Sweet Dreams my LAX

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Okay...
Yep I am still alive and in the good ole US of A.
Seattle to be exact... at least for the next few hours.
Let me see. Last entry was from the shed I believe and that seems like a lifetime ago.
I left Tauranga for Wellington on the 13th of Jan.
Well at least I tried to leave.
I boarded this propeller driven Air New Zealand plane which seemed fine.
We took off and about 20 minutes into the flight the stewardess came to my seat and asked if she could look out of the window.
I assured her that clouds are quite common at 20,000 feet at which she mocked admirably.
When she left I glanced at the hydrolic fluid seeping from the engine cowling and chuckled admirably to myself.
Then shit it.
Ladies and gentlemen we are experiencing some slight technical problems... no shit pet.
So I was part of the most exciting event ever to take place at Tauranga airport.
BOTH the fire engines got a run out that day.
Anyhoo... I arrived in Wellington the next day without incident and stayed with a friend of Nige and I thank them for their hospitality.
I think Kiwis take some beating in that respect.
Before I left Tauranga we went to Rotarua which is kind of the "white nuckle area" of North Island I think.
So I did a bungee jump, Terri did a zorb and Nige rode a bike thingy.
I had in my mind to do this even before I got to NZ.
Not as simple as I thought tho.
When I walked out on this 2 foot wide platform 75 metres in the air and looked down.
Error.
Everything in my head screamed out - whatthefuckareyoudoing.
You are going to die.
Ah well...
It was amazing to do actually.
Quite liberating in some respects.

I fell in love with NZ or at least it felt like home with the Gregory family.
Not felt that since the Lebrou family in France.
So.., Wellington.
That was a washout.
Beautiful place though.
I left on the 20th to America and the longest leg of my journey.
12 hours on a plane is wrong.
I arrived in LA the same day (8 hours before I left which is also wrong) and got a bus to my hotel about 5 miles from downtown.
It was raining.
A lot.
LA is fucked.
I went for a walk to the Hollywood sign.
It seemed so close but I ended up in an Irish bar... as you do.
"Pint of guiness please" "No problem, what do you do"
Not hi, how are you or anything but what do you do.
When I said "oh, I am just passing through and have a record label etc" about 20 people surrounded me who where either in bands or actors.
I got pissed on free drinks all night, ended up at a party with bikini clad girls round this smimming pool at some actors place and woke up in my hotal 20 hours later.
Funny but sad at the same time.
I have never met so many shallow people in one place.
So I left.
I remember as a kid hearing about the Greyhound bus and it being a liberating form of transport.
A kind of American dream or a hippy life or something.
It has changed somewhat.
I got a Greyhound from LA to Seattle.
It took 28 hours! It was however an amazing journey 954 miles through California, Oregon and through Washington to Seattle.
Seattle is wonderful.
More about it next time.
I am in the airport at Seattle, it is 12-40 am and I fly to Toronto this afternoon so I am going to get some sleep.
More soon me beauties.
zzzzzzzzzzz
xx

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