When I flew from Fiji to America I crossed the international date line and so “lived” two March 14th’s…. or 14th’s of March – as we correctly say in the United Kingdom!!!! 🙂 …. so I got to live a real life and truly bonafide All Star American Groundhog Day!!!! 🙂 …… and it looked as if the Groundhog had shown its face on Imbolc/Candlemass/February 2nd/ The 2nd of February…. or simply the middle day between the Solstice and the Equinox!!!! :-)…. because California was roasting in sunshine and all its spring glory!!!! 🙂
Arriving at LAX airport was a different experience too, with regards to the “Hotel/Hostel Vultures!” They appeared to be a different breed to any I’d experienced thus far on my trip (I hardly remember encountering any in Australia or New Zealand….. they must have been almost extinct in that part of the World!!!). These ones, though, were completely unfamiliar to me, so much so that I found them to be quite peculiar and so I hesitated….. and then…… they didn’t approach me or circle me or even line me up as their “prey”!!! 🙂 They just stood there, in a line, with their cards held out advertising the hotel or hostel they represented! They were unlike any species I’d ever encountered before!!! 🙂 Who were these people?!!!!! 🙂 I didn’t trust it, so I just stood back and watched, from a safe distance, a “school” of other “backpackers” go in for “their” encounter!!!! 🙂
As I watched, safely obscured by the flocks of humanoids passing peacefully across the prairie savannah floor of the LAX airport, I observed some interesting behaviour between the “school” and the “newly discovered breed” because it appeared that the roles had been reversed, from the ones that usually occurred in the rest of the natural world, fore the “vultures” were now “discerning” which of their prey was good enough to stay at their particular hotel or hostel and the “backpackers” had clearly lost all power of barter and the ability to strike a bargain!!! 🙂 It was a sight to behold!!!! 🙂 It appeared to be a case of….. you get exactly what you pay for…. and if you don’t like it….. fuck off and go somewhere else!!!…. in the nicest possibly way, of course!!!! 🙂 Welcome back to the Western World!!!! 🙂
After I witnessed a number of “backpackers” being devoured, and the “school” diminishing in its once healthy number, I entered the fray and questioned the first “NDB” in the line about his hostel deal and he replied “Can you read?… it’s written on the card bro!…. but you do get a free ride there.” “Ok” I replied and moved on to enquire with the next “It’s all there written on the card my man!” was his answer! And I tried one more to which he answered “Man… are you for real?!!! What was wrong with those two fools you just spoke with? And you think you can come and start talking with me now?!!!! Man…. I swear…. I aint no backpackers third choice!!!! Go back to the front of the queue you no-good-back-packing-joker…. before I smash your punk-ass outta here….. you hear me?!!!!!” 🙂
No…. you know I’m completely exaggerating, adlibbing and having fun with all that don’t you!!!! 🙂 But you do get the gist because that was “sort-of” what it was like! 🙂 …. and I did go back to the first one, when I made my decision, and he did joke with me saying “Well, after you spoke with those guys maybe I don’t want you at my hostel now!!!!” 🙂 …. but he did take my punk-ass outta there and on to Venice Beach!!!! 🙂
So that day…. Groundhog Day!!!! 🙂 …. was a day for free and I settled into my surroundings and went about sorting out a ticket to the forthcoming Lakers V Timberwolves game at the Staples Centre…. or how the septic tanks like to put it….. the Timberwolves@Lakers in the Staples Centre….. Blimey….. Yanks writing things the wrong way around still bloody confuses me!!!! 🙂 After I had booked it I had to go and pick up the ticket from a newsagent type outlet and so I went and found the place and collected my ticket. Then I made a bee line for the basketball courts of Venice Beach…. and this Groundhog Day was going to turn out to be like no other!!!!! 🙂 ………
https://theadventuresofmiller.com/2016/08/09/miller-with-the-brothers-on-venice-beach/
……….. When I got back from the beach I went for a burger in one of the burger joints close to where my hostel was and I had a traditional Americano munch!!! 🙂
Anyway, as I was eating my “American Sandwich….. with fries!!!” I clocked and caught eye contact with this beautiful Indian girl….. not one of the Native American variety…. but one from the Asian Sub-Continent!!! She smiled at me, so I went over to join her and she welcomed me to sit with her. She was studying German…. of all things!!!! 🙂 ….. as she ate, and finished her meal, and so I attempted to impress her with my extensive knowledge of the German Vocabulary….. and not in a Del Boy attempting to give a French lesson type way…. No!… Give me some credit!!! 🙂 …. but with elegance…. and dexterity….. and the full range of German profanities that I’d picked up from Germans along the way!!!! 🙂 ….. She was definitely impressed….. not so much with the depth of my knowledge….. but more so with the fact that if she ever had to have a serious word with a German in the future…. she was most definitely equipped to!!!! 🙂
You see…. ten minutes with me and you’re sorted!!!! 🙂
We continued with our harmless and fun conversation and I told her about what I was doing, and where I was going, and then she invited me back to her place, which wasn’t so far away. She was really nice and I felt quite complimented that she felt so comfortable with me that she felt fine taking me back to hers. There was nothing in it though, as it felt purely plutonic and I was glad because I’d learnt my lesson on that score in Fiji!!! 🙂 So we went back to hers and conversed some more and we decided to go to a bar in Santa Monica that evening. And then she offered to let me borrow her bike so I could use it to cruise along the Beaches Promonade the next day! 🙂 I was gob smacked!!!! “You sure?” I questioned. “Yeah, you can take it now and bring it back to me tomorrow evening” she matter of factly stated!!!! Wow….. what a top drawer girl!!!!! 🙂 It had only gone and happened again, and someone else – I didn’t know from Adam!!! – had kindly lent me their bike!!!!! 🙂 Blimey….. aint the world a great place….. a lot of the time!!!!! 🙂
So we made our arrangements, for me to take it to the hostel then and she would follow to pick me up on the way to Santa Monica later. So I headed off back to my hostel with her bike and a time for another date!!!! 🙂 I was truly “on it” man….. not the bike…. but the crest of a wave…. and I didn’t feel like anything could be knocking me off!!!! 🙂 …… I was simply Loving the Feeling of Being in LA!!!!! 🙂
Well, I cycled back to the hostel, locked the bike up, freshened up and waited to commence my “date”. My “date” was beautiful, as ever, and we drove to Santa Monica to attend a bar there. It was around 8 when we got there and we spent a couple of hours enjoying each other’s company, but then she had to leave at 10 because she had an early start in the morning. She offered me a lift back to Venice, but I was enjoying the moments in LA too much to return to my hostel so soon, so I declined and we hugged and said our goodbyes. It was sad actually because, although I said there were no signals given from either of us, if I had lived in LA I would have gone all out to woo and serenade her….. and I think she would have been glad of me to…. she was definitely “marriage material”….. if you don’t mind me being so coarse…. but the only drawback about travelling is that sometimes you can meet such wonderful people….. and the very next day….. you have to move on.
But I did pop around and see her the next day, and drop off the bike though, because I still had another day left in LA!!!! 🙂
I chilled in the bar for another couple of hours, intermittently chatting to a few people, but mainly just enjoying the vibe, ambience and atmosphere on my own. Most people seemed to be too into themselves anyway and I was more than happy to leave everyone to it…. you know…… just sitting there…. having a Bud!!!!! 🙂 At midnight, though, I knew I had to make tracks as Venice was “a bit” of a way from Monica and I didn’t have the spondooleys to get a cab. It didn’t matter to me though because I was used to…. “back in the day”….. walking home to Barking after spending the night in a club in either Romford or Ilford….. and I thought I just had to walk down to the beach….. follow the coast….. and chuck a left when I got to Venice….. but I’d negated to take into account the amount of “dodgy” characters I seemed to be passing and, being on my own and out at that time of night, in some of the areas I happened to be walking through, the dodgieness felt even more exaggerated!!!!! I knew I couldn’t carry on the way I was going – if I wanted to get “home” safely – but I also knew of no other way…. so I thought “Fuck it…. it’s time for a British Army Quick-Time-March!!!!” 🙂 ……
I joined the British Army when I was 17…. Well, the Territorial Army in Ilford!!!! 🙂 ….. after being advised, at the Army recruitment office, that I wouldn’t pass the medical to join the Royal Marines on account of my severe case of acne…. it would just get infected during training they explained….. and they said to join the local Royal Signal TA Regiment until my skin had “calmed itself down” before trying to apply again. It turned out to be one of the key moments in my life because I did so, and spent almost a year as a Royal Signal, before applying instead for the Camp America programme. I was successful in my application for the programme, but unsuccessful in my application for a J1 Working Visa as the United States Immigration System didn’t regard me as having a good enough reason to return to England, after camp, on account of me not intending to “study” or having evidence of “going to University”….. apparently having my entire family in England and a love for my own country wasn’t enough….. so I was refused pretty much for being working class!!!!!
I explained the situation to my CO and he said “Dont worry about it…. we’ll get it sorted” and he instructed the Units Secretary to write a letter, for me, from the British Army for the attention of the American Immigration System. I took the letter, and forwarded it on, and a few weeks later…. Roberts your father’s brother…. I had my J1 Working Visa and I was heading to….. “We’re the kids in America, woohoo, We’re the kids in America, woohoo, Everybody live for the music-go-round… Nah nah nah nah nah, Nah nah nah nah nah!!!! :-)”
When I returned to England, after Camp America and having a truly amazing experience literally travelling right the way around America and through 28 American States, I had a desire to carry on travelling and so, instead of rejoining the British Army, I travelled to the Holy Land and I did a Kibbutz…… but without the British Army I could never have done any of that and my life would have been completely different.
The British Army changed my life, and not just because of the deed it did for me, but also for the strength and discipline it instilled into me too, at a very significant age, which helped to carry me through the rest of my life and all of the experiences I have gone on to have. I can never say a bad word about the British Army, and I never will, but I do have a number of bad words to say about the corrupt and Spiritually inept politicians whom “order” decent men to do indecent things and then hang those decent men (and women) out to dry and die. I have a lot of bad words to say about them, but I’m not going to do that either. What I am going to do is leave those corrupt and Spiritually inept politicians with some good words and those words are…. Justice is on its way….. You cannot escape….. Much Love.
…… So I set off and into the quick-time-march…. which is basically a mixture between a few steps “walking” followed by a few steps “jogging” followed by a few steps “walking” continued….. and I tend to vary those steps between sets of 4 or sets of 6 or sets of 8 paces depending on how I’m feeling and on how energetic or tired I am. It’s a great way to cover a long distance in a short amount of time…. without getting tired!!! It’s top drawer in fact!!!! 🙂 But on this evening it was even topper because it had the bonus effect of alleviating me from the other issues I was concerned about having to deal with on the “journey” that night…. namely the “winos” and the “gangstas” and “anyone else inbetween”!!!! 🙂
It was really funny actually because as soon as I switched from a normal walk to a “British Army Quick Time March” the vulnerability I was beginning to feel suddenly switched to that of absolute empowerment!!! The drunks I passed, whom before were trying to engage me in conversation….. suddenly left me completely alone and just looked at me like I was one of their hallucinations!!!! 🙂 ….. And the gangs I passed, whom before looked like they were pointing me out and saying to each other “Yo… check out this white dude…. walking on his own”, suddenly changed to pointing me, seemingly saying “Yo Yo…. check out this crazy white fool…. what the fuck is he doing?!!!” 🙂 And for anyone else in between my polite and quintessentially English greeting of “Hello” as I passed them seemed to increase and enhance their feelings of bafflement and amusement!!!! 🙂
I got back to the hostel…. safe and sound!!! 🙂 …. and ended up speaking with this Somalian refugee dude who’d somehow managed to get to “I want to be in America, Okay by me in America, Everything free in America, For a small fee in America!!!!!!!! :-)” and was TOTALLY “on it” and having the time of his life there…. I mean here…. I mean….. you know…. in America!!!! 🙂 I told him about the day I’d had, the beautiful girl I’d met….. Ok, there was nothing in it! I had received no “signals” from her and I had given her no “signals” in return because, as I said, my head wasn’t there and it was simply nice to spend some time with, and be in the presence of, such a lovely girl….. but in that moment I was in “bloke-speak” land with a geezer who was properly “on it” and in those moments, in order to stand and hold your ground, you have let your fellow geezer know just how big your bollocks are too….. without the need of literally showing them to him!!!…. and…. most importantly…. without showing any sign of being intimidated by the potential size of his!!!!! 🙂 In “bloke-speak” land the geezer who can talk the loudest and give the most examples of “how big his bollocks are” is the one who “proves” he has the biggest set of bollocks!!!… and in those instances….. size doesn’t matter….. but generally it does!!!!! J Does any of that make sense???!!!! Fuck it…. I’m leaving it in!!!! 🙂
Now, blokes that know me know that I don’t normally get involved in those kind of “bragging” conversations because I usually find them to be quite demeaning, but on this occasion I was actually really enjoying it because the “one-up-man-ship” stories this guy was coming out with were just unreal!!!! 🙂 …… and I had to keep coming back at him with something just to keep his stories flowing!!!! 🙂 Blimey, you think some of my encounters with the opposite sex are a bit hard to believe….. you should have heard about some of his!!!!….. he was hitting a home-run from every one of my pitches….. and I was loving seeing the sight of that ball flying out of the stadium!!!!! 🙂 While I was encountering beautifully intelligent girls studying hard in downtown Venice burger bars, he was out on Sunset Boulevard picking up chicks from Beverley Hills and getting invited to all sorts of functions and high end parties!!!! 🙂 He tried to convince me to come out with him sometime and I had to explain that the girl I had met was my kind of Queen and the kind of girls he was talking about never seemed to get me!!!!! 🙂
We just bantered into the early hours of the morning, and ended up sitting out in the hostel’s garden underneath the stars of the Los Angeles skyline…. it was so romantic! :-)….. No it wasn’t, because LA is so bright that you can hardly see any stars and we were just having a beer and a giggle!!!! And, without a doubt…. and thankfully without him ever showing me!!! :-)….. he “proved”…. over the course of the evening…. that he had a much bigger pair of bollocks than I did!!!! It was a fucking pukka evening and I went to bed giggling to myself!!!!!! 🙂
What a day and night!!! I was cream-crackered and pleased that the only thing I had to do that evening was go to the Lakers game!!! 🙂 That was adventure enough!!!! 🙂
I got up very late the next morning…. in fact it was almost afternoon!!! 🙂 . and cycled down to Venice Beach and along the strip there. Then I waited for the early evening when I popped around the “Missed Missus’s” 🙂 place, spent time with her and said some farewells. Then it was on to the Staples Centre to watch a Legendary Basketball team….. a team that was almost as Legendary as the Legendary Basketball team I supported from Boston!!!! 🙂 …. and as this team were the historic rivals of the team I supported…. it was quite ironic that the first NBA game I was going to ever see live was to support our greatest rivals!!!! 🙂 I actually love shit like that!!!! Turn the game on its head why don’t ya!!!! 🙂 For real!!!! 🙂
I found out where I could get the nearest direct bus from, in Venice, and I waited for the bus to arrive. I was the first at the stop and as I waited some older people began to queue too. When the bus arrived I naturally allowed them to board before me and, although they thanked me, they gave me a strange look too. What was that about? I couldn’t even work the look out…. so I just brushed it off….. and then when I boarded, and went to pay my fare, the bus driver gave me a funny too….. What the fuck was that look? I’d never seen a look like that before and I really couldn’t work it out!!!!! “Excuse me, Sir, is this bus going to the Staples Centre?” I enquired before I paid…. Fucking hell!!!!…. There was that look again!!! Only this time much more exaggerated!!! What the fuck was this look about????!!!!! “Sure is!” he replied and then gave me a big smile – I recognised that look Thank God!!!! 🙂 – as I paid the fare. “Weird!!!!!” I thought, as I wandered down the aisle of the bus.
I found a position centrally in the bus so I could have a maximum view out of all of its windows. I not only wanted to keep note of any landmarks as we passed them, so I knew where I was and could retrace my way back along the bus route if needed to, but also I was looking out for the Staples Centre…..
Oh….. I’ve just realised I’m spelling CENTER the wrong way! …… fair play America, sometimes us English put things around the wrong way too!!! ….. but on this occasion it’s not actually the fault of the English….. it’s the “fault” of the French!!!! And not just any old kind of Frenchies!!!!….. No!!!….. it’s the fault of those bloody Normans!!!!….. If only the Anglo-Saxon shield wall hadn’t lost its discipline in 1066…. then King Harold wouldn’t have lost the Battle of Hastings….. and the Anglo-Saxons wouldn’t have suffered the evils inflicted on them through their submission to Norman Serfdom and Slavery……. The Magna Carta (The Great Charter!!!!) would never have then needed to be written….. and….. ultimately….. English People would never have sought their freedom in America and cast off the reigns of tyranny they were living under in the new land of liberty they were creating!!!!….. And if that didn’t happen then the Great Native American Nations may never have fallen, many wars may never have occurred and Segregation may never have reared its ugly head!!!!…… And all this because a few hundred Anglo-Saxon Warriors, sensing a final victory, momentarily “lost their heads” in a shield wall after destroying the Viking’s in Yorkshire and immediately RUNNING the length of Englaland to confront the Normans in Sussex. That moment is, arguably, one of the most significant moments in all of Christian World history and the cumulative effects of its outcome are, in my opinion, a big part of what humanity is challenged with healing today. Englaland, and its People, fell into the hands of evil in 1066, and that evil, in time, spread around the World from its shores, and only for a brief moment did its People successfully stand again… in America.
……. I figured I would see the Staples Center before the bus got close to the nearest stop to it. Anyway, as I’m looking out of the windows of the bus – and not in a particularly strange or obvious way – I noticed that a few people were looking at me…. in that strange way again!!!… and as I became more conscious of that awareness I suddenly realised that everyone on the bus was looking at me….. and no one was talking….. “What the fuck? Am I imagining this?” I wondered to myself!!!! And as that confusion was running through my brain, it must have been clearly showing on my face because I caught eye contact with a guy sitting across the aisle from me and he had a look on his face that was saying “In your own time bud”…… and I knew then there was something blatant that I was missing….. it hit me….. and in the moment that it hit me my expression must have changed because the same gentleman raised a smile-to-himself-smile and looked away, leaving me to stand in my sudden revelation of the fact that….. I was the only white person on the bus!!!!
I couldn’t work it out because we were going through mixed racial areas, most of the way, at least I thought we were, so why was I the only white guy? It was freaking me out a bit and I thought I’ve got to ask someone. I saw one of the middle-aged ladies I’d let on the bus before me. She had a kind and full jovial face, so I approached her “Excuse me, Maam, I hope you don’t think I’m being rude, but may I ask you a question?” I politely asked “Sure thing” she replied, enthusiastically, and I, straight to the point and as polite as I could possibly be, continued “Maam…. why am I the only white person on the bus?” Her reply almost floored me “Aint no white folk catch the bus in LA honey” and she continued “They drive everywhere.”
That answer just stunned me. It was too much to take in and too much to comprehend. So many thoughts went through my mind in a millisecond – How has that happened? Why should that be the case? What were the social implications for such a thing to be real? What were the social causes for such a thing to be true? Was it the truth? I didn’t know, I just saw and heard the truth I experienced with my own eyes and ears. The kind lady saw the look on my face and smiled at me saying “You aint from round here are you honey?” “No” I replied “I’m from East London… well… Essex” …..
Right, I feel the need to explain this because I find it so difficult to define exactly where I’m from because the lines are so blurred!!! When people ask me I fall into this East London/Essex description and it never feels right!!! Others call it the East London Essex border lands, which is a better description, but too long winded!!! Another description is Metropolitan Essex which just feels like a contradiction in terms and something the council made up!!! 🙂 Also, I was born within the Sound of Bow Bells, which makes me officially Cockney, but because I was brought up in Barking the people whom live within the Sound of Bow Bells consider me to be an Essex Boy and not the other way around!!!! So you can see my predicament, I’m neither one nor the other but both at the same time!!!! But actually, if you want to get all historical about it, the Ancient Kingdom of Essex stretched right along the north bank of the River Thames shoreline, all the way to Westminster, so everyone born Cockney is, in fact, from Essex!!!! 🙂 Well, now we got that sorted, for my benefit, shall we move on?!!! Cheers ears!!! 🙂
…… “And what you doing around here?” she sincerely asked and I replied “Well, I’m travelling around the world, but tonight I’m going to see the Lakers play at the Staples Center…. you wouldn’t happen to know what stop I have to get off at would you?” She smiled again and said “I sure do, I’m going past that stop so I’ll let you know when we get close.” I gratefully thanked her, we shared a few more words and then I went back to looking out of the windows, the only difference now being that everyone now appeared to have a sympathetic and wry smile for me, as if to say “Well, I’m glad you’ve seen it!”
We got near my destination stop and the lady gave me a nudge to let me know. It was really nice as I got off of the bus too because, after we said our goodbyes, the kind lady hollered “Now you have a good time, you hear!!!” J I turned, to see her big radiant smile and a few other passengers giving me a goodbye wave too, and I called out “Thank you!” 🙂 again. Everyone on that bus must have heard our conversation and most must have seen my looks of confusion transmute to that of realisation, as they took place, along the way, and I felt a very lovely vibe as I got off the bus that day. A very lovely, lovely vibe. 🙂
As I started to walk, in the direction the lady had informed me to go, I suddenly had a bit of a panic because I couldn’t see the Staples Center at all!!!!….. I mean, how can you miss a building that size and she said it was only around the corner!!!! 🙂 …… and I momentarily wondered if she had sent me the wrong way!!!! 🙂 …… but as I rounded the corner – like she instructed!!! – there it was, in its full glory…. and it had just been obscured from my immediate perspective!!!! 🙂 So I was on and in and up to the top floor of the stadium to watch the Timberwolves at the Lakers play the Lakers….. or as I preferred to put it…. the Lakers versus the Timberwolves!!!!! 🙂
My seat was “up in the Gods!!!” and it was actually a great view from there….. with the added bonus that you could drink a beer as you watched!!!! The family next to me were loading up with pop corn, but I couldn’t do any of that and I joked with them by asking them “They don’t do any steak and kidney pies do they?” 🙂 The joke didn’t go down too well because they just looked at me like I was a mental case!!!! 🙂 They still humoured me all the same and I went and settled for an “All American Hot Dog”…… complete with Tomato Sauce!!!! 🙂
It was a cool atmosphere and I spent half the time watching the game and the other half watching everyone else in the stadium!!! J I was just enjoying the moment man!!!! 🙂 It was topper than a set of top drawers that had just been given a top drawer extension!!! 🙂 ….. with ketchup…. and pop corn…. on top!!!! 🙂
The game ended, and Lakers won, and I just stayed in my seat watching everyone depart while keeping my eyes on the court. I wanted to savour every moment and I didn’t actually want to leave!!!! 🙂 When I was one of the last people left “up in the Heavens”, and staff started tidying up around me, I figured I better start making my way down, but on the way down I thought I’d try and get down to courtside and see the stadium from that perspective. So as I got to the foyer area I approached one of the doors leading through to the courtside level and a security guard stopped me “Have you got a pass Sir?” He questioned “A pass? No, I just wanted to have a look at courtside.” I answered “I’m afraid you need a pass to go through to this area, Sir, it’s restricted” he explained “Bugger!!!!”I thought and began walking away.
I continued to walk through the foyer area and just a few courtside entrance doors along another security guard walked right infront of me while escorting a lady and so vacating his post….. and I thought…. “Blimey…. I think the Universe is giving you a bit of an opportunity here sunshine!!!” and I gratefully accepted the “present”, changed my direction and headed through the unattended courtside doors!!!!! 🙂 ….. I was in!!!! 🙂 …… and I made my way down the courtside seating steps and onto the hoarding boards of the court itself!!!! 🙂 There was another security guard at the bottom of the steps, but I just walked by him, confidently, and bid him a good evening. Although he looked at me hesitantly, he didn’t stop me and bid me a good evening too!!!! 🙂
So I was there…. not just by courtside….. but almost on the court of the Los Angeles Lakers itself!!!! 🙂 …… and I was almost as “buzzing” as I was when I reached the courts of Venice Beach!!!! 🙂 There were still some people “milling about”, so I had some cover, but I was still sticking out like a sore thumb at an injured hitch-hikers convention!!!! 🙂 …… and I wondered how much time I would have there, so I made the most of every minute 🙂 …… and five is what I got before I saw the security guard I’d actually asked clock me from inside of the door he was attending and radio down to the security guard whom I wished a good evening to, whom then proceeded to come over to me and ask “Have you got a pass, Sir?” and I replied “A pass? No…. I just wanted to have a look at courtside….. it’s amazing down here!!!” with a big smile!!! 🙂 “I’m afraid you need a pass to be here, Sir, and if you haven’t got one then I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave because this is a restricted area” he explained, looking a bit pissed off at me, but also like he was suppressing a wry smile too!!!! 🙂 “Oh, I’m ever so sorry, Sir, I’m travelling around the world and I just wanted to experience it here, I do apologise, but thank you, Sir.” 🙂
His smile warmed and he led me back up the steps to the entrance I had come through, and at the top of the stairs was the security guard (responsible for attending those doors) with his hands on his hips and looking at me, with an exasperated smile on his face as if to say “You’ve mugged me right off here mate!!!!” but he still bid me a good evening and so much fair play to him for doing that!!!! 🙂 I have to say to that gentleman that I’m very sorry because I think I may have gotten him into a little bit of trouble that night, but I also have to say to him – Thanks so much for the opportunity!!!!!!! It was top drawer pukka!!!!!! Big Ups!!! 🙂
I left the stadium cheerful and merry and happy-go-lucky!!!!! 🙂 …… and smiles were beaming from my face as I got the bus back to Venice!!! 🙂 I must have been emitting something because on the return journey I was just engaging with people and having a bit of a bubble…. and no one had the chance to look at me funny!!!! 🙂 Some of the people, on the bus, had been to the Lakers game too and whenever you get on public transport after the end of a big sporting occasion like that the vibe is always different from the bog-standard normal…. especially when the home team has won!!!! 🙂 But I felt very much at home and very much at ease. It was like I went to the game on a bus in LA and I returned on a bus in East London!!!! 🙂
And that was it…. that was my LA Adventure 🙂 …. I got back, got some kip and then got up to move on to the next one. And the next one would be in the Canadian City of Vancouver.
Get ready Vancouver…. here I come!!!! 🙂
Lots of Love,
Miller
The Adventures of Miller 