That was the week that was ……. or rather -how to compress 4 months into 1 blog entry!

Tuesday November 3rd .. 2020…..the day the rotund POTUS won ...lost….then won….then lost …. Then went to court.

As you get older, elections become that much more interesting …. they never really entertained me as a teenager …….but there was so much riding on this one – I had said to Mark that I didn’t think that I could stay in this country if he won again.

It is no secret that we are not fans of the former President Orange buffoon and not because he was running as a republican but largely because his treatment of people that didn’t agree with him was just inexcusable …..he outright lied to the world about many things and then used social media and specifically twitter to rewrite history and yet …..and yet …… 46.8 percent of Americans that voted … voted for the imbecile and we just don’t get it.

There are decent people I am sure that are Republican , we know a few in Mark’s work and they are nice people and they hated Trump…. Yet there are others …..it’s as if they refuse to believe their own eyes and ears ….. surely they don’t all think like the EX -PRESIDENT? It was becoming almost comical and a soap opera with claims and counter claims , tantrums and conspiracies, lies, recounts , the lawsuits and the hilarious dripping dyed hair, Borat victim…... Giuliani. 'Count the votes……stop the count!'…… are these people mad?

Still final day came when the election had to be called weeks later. We had friends over from Huntington Beach (an area well known for its contingent of Q Anon supporters) and treated them to an English Dinner. They are a lovely couple Mark met in his previous job. She is a lawyer ( as so many graduates appear to be here) and so it was really great to chat over the many lawsuits against our EX-leader and the way parliament works. They are avid Democrats and so come Biden’s acceptance speech , the TV was on and silence resonated as we listened to history being made. It was truly moving and with tears in our eyes (maybe wine related),we toasted Biden’s victory and discussed the future through rose coloured optimistic glasses……..

But …….America’s most frequent golfer and his nutty gang wont concede ! Its all a lie he has been cheated and he has evidence to prove it – the American people have been robbed………..only they haven’t of course!

Fox News quote: Chris Wallace pushes back on Fox reporter's claim that Donny was winning despite losing , “As we know, T**** got more votes than any person in history running for president this year except for Joe Biden," he said. Errrr that’s called losing!!!! 😊

We are relieved ………whether the Democrats or the Republicans win next time we don’t really mind but please America see some sense and appoint a relatively decent human being…. a Reagan….., a Bush (although I’m told, Regan closed all the mental health facilities – hence the number of unsupported homeless and Bush started a war), but not another Tanned failed business man. …… France said it all ….. “Welcome Back (to the world) America ! “

…….and then his followers stormed the capitol on January 6th and 5 people were killed ….. its only then that he started to back down from his rhetoric ……..a scary time and moment in history …….

ENOUGH ELECTION NONSENSE – WE NEED A BEACH

Like everyone else we have been stuck indoors pretty much for months and were offered the chance of a break. Friends of ours have a family condo in Maui and they invited us to come join them for a few days. We said yes then felt terribly guilty, considered cancelling but eventually decided to minimise the risks and jump on a plane to the middle of the pacific.

Hawaii had Covid under control, we were told, we flew to San Francisco had our Covid tests in the airport and got an uber into town to kill a few hours. We love San Francisco but my oh my, it was cold by comparison. We both bought cheap coats in Macy’s just to get us through the day-stupid as we had coats at home, but hadn’t considered we’d need them. We walked up to Pier 39 and watched the seals and had a sour dough bowl of clam chowder from the Boudin Bakery and experienced rain for the first time in many months -lovely!

We were picked up from the airport and arrived at the beautiful resort in Maui. Eric and Jannet are friends that we have made through Mark’s work , really nice people and Jannet is the lovely lady who has explored cities with me back when we were able to travel. They live in Montana usually and have chickens, goats and the occasional bear! Eric has an AK47…… something you can imagine we’ve had debates about after a few drinks.

Maui was beautiful , beach , pool , restaurants , golf (Mark), volcano (me) and I bought a real Hawaiian Ukulele ! The best restaurant was Fleetwood’s – owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. We saw the most stunning sunsets with red and oranges with the black silhouettes of the palm trees......only topped by the turtle who swam past us in the sea J

We will be going back. 😊

BACK TO NORMALITY

Back from Maui and yes we are feeling guilty that we were able to travel like that, but really glad we went. We had to quarantine on our return, so although we had a negative tests again, we had to stay in for 2 weeks, so I filled my time with my OCA Art degree and making pottery at home.

The Food Pantry was quieter on my return, than it was for the chaos of Thanksgiving and was now getting ready for the Christmas rush. There was a toy drive on Saturday which was interesting as there were many more checks needed with birth certificates and medical records. Many customers didn’t understand, so I had fun trying to use google translate for Spanish phrases to ask for the information we needed. People were very nice as I always started with “excuse my Spanish…. Disculpa mi espanol”. Of course, you do have to make assumptions over what nationality some of the customers were and for the Asian visitors, who could be anything from Korean to Taiwanese to Japanese. I just wrote it down and spoke slower, rather than try and decimate their language.

A man arrived in first week of this toy drive and didn’t realize it was a lottery this year, as he comes once a year just for the toys. He has 9 children and wept when he was told it was a different system this year for our regular customers. I felt so bad as he has probably been struggling to cope without the food all year. There are lots of reasons to be cynical too, but his raw emotion of not being able to give his kids a good Christmas was heart-breaking. I brought the lead organiser out of the office to speak to him and she made an exception thank goodness.

I am continuing with my Degree Art course and I am really enjoying it …. I sit next to mark whilst he works and paint and draw and now and again, he allows me to talk :-) More often times, I have my earpods in and love listening to audio books, loving anything from Jane Eyre to Derren Brown’s 'How to be Happy'. The key is not to have anything too funny, so that I sit there giggling while Mark is on his conference calls.

We saw a car crash happen in December right in front of us, at a crossing not far from home. Someone had turned across the traffic and just didn’t have the room and one car ended up on its side. We stopped and rang 911. The voice of the phone said “fire service or police”- ehh ? ….what about ambulance, then I remembered that the ambulance is the fire service here. The crash victims were fine, but it did shake us.

I was having a break from chorus, but I’ve now decided that I want to try other things, so will not be going back. My Art, pottery and guitar are filling my time actually. It was an expensive hobby for sure, but it was a great experience at the time and I did meet some lovely people. I'll admit I did get exhausted with the fundraising and social media postings though and what are we going to do next type talks. I know there are many ladies there who have been going for years and have loyalty to the group, but in the end it felt like hard work each week turning up on zoom just to mime to a tape and being in monthly board meetings discussing loss of members during Covid. Once I said I needed a break no one contacted me which hurt a bit. Then later in mid December Tricia who had met me when I first joined, emailed a lovely note about coming back at some point. It was very nice to hear from her and it made me feel guilty about being emotionally removed from the group, as there are certainly a few ladies I miss. Initially, I did keep an open mind about returning, but at the time I was all consumed with going home to the UK. We were worried about how we were going to manage to get back afterwards, but couldn't and didn't want to think that far.

Christmas dilemma - to go home but not be able to get back for months, maybe going on my own, leaving Mark and our dogs or put 2020 down as the one Xmas we didn’t spend together and save it for the new year. The kids after all, were all prepped for Christmas on their own.

OH SOD IT – LETS GO HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Then one day we just looked at each other and booked the flights ………. J …… we were banking on Biden changing the rules so that we could get back – maybe naively!

I saw a dog walking friend of mine, walking the dogs and told her about going back. I felt very guilty as she told me she can’t get home to see her grandchildren and kids in Sweden. She was stoic and said ‘it’s only for one year’. She has a point, and yet……

I made up a million bags of am and pm meals for the dogs in anticipation of getting stuck in UK. Prepped the house ready for long haul, had another set of negative Covid tests and got excited to go home.

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We arrived at the strangely empty Los Angeles Airport , whisked through security and then had to find something open to kill a couple of hours whilst we waited for the flight. It was a very apocalyptic atmosphere, quiet, with a scarcity of people and those present fully masked up, separated and quiet. It was quite intimidating actually.

Less than a day later we arrived home in the UK and were greeted by Jake and Poppy who would be in the 2 week quarantine with us. It was truly wonderful to be home. Over the next few weeks we got busy getting Poppy settled in Empress after her move from Farnborough Road, unpacking boxes, clearing out some bits a pieces in the loft and the garage, from both addresses. When we had finished, we had filled three recycling skips; we have moved on from our hoarding issues I think and were far more brutal with things we never use. J We also helped Jake decorate his annex and settled into a routine there, it was just lovely.

Christmas arrived and we picked up lovely Mark’s Mum, who had been on her own for all the 9 months - we had nearly the whole family together (apart from my Mum and Dad who we had to wait until the New Year to see ☹ ). Max, Dani and Arthur paid us a surprise visit at our front door all masked up on Christmas Eve - it was really special and very emotional. After our quarantine and sorting out a ‘bubble’ of the 2 families, Max and Dani let Arthur stay with us on Wednesdays and he played and laughed a lot and slept occasionally. We also sang songs, watched CBeebies and went for walks with the pram – I love being a Nanny!

We didn’t realise how much we had missed the green of England , walking in woods , the cold and the rain – a real fire, bacon sandwiches and driving on the right side of the road J

After Christmas the reality of Mark’s work kicked in and his days started to get longer and longer, going into the morning hours due to the time difference, but even so we still had the joy of being around the kids and little Arthur. He stayed over one night and wouldn’t go to sleep until midnight but then slept in until 6.30am. He woke up with smiles and wanting to play! We met Laura, Jake’s lovely girlfriend and had a few fun sessions of crafting, painting stones, sewing felt Star Wars characters and playing with Das clay.

In the real world, back in the USA though things were not quite so idyllic. To see the Capitol being stormed by those crazy people that had aligned themselves with T***** was truly one of the most shocking things. Whoever would have thought that in the “land of the free’, that people could be fired up to a point where innocent people were killed. We have friends now in America and feared for what might happen next………..but finally Biden arrived at the White House. I am reminded of the difference between this and the British Prime minister’s experience – that of a removal van being outside No 10 on the day after the election – quick, maybe brutal, but necessary to get on with the new leadership. Not like here where it is excruciatingly drawn out over months. Do you remember Margaret Thatcher’s departure? I met up with some special school friends, masked and socially distanced in garden centres (one of my favourite places in the world) and had a wonderful non-stop chat about life the universe and everything. I really miss them, but that night dreamt of teaching, but not in a good way - not being able to find materials for tasks, having to change classrooms at the last minute, not preparing a lesson enough, failing a lesson observation, having to deal with school politics, staff ego’s and saying just ‘SIT THE F*** DOWN’ ………..if only I could have said that when I was at the School – bit of a nightmare actually. I miss my friends and I may go back to teaching one day, but I realise, I’m not ready just yet.

I managed to see my wonderful Mum and Dad twice in their new home – socially distances of course. They are now in Nether Avon near Salisbury Plain which is very beautiful.

We were also able to join my extended family on a zoom meeting for the beautiful wedding of my nephew Edward and his new wife Hannah in Sydney, Australia at 2 am in the morning UK time. Thank goodness for technology.

As we moved into February the early starts and late nights were starting to tell on Mark and we had been away from the dogs for so long we thought we had to start to push to get back to the US. We were still not legally allowed to enter the US, so we started talking to the company immigration lawyers. Our choices were to appeal to the US Embassy on grounds of company interest or fly to Mexico and spend two weeks there at a hotel, before crossing into the US and hope that Biden didn’t close that border. I quite fancied a trip to Mexico, but what if we got stuck there?

We were told that the embassy route could take 6 weeks to approve. It took the lawyers a week to build the case and they submitted on the Friday and the embassy approved 3 days later. We were free to return and this was the definition of mixed emotions for sure! We had been there for 2 months and we could get back to the dogs and our quiet sunny life…………but we had to leave the family again. They all had their lives to live, and they didn’t need nagging parents, so after a little deliberation we decided it was time and travelled back the next weekend.

BACK TO CRAZY TOWN

Arriving home was lovely. The house was still tidy and no dog hair! We picked up the dogs who were incredibly excited to see us and we settled into our 2 week quarantine again, Mark working, me drawing for my Art course and making pots at home. Hettie the hummingbird came into the house 3 times, where we had to run around the house opening usually unopened windows and take off screens to get her out. I think she had missed us and was just checking up. We also had a very large gecko come in for a couple of days and went under the fridge. After reading up about how to convert a large coke bottle into a gecko trap and then collecting dead flies and insects for it, I left it in the kitchen overnight with a pile of books to block the open plan kitchen to no avail. We were fearful that it had died under there, but then we were on the patio with the door open and this little head appeared. It just walked out onto the patio like a ninja, moving a few steps then stopping like a statue, then moving again soooo sllllooooowwwllllyyy……. Very cute.

So, now watching local news, I see they love to show televised car chases from tv helicopters. It feels wrong that you are seeing it live – it invariably ends in a crash and you watch the cars zoom past people walking and other cars. Everything here is for public consumption, as Andy Warhol once said, everyone will have their 15 mins of fame… whether they want to or not. I met Mark’s boss’s husband in the dog park and he told me about an incident in their newly bought, yet to be converted holiday house in Malibu. He had walked in and seen a teenage black boy playing playstation in his living room and realised they had squatters, after seeing other luggage there. He came out and decided not to tackle the child himself, but called the sheriff. A few minutes later, a swat team arrived with guns and rifles, as he was trying to tell them the child didn’t pose a threat, the armed officers stormed the house – for one teenager!!! Now that’s not right is it? Thank goodness that the child had left in that time. I asked what he had done with all their belongings. He said he put them out on the side of the road and within ½ hour it had all been taken. I said I hoped it was taken by the family that had been there. Such a terrible situation and it reminds me of the Blues Brother’s film where at the end there are hundreds of police after just 2 people. It’s a reality here so over the top!

Mass shootings have started again, now that lockdown is lifting. There appears to be these tragedies every other day… CNN reports that there have been 45 mass shootings this year….45! Again there is outrage, but a polarized views – Democrats – need more gun control ……and Republicans - it’s the people not the guns. Fox news is becoming more and more mad and CNN more and more cross with righteous indignation. I have stopped watching all main stream American news and get my overview from BBC News or local news and my ‘laugh at it all - if you can’ reviews from Steven Colbert and Jimmy Fallon. Local News a few weeks ago said that a dog was badly injured in a shooting on the 101 highway near me, and at the end of our road there was a fatal crash after 3 people were racing down the Valley Circle road and one ploughed into and killed an innocent woman driver sitting at the traffic lights and pushed her into a nursery playground. Horrific but thank goodness it was after 6 pm and there were no children there!

In these couple of months, we went to a Drive through Stranger Things in Los Angeles which was amazing and is a bit like London’s Secret Cinema, but you are obviously in your car. We also signed up for cooking lessons with Chef Eric near Hollywood, where each Saturday we learn how to make stocks, knife skills, make grand sauces and make our own pasta. Next week we are making appetisers. The museums have just opened up, so I've also had a chance to go to LACMA and see some art in the flesh as it were, although it doesn't beat visiting London's amazing art museums for sure. Harry and Megan are the talk of the town here as well as in the UK. The T**** supporting lady at pottery tried to get me talking about vaccines (she doesn’t trust them) and Megan (who she hates). Watching British news, I was aware of the dislike at Megan’s interview and watching it I felt sorry for her, especially about the racist remark, but was unsure about whether to believe her naivety about going into her new role. I just wish she hadn’t gone on national/international tv to discuss her issues. (Piers Morgan – what a knob). When the Duke of Edinburgh died, I was in my pottery group and was chatting to a lovely Taiwanese lady called Vicky opposite me. I just mentioned that was a sad day for my country and the young, pretty, slim, but very opinionated assistant took over the conversation loudly saying that all Royalty were racist and that they were a self-appointed group of privileged white people…..etc….etc…. I started by joking that if she was going to bad mouth my country then I was going to have to come and sort her out and Vicky and I laughed. She did not catch on and carried on and on. I felt obliged to defend them and said that of course they weren’t all racist (did that me a racist in their eyes?) At that point a number of others in the studio joined in, saying how horrible they had all been to Megan….etc….etc…etc. It was a strange feeling and one I hadn’t had before and as I looked around me, I realized I was the only white person in the studio, as it is filled with all types of nationalities, from Korean, to African Americans to Israelis and Persians. It’s a wonderful mix and I love it, but in that moment I felt probably something they all had felt at one time or another and knew that I’d been classified with the other white lady who is the T****er and I realized that was why she always tried to get me talking about politics…..she wants to feel she’s not alone in the studio. It wasn’t a nice feeling.

At the end of their 20 minute discussion about the British royalty, which to be fair I did start, I said that I would like them to stop as I wouldn’t be sitting their criticizing their country in front of their faces, (although I do a lot of that behind their back). I did mention it to the owner, who got the girl to apologize, but I could see in her eyes how she had categorized me – an old white chubby privileged woman …. They aren't all like that and usually I have a blast there. On a much more positive note, I have been asked by the owner to be a few of the people to exhibit my pieces in her shop which was lovely.

To lighten the mood, here are a few things I have noticed they say here a lot: Pardon my reach God bless You got it You got this I’m good – Thaaank-i-U That’s so funny- rather than laugh at your joke or story At the Food pantry , I have enjoyed my return and the customers have actually asked where I’d been and having chatted to a lovely old lady called Roxie when I returned to her car to give her the go ahead to get her food, she pressed a piece of paper with her telephone number on it, into my hand and said ‘call me!’- I’ve never had that in my entire life and now I’d managed to pull a 65 year old lady!! 🤣🤣

My friend Andrea has got herself a full time job and won’t be at the food pantry on Tuesdays. I loved having a good chat with her each week and as she is married to a Brit, it was good to chat and put the world to rights. So, I was pleased for her, but like any change, in my heart I hated it. I thought to myself, that I would make an opportunity out of it, so I have offered to be the computer person instead and will take the details from the runner (my job). So, it means learning something new – change can be good. Last week we had a shock as one of the volunteers collapsed having had a stroke and another guy called Obi had to give him CPR. I remembered the rhythm of Nellie the elephant in my CPR training and so told him to speed up. We couldn’t find his pulse and he was ashen faced – terrifying. The Firetruck arrived with 6 burly firemen and they got his heart going again thank goodness. He was in the hospital for a week, but is now home making a full recovery. Life can change in a flash can’t it?

I have now completed Part 4/5 of the Level one part of the Art degree which was on figures and portraits and after a number of disasters, feel I’ve improved in some part. Mark has been posing for me – clothed of course. 😊

I had to do a week of self portraits and hated it – god I’m sooo old, but having wrinkles is a good thing to draw, I keep telling myself.

Another new event to tell you about. After drunkenly singing with my guitar with my neighbour Alan, he invited me to join his band of sorts. Initially I was filled with dread thinking I’m too old and not good enough (which I’m not), but I met my fears ,(listening to Derren Brown’s ‘Happy’ audio book helped) and went along with my guitar in it’s case and my sheet music. They don’t perform live and have only been together since January. Ric is the lead guitar and used to tour with his band in the 1970s, but gave up for 20 years, only recently starting playing again. They realise I am a beginner at guitar so I strum along and sing – which I love. I’ve introduced them to Oasis which they'd never heard of and so now we can play Don’t look back in Anger. 😊 My playing has definitely improved in just the few weeks I’ve been going along.

You never know what’s around the corner, do you?

In the next instalment we go to see Harry and Megan in Montecito for my birthday.