LA and Palm Springs

So we did Niagara, which was amazing apart from the mini theme park and fast food hell which has sprung up around the falls. Why an area of outstanding natural beauty has to have a mini Disneyland beside it is beyond me.  We arrived at Toronto airport four hours early but Andy, the lovely BA check in man, made it better by not only bumping us onto the earlier flight but also bumping us up to business class, and the best seats in that cabin. Thank you BA and Andy, too kind!  And so a few days in cold and rainy London before LA beckoned on Wednesday. An 11 hour Virgin flight with no sleep meant a very careful drive from LAX to the Sofitel in West Hollywood.  Sarah brought her surf board and there were only minor problems strapping it to the roof of the jeep with jet lag in 25 degrees of heat using a whizzy high tech roof rack purchased especially for said surfboard. There was also only minor consternation from Virginia and Norma in the back at the prospect of hanging onto the roof rack straps while the board skidded across the roof on every bend.  The valets at the hotel did a rather better job of securing it than we did, to the point that it will now be impossible to remove when we finally get to Venice Beach next Monday. It does however come in handy when iding the car in a multi storey amidst a sea of other identical SUVs. And it stands out even more now we are in the desert in Palm Springs, where surfboards are about as common as hens teeth.  So the girls hit West Hollywood yesterday in some style, it was a bit like an upmarket supermarket sweep as we swooped on my hotlist of favourite stores...yes it's you Madison, Wasteland, Vanessa Bruno, Kitson et al....despite jet lag and a 5am wake up.  The journey to Palm Springs was enlivened by Sarah playing with the buttons as we drove on the freeway, managing to activate the hazard lights and turn off the air con in one fell swoop.  It's day one of Coachella, it's 11am and already touching 100 degrees. Above should be the view from my sunbed as we decide which bands to grace with our company later, but I cannot work out how to download it on my ipad so check it out on Facebook instead. Top of the list today is Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys, Madness, Pulp and Swedish House Mafia. BRING IT ON.