Walnut
2132hrs
Change of plan. We're going to Universal Studios next week, so we can see Hollywood then. Apparently there's not much to see there, and it's not really safe to walk about, so we'll just drive through, and get out to look at the good bits.
Tomorrow Ron and Pauline are going to Las Vegas (the real one), because someone's going to a wedding and they've got to baby-sit, or something, so we're going to see that. You're not allowed to gamble until you're twenty-one, which is more or less the whole point of going to Vegas, but Peter reckons there's plenty else to do there.
We'll be staying there until Sunday. Then we've got Hollywood and Universal Studios on Monday, and Disneyland on Tuesday, or possibly the other way round, which only leaves Wednesday before Thursday, when we catch the plane back to England. So the rest of our holiday is mostly planned, and really almost over. There's still a week left, but it does seem like there isn't long until we go home.
It's just as well that we're off to Las Vegas tomorrow; after travelling for so long, it feels good to be living for once in a normal house with normal people, of which we have previously met very few. Were we to stay here any longer, there would be considerable danger of wasting the rest of the holiday, sitting around and relaxing and watching TV.
That's pretty much what we did today. We went into Walnut this morning, but there's not a lot there, just a few shops. A plaza, no less. We then came back to the house and, as yesterday, just watched TV. We did play a couple of board games too, but mostly it was just TV.
They have a huge number of channels here, but during the day it is still often impossible to find anything watchable, which is surely a low they can only reach by trying really hard. In the evening, though, the situation is reversed - from about seven up to midnight, there is always something good on, which I wouldn't like to miss if it was on in Britain. They're mostly repeats, but not that I've seen, so it's easy to find yourself watching TV all night.
Peter's British, but has been living here for several years, and when my sister rang me this morning (Peter having answered the phone), she expressed surprise at how American he sounds. Perhaps she's right, but I hadn't detected any American lilt to his voice - in fact when I first saw him, I was struck by his strong English accent, and still haven't quite got used to it. Maybe I've been in America too long. She didn't say anything about my accent, though, so presumably I'm not infected.
Ron has a rather unnerving habit of laughing at things you say, when you have no idea what's funny about them. It seems very unfair that you don't get the joke when you're the one that told it.
