Saturday, December 20, 2008

Ice Skating

The fact that Los Angeles has completely inappropriate weather for winter sports can always be solved with a hefty dose of (possibly imported) fossil fuels. So even though the weather today was a relatively balmy 60 F (that's just over 15C, kids) - cold enough to make Southern Californians moan about the cold, but not even close to making water solidify - we went ice skating.

Or ice hanging onto the edge and falling over. We did one circuit of hanging onto the edge and falling over when Daniel fell over, banged his nose and forehead on the ice, and started bleeding. I lifted him over the fence, so he could walk, and bleed onto the ground and not the ice. This was into someone's birthday party, which meant that they had napkins that could be used to mop up his blood. (I couldn't, because I couldn't get over the wall, and had to shuffle around the edge to meet him). Alex managed to do two more circuits (Dan just watched) - and got good enough to let go of the wall for a few seconds - he adopted a skating system of very rapid, very short steps.

The ice rink was sponsored by Starbucks, and with entry, you got a voucher for a free drink from Starbucks. There was a cafe there, which sold Starbucks stuff, but wasn't a Starbucks, so you couldn't get your free drink from them. It was the Gay Cafe, and was a fundraiser for college scholarships for Californian children of gay parents. That's a genuine California licence plate.


Then we went to the beach:


And on the bumper cars.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Heating

Today we turned on the heating. It's the 17th of December and for the first time since, well, last winter when we turned it off, we turned on the heating. I had to repeat that, because I want it to be very clear, so you understand the next part.

Susanne said "We need the heating on already. It's freezing cold here."

See what I have to put up with? See how hard it is for me to ever achieve what is expected of me?