Ventura As we drove south, the landscape changed from the fresh spring greens of northern California to a dustier, drier look. Instead of strawberry fields there were oil wells (literally hundreds within an area of a few square km on land, and a few much bigger ones out to sea) and citrus orchards. The roads…
Dinner at El Pollo Loco (which translates as Crazy Chicken! :-)) – a chain version of the taqueria we stopped at for lunch. We’ve decided on a change of plans for tomorrow. Instead of following Route 66 out of LA, we’re going to head into Nevada and go to Las Vegas! Hmm, I suppose I…
Fort Mason Youth Hostel, San Francisco. This has been a really long day! I managed to get a couple of hours’ sleep on the plane, but I never sleep well in vehicles at the best of times, and it was a pretty bumpy trip. It seemed like every time I started to drift off we’d…
Auckland airport, sitting at the departure gate. Ok, Auckland is officially evil. I knew I had 2 hours between flights, so once I’d walked from domestic to international (and may just have released a book on the way :-)) I went through passport control, then completed the important mission of buying a NZ flag (well,…
Christchurch airport, about an hour before my flight boards. All checked in and through (domestic) security. It’s weird sitting here in this lounge, where I’ve sat so often in the last year to wait for flights to Wellington for boring work meetings, but this time what I’m waiting for is anything but boring! I’m here…
Dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf, in a bakery’s restaurant. I had a crab and corn bisque in a sourdough breadbowl, which seemed like a good way to combine trying some seafood (well, you have to at a place called Fisherman’s Wharf!) with trying some bread (it’s a bakery!). Exciting plans for tomorrow, involving sealions, cable cars,…
I finally got all my release notes done! Here’s the list: 1 AprilAuckland:The Flint Knife by EF Benson San Francisco:Female Friends by Fay Weldon (caught!)The Story of Benjamin Bee by Pat Wynnejones 2 AprilSan Francisco:Another Amy by Marilyn KayeWhose Side Are You On? by Alan GibbonsMidshipman Quinn by Showell Styles (caught!)The Zucchini Warriors by Gordon…
Ok, so maybe I didn’t get the nasty gastric thingy from the water after all. Apparently they lifted the boil water notice a few weeks ago because they reckon they’ve put enough chlorine into the water supply to kill anything that might be lurking, but MrPloppy (who gets most of his news from the BBC,…
Got home on Thursday (a day later than I was supposed to, but that’s another story), with a notebook full of diary entries all ready to type up and post, and release notes to make, and all the usual post holiday stuff. But having been 40-odd hours without my toothbrush (yay for airport security that…
I’m in San Francisco, and contrary to predictions, California hasn’t slid into the sea yet. Having a fantastic time (of course) and lots of laughs (even more of course) and loving America to bits. I’ve only got a few minutes (I’ve borrowed Skyring’s laptop while he’s off sorting out the car) so I won’t go…