Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A Few Things I Don't Miss

Traffic--People here talk about the rush hour. I nod. But in my head I am laughing, oh you silly children, you don't know traffic. In Los Angeles, rush hour lasts all day. Around 11:15 AM, you can usually get through town with relative ease after the morning rush, but within a half hour, the afternoon rush starts and melds into the evening rush. From about 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM it is usually smooth sailing, but even then you can find yourself in some unexplainable gridlock. I commuted in this for years. And it aged me.



Smog--I don't need to explain this one. The smog in Los Angeles is infamous. There is a line in this song, one of my favorite songs about Los Angeles, that I think of every time I think of the smog. It varies from season to season. It makes me laugh because it is such a realistic conversation that might be had in the city.



Tagging
--The idiotic signs and symbols that little thugs scrawl all over the fucking place. Every goddamn street sign, wall, curb, overhang, tree, in Los Angeles has some stupid little scribble on it. It is so stupid. I don't even mind graffiti. Graffiti, with it's colors and swirls, it's cartoon-like representations and it's text, can be beautiful and exemplify urban art. But tagging is just hideous. I really, really hate it. Have I made that clear?

4 comments:

Existential Waitress said...

Those are the same things that I don't miss from when I lived there. And the parking - or lack of it, I should say.

Brittany at Mommy Words said...

Long Island traffic was like that too. Random bumper to bumper at 1 am. WTF? I have met friends in LA who said they were close, got there an hour later and thought they made great time for going 5-10 miles. Holy Crap! Still, I bet you miss your hubby....

clueless but hopeful mama said...

A-MEN. I don't miss any of those things either.

I also don't miss the police chases that take over TV coverage for HOURS. WTF?

Amy said...

Clueless, I totally agree! When I get down about being homesick, I think of how bad the air must be right now.