Went to the local farmer's market this morning and picked up the following fruit and veg for exactly $20. All grown locally so looking forward to some tasty juice tomorrow :)
Thursday 28 June 2012
First proper trip to the beach
A view from Venice beach of the vast pacific ocean. Saw so many mussels washed up on the beach - never seen that before. The smell was...interesting!
This sign also caught our attention:
Hopefully we'll never have to contend with an earthquake while we're here....
What I have just contended with is the first trip to the laundry room. A common American way of doing things. It was fine, no mishaps (apart from selecting the wrong dryer and frantically swapping the clothes from one to another!).
Tuesday 26 June 2012
Mission: to buy some groceries
This was fun...the first evening, we needed some milk, bread, cereal and things. Instead of using the convenience store within the apartment block we walked 30mins to a 'Ralphs' supermarket. It wasn't too bad, but made us realise that things are REALLY spaced out here in LA. We actually did see people walking and running, but not many.
Arrived at Ralphs...cue 20 mins of staring at 100 types of milk, spread and realising that Americans like to buy things in bulk. (they don't sell eggs in packs of less than 12!).
It was fun. Best of all, I bought a pack of Lucky Charms....discontinued in the UK but still keeping children hyperactive in the US of A!
The next morning we enjoyed a cup of tea using some teabags kindly supplied by my friend Shyema in a " I love London" kit. Tasted fine and I think the milk tastes fine here everyone! You can rest easy....
We travelled by the Big Blue Bus (which serves Santa Monica) a few times today, and they're frequent and cheap at $1 per journey. It takes Richard around 45 mins door to door to work from here in the bus, so not too bad. I had a bit of a Miss Marple moment by asking the driver (think about the bus driver in Speed )for "a single, please" which fortunately he found charming,
I'll be taking a few driving lessons in the next week, and we get a hire car soon.
We also bought a juicer today! For those that know, I can't live without my vegetable juice in the morning. I'm excited about going to a Farmer's market this friday in Venice, to get myself some 'beets'.
I'll leave you now with a pic from lunch today. I'm enjoying a glass of White Zinfandel rose, which, I found out, they call "White Zinf" out here.
Californians, eh....
PS: some observations so far: I don't like American sockets! they're too wobbly. TVs, Levis jeans and trainers are CHEAP (well, in Sears, anyway) and I've never seen so many different types of melons for sale in a supermarket.
Arrived at Ralphs...cue 20 mins of staring at 100 types of milk, spread and realising that Americans like to buy things in bulk. (they don't sell eggs in packs of less than 12!).
It was fun. Best of all, I bought a pack of Lucky Charms....discontinued in the UK but still keeping children hyperactive in the US of A!
The next morning we enjoyed a cup of tea using some teabags kindly supplied by my friend Shyema in a " I love London" kit. Tasted fine and I think the milk tastes fine here everyone! You can rest easy....
I'll be taking a few driving lessons in the next week, and we get a hire car soon.
We also bought a juicer today! For those that know, I can't live without my vegetable juice in the morning. I'm excited about going to a Farmer's market this friday in Venice, to get myself some 'beets'.
Californians, eh....
PS: some observations so far: I don't like American sockets! they're too wobbly. TVs, Levis jeans and trainers are CHEAP (well, in Sears, anyway) and I've never seen so many different types of melons for sale in a supermarket.
First couple of days...
We're here, found the apartment, got through US immigration and bought some groceries. Not in that order of course...
Having got off the plane after 10.5 hours of Premium Economy Virgin Atlantic service (Gin? Baileys? Wine? yes please!!) we were faced with the world's longest immigration queue. Finally reached the counter where the 'official' looked puzzled after we'd told him we were married and whether we were actually born in the UK.
However he was in a joking mood and didn't give us too much of a hard time.
We arrived at our temporary accommodation in Marina Del Rey (apparently the world's largest man-made Marina) located near Venice beach. A strange, hemp like smell permeates through the gardens. I think it's actually naturally occurring but it did make us wonder.
The view isn't too bad...
The apartment itself is furnished, and has all the creature comforts, including a stereo hidden in a cupboard which was on when we arrived and left us wondering who was playing music all day and night!
Having got off the plane after 10.5 hours of Premium Economy Virgin Atlantic service (Gin? Baileys? Wine? yes please!!) we were faced with the world's longest immigration queue. Finally reached the counter where the 'official' looked puzzled after we'd told him we were married and whether we were actually born in the UK.
However he was in a joking mood and didn't give us too much of a hard time.
We arrived at our temporary accommodation in Marina Del Rey (apparently the world's largest man-made Marina) located near Venice beach. A strange, hemp like smell permeates through the gardens. I think it's actually naturally occurring but it did make us wonder.
The apartment itself is furnished, and has all the creature comforts, including a stereo hidden in a cupboard which was on when we arrived and left us wondering who was playing music all day and night!
Friday 8 June 2012
First post
Hi everyone. I've set up this blog page so you can view our updates from LA....
more to follow!
more to follow!
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