Santa Barbara, CaliforniaAug 18, 2004
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Santa Barbara Town Hall - posh eh!
And again...
Birdies on the beach in the haze
| Mon 16/8 Hot Did my good turn for the day! Went out for a fag when I got up, and the wee irish girl from Seattle was stood outside the Hostel... She had just arrived after being stalked in Seattle, had problems with Amtrak on the way to SF, and finally arrived to find the Hostel was full for tonight, so we sweet talked the guy on Reception, and she used my bed to get some kip - I know what it's like travelling all night - (mind you - I book ahead!), so I'm feeling very virtuous! Just heading off to Santa Barbara - 9hrs - not too many on the bus at the moment, so that's good - right - time to do some cross-stitich - I have radishes to create! Well, what a lovely journey that was, the scenery was lovely, visited some really nice towns, and the bus didn't get full! Got to Santa Barbara at 7.30pm. It is soooo pretty, I don't think two days is going to be enough here! Haven't seen the beach yet, but the main street is very meditteranean, and the beer is cheapish, so it's going to be a fun couple of days. Fell right again, good bar, good fun, got chatting to Joe & Moses who were.... coulourful characters - Mexican originally perhaps??? Irrelevant really, they kept me entertained! We watched some Olympics and drank beer, and then I went to a Mexican caff for tea. Everything does wind up early here, it's 10.30pm and all the restaurants are shut.. mind you - suits me fine - I'm normally in bed by now! Tues 17/8 Cloudy to start with.... Oh, a little thing I forgot to mention yesterday, last night was my first experience of a 'co-ed' dorm - not much co'ed about it - me and 7 blokes!! He He!! Don't worry, I didn't sleepwalk! Most of them came in afterme, and the lights were out when I got in, so no idea if there's any 'hot stuff'! It's been a funny old day weather wise, quite warm, but smoggy/foggy till 3pm, then it suddenly brightened up. I excplored the town this morning - nothing opens till 10-11am - lazy buggers! Had some lunch, and then lay on the beach for a couple of hours. It's a nice beach but I still haven't found any over here that are as nice as Greek ones! The sea certainly isn't - far too cold! There were a few kids paddling today, and that was about it... very cold I suspect - I shall dip a foot & see tomorrow! It just shows you never know.. I went back to O'Malleys again tonight, and there was a really miserable arse behind the bar, so I had a beer, let some guyy buy me another one, and moved swiftly on to the "London Pub. The lady behind the bar is 60, called Poppet (honest!), originally English, but has lived all over the place, and in the US for years. She was soo intrigued with my trip, she got everyone else in the bar enthused as well! They've decided I've definitely got to do a side trip to Las Vegas! Went to an Italain for tea - I'm sure it was Jennifer Grey waitressing (Dirty Dancing fame) - she was even wearing the outfit!! Back at the Hostel - 10pm - I feel there may be some hassle tonight, there's an outside curfew of 10pm (noise factor) and there's about 30 people hanging around, wanting to party! Time for bed saya zebedee!! Well.... now I know what goes on in boy dorms! Haad a really good chat with 'skinny' from Northern Ireland - he wants to have his photo taken with the muscle men on Venice Beach! So, I've promised to oblige if I bump into him there! The bizarre bit is I've just watched a German guy perform a 20 min operation making his top bunk - wrapping his sheet around the blanket to make a quilt effect, smoothing it off, and 10 minutes later he came back, smoothes it all off again & goes back out! What was that all about???? Wed 18/8 Fuzzy/Foggy! What a mess in the common area this morning! Don't think the staff were mighty amused! The guys in my dorm came in at 4am - to be fair they were very quiet.... It's another foggy/smoggy day - this isn't doing much for topping up my tan! So, when I finish my coffee I shall go and get my ticket for LA, & go & have a look at the town hall (it's meant to be stunning?!) and then walk down to the harbour.... Hmmm! The town hall is actually pretty impressvie! Went to the Harbour, which was.... funnily enough full of boats! Wandered some more, and then went for some lunch. By 1.30pm STILL NO SUNSHINE! So, had a siesta! Woke up at 3.30pm, Hoorah! The sun doth shine! So, sat outside while I did my washing. Went to see Poppet tonight, had a laugh with her and Brian the hairdresser - he was telling us about his first customer this morning - he was hyper from caffeine, and talked the poor woman to death for 3 hrs, asking a question, answering it for her, asking another, etc, etc, when all she wanted was to do her crossword! We laughed so much when he told us the story! Then chatted to a couple of girls from Jersey - they know 'The Islanders' who I used to hang around with in Guernsey when I lived there - Paula - there's a story to tell - but not for Mother's ears!!! Poppet gave me a wicked T-Shirt advertising the pub (I shall wear it with pride - it's got smoking beer angels on it!) Thanks very much for that hun, and the laughs over the past couple of nights! Went on to another pub with the Jersey girls, and some guy from Essex who we adopted, but I had 'had sufficient', so came back to the Hostel. Chatted to the German guy from last night - he is OK actually - not too weird at all! |
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