me to be biased. I go between these two and BBC World news. I like the BBC as they always seem to have a wry smile when talking about Trumps latest shenanigans. CNN and Fox news are on all day and only really talk about American politics, though I watched a lady presenter called Poppy interview a Lady governor on screen, who had come out saying that she had been harassed by other men governors in her time and then said she had also been raped at one time. At the end of this sentence she was in tears...switching straight back to the studio and Poppy the impartial presenter was also in tears.

Mark and I bought our first PS4 (we'd used the kids PS4 in the past) and it reminded Mark why he stopped playing certain games with me having beaten him mercilessly at Street Fighter nine times as he was sure he could win.

My Aqua class update.

Now, as I'm telling you this I know you will say - "she's making it up!", but I promise you it did happen.

After the bossy Pamela on Tuesday night, I was hopeful that Linda would be better on Thursday night.

Anyway I was making my way through the changing room and I noticed an old lady with her coat and bag with a long stick who looked partially sighted and was hobbling. I stopped myself from telling her she was going the wrong way as she seemed to be following another lady out who she appeared to know. Yes you guessed it - she was our teacher. She was great actually, as when she'd taken her coat off and put down her stick, she worked us very hard as a class, but one thing I will say...Pamela did comment on what we were doing, but I'm not sure that Linda saw if we were doing it or not!

Mark came and took the Pottery class with me today and we had great fun. The owner was very laid back, but the pottery wheel teacher was so rude to her class of intermediates, telling them off, saying things like "look at me, look at me - you are not doing it right!"

Very glad we ended up with a lovely Chinese girl called Carol, who had a great sense of humour and fun. We all worked with pinch pots and Mark was very happy with his pot having not done anything like it since he was 14. I sat next to an Englishwoman who'd only just moved here too and whose husband was an actor trying his luck in Hollywood. I will ask for his connections next week for 'extra' positions.

We are on a 'Dearly Departed's Tragic History Tour' tomorrow which Max had brought for Mark's Christmas present. The readup says 'Discover where Michael Jackson, River Phoenix and Whitney Houston spent their final moments and also learn about stalkers, celebrity gangsters and murder as you pass by Hollywood's famous spots.'

I may never go out again :-)