Well, it happened, the city of Los Angeles got under my skin and I lost more of what little sanity I had. Setting off to LA, I had expectations that this Christmas would be a relaxing Christmas away from Christmas. Up until today, instead of relaxation, I've felt consternation. Observing LA has caused me to become so concerned for the future of North American society that a great amount of anxiety had gathered inside of my poor little Victoria-boy head. There's just too much of everything here in my humble opinion.
Too much rain fell on the 18th and 19th of this month. To gain some perspective though, the rainfall was very average Victoria rainfall. The only thing is that the drainage system here is inadequate and lead to many deep puddles on the city roads. Roads are often closed due to flooding during these 'heavy' rainfalls and it's not recommended to go swimming in the ocean surrounding LA after a heavy rainfall. I had an unyielding urge to surf the afternoon of the 20th despite the risk of only waiting one and a half days after the rainfall, so Kyle and I decided to try our luck at Manhattan Beach which is inconveniently located next to the drainage processing plant. The waves there were perfect for our limited skills and the other surfers where not turning into mutants by the run off, so conditions seemed ideal. I was pretty excited to get surfing, so I ran down the hill across the beach (where I found a too much garbage at the tide line), and into the ocean. Once in the ocean and facing back towards land I couldn't, even with all my powers of imagination, put the huge sewage plant out of my mind. Not twenty minutes later my surfing day was done because of a gut feeling I had that the water was dirty. I didn't really notice anything wrong with the water. It was just a gut feeling. I needed to get out of the ocean immediately, and was left feeling pretty disappointed with my first surfing experience in California.
Many 'too much/many' experiences happened during the days following the 20th such as traffic, competitive shoppers, cement, parks... wait a minute, there are definitely not too many parks in Torrance, LA, but i think you get my point. I really needed something to lift my spirits and Christmas day was the cure for me. I woke to a quiet (no traffic!), sunny morning in front of the Christmas branch (the Christmas tree seller sold out of small trees, so we just used a big branch which is pictured). After an excellent Christmas breakfast and gift opening, my family headed to Hermosa beach for another surf excursion. This time the surfing was perfect. I was only in a half wetsuit which as you can see in the pictures is very fashionable and very visible, but the ocean was temperate enough that I was able to stay in for about 45 minutes even with the inadequate suit. My spirit was revived thanks to good surf, a clean beach, quiet streets, and a fine Christmas day with my family in LA. Once again I'm partially sane.
My sleeping quarters beside the Christmas branch.
