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.