Xmas in LA

After only 4 days of being on the road, I again feel fantastic. It is amazing just how hard London can be during winter and I think I would have slipped into the abyss never to return if I hadn’t hit the road for a while to take a breath of fresh air. In the world of urban design, LA and London are on two different planets. I must have walked 20 miles yesterday and not even left the Hollywood district. If London is small and mean and cramped, LA is large and sprawling and laconic. Socially, London can be a pyramid of wrote-learnt facts and social realism , whilst LA blurts out to the world the generality of a popular culture that knows no social context beyond what we all have in common. I’ll let you figure out what this is for yourself! Anyhow, too many reference points, so little time. There is only really one city anyhow; they are all the same. In a couple of days I will be back on easy-street Melbourne, then heart-land Tasmania. I’ll spend today in a hostel just of Hollywood Blvd eating turkey for dinner; only the second time I have spent xmas in a hostel; the last time about 7 years ago; also in California. I’ll also meet up with my two Californian buddies from my UC Santa Cruz days. Again, another planet compared to King’s College London. Happy Holidays!