Greetings From La-La Land!

Hello from LA! I am recuperating in the sunshine, having just run the LA Marathon. Oddly, LA seems to really agree with me; so much so, that I have just extended my stay by another week. Am having a blast, staying with my friend N, lounging by the pool, playing Superheroes with her 3-year-old and being drooled on by her 5-month-old (the latter, obviously, being less fun).

I have managed to surpass my own record, and was back in high heels the day after the marathon. Sadly, though, my excessively pale English skin failed to stand up to the 81 degree sunshine (funny, that!) on Sunday, and I got horribly sunburned running the marathon, and am sporting unsightly tan lines.

So here are all the things I am loving about LA:

1. Everyone here is as neurotic, high-maintenance and demanding as me. Would you believe I can go into a restaurant, pick any dish, and completely customise it, removing or adding items on a whim, and requesting that things be done to the food that the chef has never even thought of?! And they don't bat an eyelid - amazing. When I do this in London, everyone thinks I'm mad, but here, everyone does it.
   
   
2. Dressing down. Victoria Beckham has been blasted by La-La Landers for her excessively contrived style, and rightly so: everyone dresses down here. I packed a low-maintenance wardrobe of jeans, bikinis and juicy couture tracksuits, and I'm loving its simplicity.
   
   
3. Healthy food. Leaving aside the proliferation of fast food chains (raaaa! Ban them!), there are an abundance of Japanese food restaurants (yum) and a delightfully enormous branch of Whole Foods Market, all within walking distance.
   
   
4. Overly-obliging customer service. OK, so on a bad day, I call it cultural prostitution and think everyone is hankering after a tip, but everything here is happy and sunny, and I am loving how my requests for various items of Laura Mercier's collection and new Juicy Couture lines have been met with efficiency and enthusiasm.
   
   
5. 24 hour gyms. Oh. My. God. Simply genius. I have already signed up for temporary gym membership, and will be resuming my 5am workouts this very morning.
   
   
6. Being liberated from my mobile phone. My 13 year relationship with Orange ended in December, when I signed up with T-Mobile. I have regretted it since I arrived here and have had no network coverage. Several angry 'phone calls and e mails later (their customer service staff are trained to remain calm, bright and happy throughout angered exchanges, which only serves to infuriate me further), their helpful advice has been to turn off my 'phone, remove the battery and sim card repeatedly, until it picks up a signal. Unsurprisingly, this has not worked. However, for the first time ever, I have been completely uncontactable, and it has taken a week, but I have stopped checking for messages every 2 minutes, and it is strangely liberating.

So La-La Land is turning out to be a bit of a hit with me. Of course, I have had a few encounters with Orange County airheads at various parties and evenings out, but that's material for another blog post. Until then, dare I say it, I am actually quite relaxed...