I went out and met Ian and Vince, who had also been in the sci-fi store.
We returned to the car, and next, we went to the D.I.Y./hardware store,
to find something to fix Vince’s case with, which a wheel had come off
- he needed rivets or something similar to fix it with. We had a good look
around in there - Ian was most intrigued by the U.S. mail boxes, the type
that they have at the end of their gardens, and he wondered whether to
buy one, but again, the problem would be getting it home. We did buy a
doggie harness for Missy, from the Pet section, and Ian had been looking
for one back at home for ages. Vince found something to fix his case with,
and off we went.
We returned to the apartment for a while with all our goodies, before returning to the mall later to collect our photos. However, it was upon our return to the car to do this that the third and final jinx with that car and us struck. We had parked facing up the road, on the right hand side. Therefore, in order to return to the mall, I needed to do a U-turn in the road. However, with being on the other side of the car, I completely misjudged the width of the car and I kerbed it. Not so bad in itself, but the kerbs in America are double the height they are here, and as I tried to pull away I realised that I must have caused a flat tyre. "Oh no," I groaned, in disbelief. I really could not believe the bad luck we were having to do with this car! I slowly guided the car into the side of the road, and we all got out. Sure enough, the tyre was completely flat. The kerb had cut it like a knife. I wondered how on earth I was going to explain this to the Hire Company? I went back to where the car had driven over the kerb, and found that not only was the height of the kerb to blame, there was a piece where the edge was all chipped off and sharp, and there was a black scrape of rubber right there. What rotten luck! If I had clipped the kerb anywhere else, we might have got away with it. A lady whose house we were now parked outside had seen it all, and she came and asked Ian if we needed to use her phone. We thanked her, but explained that our friends lived only just down the road, and she also said that she herself had done the exact same thing about a week earlier. Huh! Well, Vince and I wrestled with the spare tyre and brought it out of the boot, and leaned it against the side of the car. "What the f$%* is that?!" exclaimed Vince. I looked puzzled and said, "well, it’s the spare tyre". Vince said, "No, look at the size of it, it’s far too small!" We looked again, and I realised he was right - the spare was much smaller than the other tyres! Surely the wrong one had been put into the car! Ian decided he would go and get Nick, meanwhile Vince and I pored through the manuals and papers that had come with the car. Ian returned with Nick, who looked not at all perturbed by the size of the spare. "Oh, no," he said, "that’s the right size - we call that a space-saver!" I said surely if we put that on the car, it would wobble, or the balance wouldn’t be right or something, but he said, no, it would be fine, these were just supposed to tide you over until you go and get a new standard tyre. Aha, so not everything in America is bigger! And if the police spotted you driving around with the spare fitted, they were most likely to pull you over and enquire when you were getting it fixed. I was thinking I would be so happy tomorrow when I return this car and have no more worries about it! We explained to Nick that spare tyres in our country are no different to all our other tyres. He also ummed and aaahed about the make - "hmmm, I’ve never heard of this make!" Between Nick and Vince, they got the tyre changed, and then, as time was getting on, we got back in the car to go to the mall and collect our photos. Well, it felt no different to drive, but I was now even more wary of seeing a police car in case they pulled us over! We got back to the mall, and after collecting the photos, we decided to split up and meet back in twenty minutes, and while Ian and Vince went to look for a thank you gift for Tony and Nick, I went to look for a present for Lulu. I went in Bath and Body Works, and bought some scented shower gel and soap, and then I found a jeweller’s, and, as I knew Lulu had pierced ears, I picked her a pair of silver earrings, and I couldn’t resist buying some for myself as well. I also found a nice thank you card. We got back to the car, and compared notes, and Ian and Vince had bought Tony and Nick a C.D. that we knew they both liked. They had also bought a thank you card, so they signed theirs to Tony and Nick from all of us, and as the one I had chosen was more girlie, I wrote it to Lulu and signed it from all of us. Vince also gave me a little gift and a card, to thank me for doing all the driving! It was a penguin, with a bell, for hanging on the Christmas tree. Aaah, how cute!
We rushed back to the apartment, as we were all supposed to be going
out for a farewell dinner! But having taken so long with having the flat
tyre, and then choosing our thank you gifts, Nick and Lulu said it was
too late for them to go out, as Nick had to be up at five-thirty in the
morning. So Tony just came out with the three of us, and we went to Sizzler’s
- another restaurant we had wanted to try. Tony and Ian both had steak,
Vince had some sort of fish dish, and I had a cheese-topped chicken steak.
Yet again, the food was delicious, and the portions were huge! That night,
back at the apartment, we did most of our packing, ready for the morning.
The giant Scooby was squashed and squeezed into a holdall with a load of
other stuff! And all our new tee shirts and other bargains were packed
away.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, having savoured our last glimpses of L.A. from the freeway, and first thing we checked in all the luggage. We went and had a last coffee in Starbucks, and waited in the departure lounge, Tony coming all the way with us up to the departure gate. Then it was time to board, and we all hugged Tony and said our good byes. We watched as he disappeared into the crowds of people while we queued, all feeling slightly sad now, and thinking of Tony having to drive all the way back to Burbank on his own. We boarded and settled ourselves on the plane, and this time I had an aisle seat. As the pilot was preparing for take-off, he made a most relevant statement - "oh well, now it’s back to reality!" On the way back, the only film I wanted to watch was The Mummy, which we had already seen at the cinema anyway, but I watched it once, tried to sleep, as we were supposedly going through the night coming back, but of course that wasn’t what my body clock was telling me, so I couldn’t get to sleep. At one point I was just dozing off, and then I was jolted awake by some particularly bad turbulence, and after that I was wide-awake again. So I watched parts of The Mummy again. And then again, in between trying to find something else to watch. Finally, we arrived back after a very short night, to gloomy, cloudy skies and cool English Autumn weather.
Since we have arrived back, a few days ago we were watching that very episode of Saturday Night Live on D.V.D. at our friend’s house, and could hardly believe it when, in the background, on the edge of the screen, is ME!!! We looked and looked again, and its definitely me, I remember what I was wearing and everything!! We couldn’t believe it! I have been broadcast all over the world to millions of T.V.’s!!!