This week I have been mostly unpacking...

It has been a busy week here, so sorry for the delay in writing my blog lovely readers.

Mark and I drove to Calabasas (the home of the Kardashians !) to pick up my car and went past the Calabasas car spa - which is a posh car wash. They use the word spa a lot to create a feeling of luxury to mundane things. I love driving my lovely red mini, as it is nippy on the roads, even though you would not believe the pot holes on the roads here. They are huge gaping holes that don't seem to get fixed. Its very rarely a smooth ride around town. Ive been working hard on not using my sat nav, but seem to always be travelling in the opposite direction, which I realise is no surprise to those who have ever travelled in a car with me.

I'm constantly surprised when I think I know where I'm going but discover that I'm at a crossroads where the road I thought I was on is off to the right or left. This wouldn't be so bad, but the roads are very clearly marked everywhere. Still I am seeing far more of the area by getting lost in it.

In retail parks here it can be interesting driving around. At Stop signs you have to stop obviously, although not everyone does. The idea is that you see who got there first an take your turn to make your manoeuvre. If you arrive at a junction of four cars and no one is really sure who got there first, you end up sneaking forward in the hope that they will wait. Its like cat and mouse and can last minutes while you eyeball people. Also pedestrians have complete right of way and will walk right out in front of the driver without looking or even acknowledging the existence of a car behind or in front of them. I'm amazed more people haven't been run over!

One of the main reasons I was delayed in writing this week was that our furniture arrived.

We had three lovely Mexican gentlemen unpacking the van and they made up the larger furniture. They delivered the boxes to us at the front door and read out the box number to us, then we ticked off the number from the list we were given on the ipad and then directed them to the relevant room. Isn't technology wonderful? The only issue was that I didn't always understand what number they were saying due to their very strong accent and it got really embarrassing to keep asking them to repeat themselves. So what did I do? I gave the job to Mark - he gets less stressed with things like that and doesn't seem to mind offending people. :-)

As things started to be unpacked, I got a bit over excited saying woohoo and yeh. They did keep giving me funny looks. I was just so pleased to see it arrive safely. Each box was like a present and when opened each article was wrapped in several layers of paper, so that you couldn't see what it was until it was unwrapped. Soooo exciting!!!

For a few hours it was chaos, as we had tried to unpack as many boxes quickly so we could send them back with the delivery men. There were a number of things which made me wonder why I had packed them up to send to the other side of the world and other things I thought, why did I leave that behind, such as my University certificates, as I need them for my Green Card unfortunately.

We only had three broken things which I think was pretty good. I had seen Grayson Perry use a Japanese technique when putting back together a pot he had broken on one of his art series. He glued it, then celebrated the break by painting a gold line along the edge. It looks pretty good actually.

Anyway the last box has been unpacked and it feels strange as this no longer feels like a holiday, but actually our home. To be honest it still feels a little unreal that we are here.

WW is still going well and I've lost 8 1/2 lbs now- lots to go, but at least I'm on the right road.

The lovely lady I sit next to is really chatty and has lots of very useful advise. Thank goodness she doesn't mind my questions. Her husband and she are in the entertainment industry. Her husband is in lighting and she works on payroll. One of their big jobs had been on the TV programme 24. Needless to say I was keen to find out about extras work.She told me all about the long days of 10-12 hours +, and the hours of sitting around waiting was really boring. I will need to have a green card to do it anyway. It's a possibility at least for the end of the year. We also discussed how litigious people are here and that they will sue you if your dog shows aggression towards theirs. Worth keeping Lulu on the lead I think. Something else to worry about, as well as rattlesnakes, coyotes and cougars???

On Saturday I was invited by the lovely Jennifer (who had bought me a lovely moving in present when we first moved in) to meet her in her hairdressers. This is after she'd learnt about my hair experience the other week. I turned up at Mali’s Hair after getting lost as usual and Jennifer is there already, wine glass in hand and I immediately thought - this is more like it!!!!

The salon is beautifully decorated and I was offered wine or Persian tea. I turned down the wine, even though others were driving, I didn't want to risk being pulled over as a Brit. Out came a special blend of tea with a tray of dates and nuts - how wonderful. For the next hour we chatted about the world, with Mali joining in, as well as others who just seemed to wander in for a chat. At one point there was a lovely French bulldog - gorgeous. I also met Miriam who is the skin specialist I think and learnt all about her travels to Paris on her own and about her first date that night. We discussed what the three main questions to ask a man on a first date to find out about the essence of his personality. We discussed things such as, the best gift you've ever had, a family type question and then Jennifer said, what would be the most outrageous sex act you'd consider - well something like that anyway. I nearly spat out my tea - absolutely hilarious.

I also learnt what Microblading is (lines tattooed on your eyebrows) and that a white vest worn by a man is also called a wife beater. I had the best time and hadn't laughed so much in ages. I've booked Mali to detox my hair next week ready for new colour. I'm already looking forward to it very much.

Now, Ive changed my mind about the older teacher lady at Pottery, Kitty. I don't know if Ive said, but she had this look of disapproval each week and seemed to watch us to find fault. This week we had her teaching us as opposed to our friend Carol. I was apprehensive, but discovered that she has a very dry sense of humour. We had a lovely time and I learnt to use the spray booth to get a graduating glaze on the vase I had made. I also made good progress on the wheel in that it didn't become a globby mound. I am considering staying there for next term now.

On sunday we were due to go to the Dog show suggested by agility class Annette, but the night before I looked up the location and it was in San Diego!!! - 3 hours away. Why I hadn't done this before alludes me. I had just assumed it was in Thousand Oaks - never assume!

I realise that Americans think nothing of travelling that in a day, but we didn't fancy it, so we sent our apologises and went to Topanga Vintage market instead which was excellent. There was lots of the usual stuff you see at Car boots in the UK, but lots of USA memorabilia too.

Strangely enough we are on the look out for pictures themed on LA, but have seen loads of pictures of Paris and London.

I have now joined Ahh! Capella. I drove the 30 minutes to the Patrick's Episcopal Church in Thousand Oaks and managed not to get lost.

They were very welcoming straight away, with lots of the members coming individually to introduce themselves as if I was a celebrity. I didn't ask who the last new member was.

I was taken into a back room and had to sing scales to see what range I would sing at. I can tell you it as nerve racking. The group sing in 4 part harmony and the ranges are named as the men's barbershop singing ranges - Tenor (soprano), Lead (Upper Alto), Baritone (Lower Alto) and Bass (Tenor) - bit confusing.

Anyway, she said I was fine and could be Lead or Baritone. I decided it might be fun to do the harmony, so Baritone it is.

I watched them perform, practicing for the spring competition, they were completely animated with wonderful harmonies and I thought what have I done???

They were fantastic - so professional. Whereas in Rock choir the group stay together so you can hear your part, in this choir they are mixed up. I had no chance in following the part. They also gave me the music to read - yikes. I have now discovered they also give out a CD - Thank god for that!!!! Performance is not just about singing but the whole emotion is shown, they are told to act it. It was truly a joy to listen and to watch it. I'm not sure I will ever be that good, but it will be great fun trying.

At the end of the evening I was pulled to the front and given a microphone where I had to tell them about myself. Then they all sang a welcome song to me in the most beautiful harmony. I had a tear in my eye I can tell you.

One of the members is a Scottish lady called Elaine who has been here two years and lives in Woodland Hills has invited me out for a coffee, which is lovely.

Whilst I was singing Mark took Lulu to agility training and she is responding really well......Mark seemed to enjoy it but apparently the highlight of his evening was with a newcomer and her dog called 'shadow' - whilst this silver haired lady was trying to understand the next instruction , Shadow , stood up, leaned back , cocked his leg and released a large volume of pee all over his mistresses legs ….. apparently Mark tried not to laugh out loud !

Other thoughts.....

I love, love, love, Russian Doll on Netflix- what a great female character. If you haven't already seen it, you must!

Watching the news this week makes it very clear that money buys you freedom to do what you want in this country. R Kelly is all over the news due to his supposed latest misdemeanours. The thing is that he got let off of similar crimes 10 years ago and yet he carried on. I thought about all those poor women who had since been attacked. they could have been saved. There is still no guarantee he will serve any time this time either. ridiculous.

R Kelly's defender in Illionois said that Kelly was presented with fake IDs so it was Ok that he had underage sex and that he had got them to sign docs. Did he reasonably believe they were 17? Evil man!

Also the news focusses every morning on Trump tweeting angry rants.

Today I have been watching Cohen be interrogated by Congress. It had already started when I got up at 7.30am and is still going on now at 11am when I got back after Aqua. It’s fascinating, but also crazy. Each governor questions him, but only after the Republicans have ranted about how he is a liar and this is a witch hunt for Trump. Whereas the Democrats were asking actual questions. This all feels incredibly wrong. If Trump isn’t impeached after this he will get away with anything. 😳😳 My feeling is that it has become like the Italian Mob. Ultimately Trump allined himself with these corrupt men, although I find it very hard to believe they acted without his say so or knowledge. Here's hoping!!!!!!