Today we leave California and set off north for Seattle and then on into Canada. We only intended to be here for a few days, but with the weather, the crazy wildlife, the seafood and the fact that the hotel bumped us up to an expensive room and seemed to like having us we ended staying over a week!
Our days have been nice and chilled, lots of good food and wanders along the coast. We went to the enormous aquarium, which was awesome! As some of you know, Claire and I spent our first date at the London aquarium stroking fish (I’m a smooth operator – ladies beware!) so it seemed appropriate to stroke some rays and stare at some hammerheads (insert joke here) on our pre-wedding travels.
Yesterday we caught the bus to Carmel by the Sea, which is a wealthy arty village seemingly owned by Clint Eastwood. He is (or was?) the Mayor of Carmel, which conjures up images of evening committee meetings ruled by squinting eyes and whispered orders. When we found the one cinema in Carmel it made us chuckle to see that they were having a Clint Eastwood season this summer. Really? What a coincidence! ‘Shall we go with Robert DeNiro this year?’ (Clint clears his throat, squints again and sips his decaf) ‘Or… you, Mr. Eastwood? How silly of me! Same as last year?’
The whole of Carmel is very strange in that it looks as though Disneyland has been asked to include a section called ‘Ye Olde Engerland’. Some of the (fake) thatch rooftops had fake moss, and everything is painted to make it look shabby. A tumbledown house without the troubles of it actually tumbling down, I suppose. One street had over fifteen art galleries, all selling oil paintings of the California coast in large gold frames. That’s not an exaggeration, there must be hundreds. We had a wander down on the beach, did some work in a café and then caught the bus back to Monterey. We jumped off at the large shopping mall on the edge of town to watch Shutter Island. Maybe we were in the right frame of mind, but we loved it! The critics said there was no suspense but I almost had to change my underwear.
An aspect of American life that we’ll both miss is how open and friendly strangers can be. True, this is often taken advantage of (we have been asked for charity money so many times), but in this sort of town, the incredibly wealthy sort where the homeless are whisked off to a large pen the moment their mortgage falls through, it’s been really nice. As we left the cinema last night a woman sidled up to me and started discussing the film as though we were old friends. Out in the lobby we were joined by an old man who also offered his interpretations. I decided it was all getting suspiciously friendly for my liking. ‘I’m not giving you money, old man,’ I stated firmly before pushing him out of my way and dragging Claire to the door. ‘Vultures’.
Not sure what to expect in Seattle. I’m quite keen to find Kurt Cobain’s house but that could well be a rubbish waste of time. Perhaps we’ll recreate scenes from ‘Sleepless in Seattle’. Claire’s playing Tom Hanks, she insists.
Take care and love to all. Hugs and otter-style tummy slapping all round! Tom XXX
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