• Blue Notes

Monday, January 11, 2010

Southern California

posted by Rick Blue at 13h35

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I am in California once again. I never get tired of coming down here.

I flew here to visit my mother. "How long did it take you to fly here?" She asked.
"Four and a half hours," I replied. "In the air. And four and a half hours on the ground. In lines."

"That must be why they call them airlines," she said. "It's an equal mixture of time spent in the air and time spent in lines."

You line up to check in. You line up to put your baggage on the conveyer belt. You line up to go through security. You line up to go through immigration and customs. You line up to go through a second security before the gates. You line up to pee. You line up to get on the plane. You line up to get off the plane. You line up to reclaim your luggage.

Sometimes the time spent in lines can actually be greater than the time spent flying.

They didn't pat my crotch – which is precisely where the panty bomber hid his explosive. And I flew into Los Angeles, which is called LAX. In this time of hightened security that is an unfortunate name for an airport, don't you think? Lax?

Here in Southern California it is sunny and 70 degrees. It's January and people are wearing shorts. Unlike Montreal, all the Christmas lights and decorations are gone. But, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa – Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica ...

I always try to arrange visiting my family here at this time of year.

I have discovered a locally created string of stores called Trader Joe's. It is a grocery store tailor-made for Californians. There are healthy foods and exotic foods. But here is the amazing thing, wine is $1.99 a bottle.

I'll give you a minute to digest that. Yes, you read right – $1.99 a bottle. And it is very drinkable. Pinot, Shiraz, Merlot, Nouveau – the whole range.

It is from the Charles Shaw winery. So they call it Two-buck-Chuck. Makes me realize once again how we are routinely ripped off back home. If I lived here, I would become a wino. Wait a minute, I already am a wino.
 
There is also a very successful fast-food hamburger chain called In-N-Out Burger. Everybody recommends them. But my sister claims that every time she eats one, she gets the runs. And maybe that's why they call it an in and out burger. It doesn't stay too long in your system.

I am here for a week. Maybe I'll have more profound observations. I promise to keep them to myself.