Los Angeles

I went to Los Angeles yesterday. No not the city, the island. Seems the Spanish had this thing for angels. It's a little island in the middle of the harbour, near Alcatraz where they built the "Ellis Island of the West" and I joined a tour there, mostly Chinese and one gorgeous big hunk and his slender tall wife. The place had been used as a detention centre and then a POW camp but this woman was doing was talking about the chinese and how badly these illegal immigrants had been treated. Can you believe that they only gave them western food, day after day? How dreadful!! And some were left there for up to 2 years!!! How dreadful! (Think Christmas Island, Woomera, 7 years etc). Anyway, we came to pay and the hunk was in front and I thought I heard him say "Three" and was turning this over in my mind when he turned around and said "It's OK, I got it". I felt silly with my single dollar bills trying to make him take it back so graciously said Thank You. (Did I look poor? Down and out? I mean even rich people look daggy some times?)

Then I went for a long hike up to the top of the mountain which had 360 degrees view of the Bay - it was the most beautiful sunny blue day you could imagine and when you turned around you saw the Bay Bridge with its wonderful long elegant curves, then the city outline with just enough tall silhouettes to make it interesting, The the shorter stronger curves of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin and Sausalito linked to the upper country with more beautiful long sweeps of bridges. Bridges were the reason I did Civil Engineering and I do regret at times not being able to work in the profession. Then the hawks riding the thermals all around, paradise!! Drank a nice cool Corona on the way back in the ferry and there was the day.

Reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and it's quite compelling.