los angeles 27.1.12

Friday LA time.

Pls excuse the lack of images. The days are so crammed full, that I'm just finding time to blog the details on occasion, let alone process the images. And the wifi internet signal is really crappy slow.  :(  So for now its just the details.


Woke up to find a smoggy LA.  The sky did clear as the day wore on, thank goodness.

Danni, Lee-Anne and I headed down to the Prima warehouse in Chino, California. I thought it would be a bit ritzy, glossy and appealing as a building and with the whole demeanour of the place. Instead its a tiny reception, a tiny workshop room, narrow corridors and a rabbit warren. They had advertised a wholesale sale which was part of the reason for us going. Apparently last time they had a sale it was a carpark sale and it was massive. This was part of the reason for us going there. Instead it was a trestle and a couple of display boards of very old stock. Disappointing to say the least.  The warehouse itself is chock a block full of boxes on pallets from floor to the high ceiling. To the point of being overstocked. This is where all the Prima products are shipped from world wide.

Pics posted later.

I met the business owner and the staff. All very nice people.


While we were there, we were encouraged to alter/decorate a very large floppy brim hat to be a 'crazy hat' which it is to be worn at CHA. If the Prima Patrol select your hat there's a $500 winning voucher.

We had thought we were going to be there all day and so asked our driver to return to pick us up at 5pm. As it turned out we were there only for about 30mins by the time Lee-Anne rang the driver and asked him to come back. This was no small trip. It was about 40 mins to get out there and he had just got to LA when we rang him. I'm surprised that he was still smiling and happy to see us.

By the time we got back to the Ramada we had half a day up our sleeves. So we walked around our area to see the sights, to find the 2 heavy weight jumpers I was looking for (found em) and strolled our way thru other shops.

On the spur of the moment we decided to head to Newport Beach. So on the two connecting buses we got. And it was a bit further than we thought. It was about half an hour after sunset by the time we got there. I"m amazed at how long the last light of the day lingers for here. It was still reasonably orange on the horizon which reflected so nicely in the sea. And what lovely clean beaches Newport have. Long clean white sand with gentle slope into the sea.

We had tea at a Mexican bar

pic

and took the buses back home. By the time we got back into the room it would have been past 10 oclock. And from all the walking of the day, much of it in the sun, we were all stuffed.

I haven't mentioned how warm there winter is here. It's like our spring at home and the nights cool off just as quickly as ours. It's very pleasant to be here this time of year and that's why now is the peak season. Apparently this is the place to come to get away from the cold snowy winters elsewhere.

I also haven't mentioned the hassles I've had with the SIM card that I bought at home for this trip. From not letting me make any calls at all, to being able to connect to some numbers and not others (Kym's mobile) to only occasionally let me get online. It's pissed me off to the max. With all the stuffing around with it, trying to ring home and still being charged for it, its chewed up $75. So I'm taking the SIM back when I get back home and I'll be making complaint about it. I've not spoken to the kids or Kym yet, and that really hurts. So I am investing either in a SIM card from here or a disposable phone that is only good for one month. That's on tomorrows agenda.

So its good night from me