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.

US Embassy - the sequel

It too k several hours to get over the sense of injustice of not getting an upgrade on BA....and odd to find oneself back in England after such a short time..We were staying with our friend Frank who lived in the ultimate of "bach -pads" along with 2500 DVDs stored alphaceticaly , 2 zero-gravity lazy-boy chairs in front of wide flat screen tv,office with no less than 4 computers etc Frank however is not typically Bach as he is not only a very good cook , homemaker but also one can talk to him about anything and he's not gay.Grace and I were staying in the girls dorm which very rapidly degenerated into what looked like a set of "animal house"..you could barely walk through the door for stuff ..So the next morning it was up after a sleepless ,jet lagged night to go to the Embassy again where I am on virtually 1st name terms with the security guards.This time despite getting our paper work well prepared I made the mistake of taking several electronic devices in my bag such ipods and 2 mobile phones.. I was told to deposit them at the local pharmacy for a small fee of $10 and then to pick said items up after our embassy visit.. I was running back and forth along Upper Grosvenor street like a mad woman so that we would not loose our place in the queue, once again I was searched for devices and oh dear they found my bluetooth ...".but thats just a cell phonehead piece "I insisted..oh no that small device was capable of much terrorist mischief I discovered and bombs could be detonated from this seemingly harmless item..so it was running again up to the pharmacy on upper grosvenor street.. ( now on 1st name terms with these guys as well as the US Embassy Security guards) to deliver my head piece...It was not unlike a c"carry-on film".
Any way the rest of our business went smoothly ..there were no swat teams waiting to surround Grace and myself and we managed to get visa stamped.

Blighty

so after a month of travel and minidramas I can write the blog again.. a potted history ..Grace and I went back to Blighty flying Britsh airways (I'm afraid not as good as Virgin and flight totally packed so no lying across 4 empty seats(as was my fantasy) and getting a good kip.Unfortunately one has to walk through Business class on the way to coach and get a glimpse of the beds...after a dreadful moisture and humour extracting flight we arrived at the new very wow terminal 5 building which was like being in a science fiction palace or star wars set...very efficent as well and bags were collected.. I was a little piqued as I saw an acquaintance who I had also seen 2 nights befre in LA looking rested and relaxed after the 11 hr transatalantic ordeal...I had a sneaking suspicion but I had to ask...and how was your flight?"great I slept all the way back..." "and why was that?" "oh I was upgraded ...I happened to be standing next to a pop star who gave me his seat as he was upgraded.." How dare she ! I thought..anyway we were picked up by dear Alan our friend and taken to Frank ps place where little did he or I know we wouuld be spending many days....

Our Hols

So many things have happened in the last few weeks- we went on Hols to Mexico -club Med to be exact - in Ixtapa -a tried and trusted location..there was an enormous blip in our trip though which was we were unable to take out teenage Grace. We were all very upset and spent alot of the holiday ogling other teenagers and wondering who Grace would hang with if she were here too. I also noted that to my knowledge there were no "hot Boys" and eagerly passed this information onto Grace. It rained torrentially for the first two days and we spent alot of time fighting over umbrellas.Grace said this was Karma intervening on her behalf and maybe she was right.
One of the great things about club med are the shows -there are shows every night and one is forced to participate because ones children are usually in them -doing hip hop or circus activities..one is expected to join in the sing songs and dance to "hands up, baby hands up give me your heart baby...." I love this sort of thing but for others it can be buttock-clenchingly cringe worthy.Luckily my buttocks have been surgically unclenched over my 2 and a half year period of living in southern California where sentimentality runs rife and cynicism has not yet been discovered.So I made a complete tosser out of myself doing aqua aerobics , poolside line dancing and taking daily tennis lessons.

Bicycle and horse

I have two new modes of transport- My brand spanking new Chubbies bicycle- a retro design with giant handle bars and very comfortable squishy seat tooboot.. my other mode is a 22 year old codger of an ex race horse called Ranger. I have leased Ranger from a nice lady called Liz who found me in tears at the equestrian center having had a melt down after having ridden yet another cranky old horse who would not move and behaved as though he had had a huge amount of valium administered to him. For some bizarre reasons the center always allotted me horses with behavioral difficulties-either too hyper or too sluggish. I fell madly in love with a horse called Connetticut who was a dream and excellent dressage horse but my heart was broken when one day I discovered he had been leased by another..So I am getting to know old Ranger who has hidden dressage skills and is very affectionate and gentle. The only problem so far is that if I ride him out in the open and he sees no fence he thinks he is on the race course and goes into a gallop.Its all learning.
My exhibition i London ended on saturday phew .. most of the larger work has sold which delights me no end - what does not delight me is that more and more people I discover did not receive their invitations.. much to my shame and embarassment..I can sense that .."oh blaming it on the post again line.." but this time I am truely astonished at the decrepid London Postal system . I did not leave any stone unturned re invitations such was my fear of being resesnted . what ever went wrong I am more than powereless living 6000 miles away..I still continue to write grovelling letters however..