Public Service Announcement

I am sitting in a Starbucks in Santa Monica. It being Starbucks, there’s the usual assortment of hipsters and hangers-on. The place is full even though it’s mid-afternoon. It being Santa Monica, I’m taking a break from walking the beach. Parking is free for 2 hours only, and they are serious about writing parking tickets. I saw them towing a car with Texas plates near where I parked. And this is Sunday. So, after walking 6 miles – 3 miles down and back from Venice Beach – I figured I better move my car.

The guy sitting next to me is – I assume – homeless. He’s wearing a scuffed knee-length black leather duster, and a skeleton Halloween mask. I kid you not. Maybe he’s just an aspiring actor? In any case, he’s thumbing furiously on his phone. The homeless and the actors here all have better phones than me. I am still on the iPhone3… just for the record.

It’s 73 degrees outside, as it is almost 365-days-a-year. Truly paradise on earth. Well, except for the homeless, who are always with us. We lived near here 30 years ago when we first moved to L.A. I always park on the street where we lived back then, because it’s convenient to the beach.  And it’s free… for two hours at a shot, at least.

I’ll probably go back to the beach for another 6 mile jaunt before heading back over the first row of mountains – across Topanga Canyon – to the place I’m renting in the Valley near work. It’s less than 15 miles from there to here, so the beach is really always an option, at least while the days are still long enough. Today being the day after the time change, I even have an extra hour of daylight.  Is this a great country or what?