A Sad Goodbye

On thursday night I went out for an exquisite dinner at my friend and chefs Crispins place. I never normally answer or even take my phone out but on this evening I chose to not only take it but also to pick up ..I found it odd that someone should call me after nine pm so I answered it to hear the devastating news that someone I had been very close to had taken their own life only an hour before. I felt so saddened by the news which is still haunting me and was only reflecting a few days prior how much this person had contributed to my settling here in Los Angeles.
I had been given her phone number by a mutual friend in London in 2006 and during my first few bleak weeks of living in a new country I had called her and although our conversation was somewhat bizarre it was comforting to hear a British voice . We met by accident about a month later and became instant friends. She asked me to help her with a specific problem of hers of which I had a bit of experience and it was the beginning of a pretty intense friendship..she was intelligent ,open and lovable and was often gloriously irreverent ...she was a real individual and truely English in her eccentricity...she was also never far away from intense mental and spiritual pain.
For about 7 months we would speak up to 4 times daily and the distraction of her troubles would take me away from the loneliness and despair I felt about leaving England..She was a blessing to me..After about a year we started drifting in different directions and following seperate pathes and I knew I could no longer help her.In the last year I saw hardly anything of her...but the question still comes into my head ..I wonder if there is anything I could have done to prevent such an out come?The answer is no..sometimes the pain people suffer is just too much..I hope she is now at peace.

crunching on credit

Well its all hotting up re the elections..and turning into a right old mud slinging contest ,but mainly the dirt is being slung at Obama who seems to have no dark secrets but the McCain Palin camp try tirelessly to associate Obama with terrorists and no -gooders..the links are so tiny and tenuous its laughable..if not that then they are terrorising the Americans by saying ooooh its all so scary Americas falling apart you cant possible risk a vote on that new upstart..better vote for us again..we're safe and the devil you know. etc etc..and yet the definition of the word "insanity" is repeating the same mistake over and over again and not learning from past mistakes.Does America want to repeat the old mistake ?. A well informed friend told me that since the Bush administration the Rich are 8 times richer while the poor and middle class are much worse off and God forbid theres a medical emergency because if you dont have the proper Insurance you will possibly end up selling your house or going bankrupt.. Britain gets some things right ..God Bless the English National health System ..we salute you despite long waits etc ..I have delivered 3 babies in the capable hands of the NHS without incident or complications and I now hear that Gordon Brown is advising the Bush administration on how to deal with the credit crunch..good old Blighty.

Electionitis

So it is all going off here this week in the USA..the credit crunch debacle and mixed in with the build up to the election...but there is no doubt the person people are still all talking about is Sarah Palin who is getting more than her fair share of negative attention.I feel it is a very exciting time to be living in America and would love to be able to vote but sadly no can do..I am also acutely aware that I am a guest in this country and have to frequently remove myself from the British high Horse and of hundreds
of years of imperialism that are in my DNA.As an observer this is what I notice.
1/ That whoever has been running the country for the last few years does not seem to know what they have been doing and that ignorance is bliss up til now that it has bitten everyone on the arse .
2/That the election seems to be a popularity contest and not unlike the "X factor or" strictly come politics".Who does better on TV? Who slags their opponent more ..who has a more sexy or exciting vice pres?
3/ Until the recent economic crisis it seemed the election was about God and Guns..with a little bit of War in Iraq knocked in.
4/ That now there is someone who is more inarticulate and bumbling than George W not to say clueless re current issues ..that is Sarah Palin.
5/ That the American people yearn for change and feel very wronged and are unsure which way to turn.

Out staying our welcome

With the much dreaded Embassy visit over it was time to Blitz culture and friends and God children confident that we would be on a plane by wednesday. I managed to get Grace (teenager) to walk across Hyde Park and Battersea Park on several occassions. I realised that my relationship with distance has completely changed .What used to be an unthinkably long journey (From Beaufort st to Prince of wale drive in Battersea ) now seemed like popping round the corner, so I now walked all over London and also discovered the delights of the overland train.After spending many many hours in the car in LA Londontransport was a novelty and odd to be travelling at such close quarters with others. In Los Angeles you can go for days without having any contact with other humans as one is either in the metal box or the wooden box -house..in London it is hard to avoid others.
I regenerated my very underused brain cells by going to some great exhibitions -the Hammashoi at the Royal accademy and the drawing exhibition at the Tate Britain with my dear friend Lize .I spent most of the time reading Tracey Emins scrawled school girl memoirs and realised she has made a great living from self involvement and rcording the various stages of self.
By tuesday i was ready to go back to the US having made our various courtesy calls but alas no seats on BA flights a la virgin for wednesday or thursday so we had to tell our beloved tolerant host Frank that we would be staying..by this stage the girls dorm was getting very out of hand mess wise and one could not even open the door..sadly our chaos was reaching beyond our room and Franks office had been colonised...by Grace on facebook and me on the computer frantically emailing BA..Frank took it like a gentleman.