As you may remember, my trip along route 66 left me in Santa Monica. Having never visited LA, I decided to stick around for a week and see if I got talent-scouted to star as the villain with the British accent in an upcoming blockbuster. I’m giving away nothing about my success in this venture but I may or may not be coming to a cinema near you….

I was AirBnBing (new verb) with a lovely Texan realtor who had advised me that, before I took my rented motorbike back to the depot, I should ride up the coast to Neptune’s Net, a biker cafe north of Malibu beach with a great sunset watching perch. I followed her advice and savoured the coastal road up to the cafe like a condemned man savours his last meal (I would return my motorcycle, after two weeks on the road, the following day).

Upon arrival, I parked among a fleet of sleek-looking but guttural-sounding hogs and snacked on some delicious fish and chips whilst waiting for the sun to start its valedictory salute. When it finally did so, even with my amateur photography, the results were magical:

Due to a bout of sinusitis that kept me sofa-bound for two days (doing statistical analysis to assist my host with picking fantasy NFL teams), I didn’t get out and about too much, however, there were still some classic Hollywood sights to be seen:

And one I was not expecting:

If you’re into history, paleontology, archeology or any combination of the three, a trip to the La Brea tar pits is well worth a visit. Several million years ago prehistoric animals became entrapped in these natural tar pits which resulted in their remains being preserved incredibly well over the intervening millennia. Since the early 1900s excavations have produced myriad skeletons including: mammoths, sabre-tooths, giant sloths and mastodons (which my phone wants to change to “macaroons”. For the avoidance of doubt, no prehistoric macaroons were found)

As luck would have it, my stay in LA was to coincide with Halloween. I had caught up with Cory and Kevin – two friends I’d met on safari in Namibia – several days before this to eat $1 tacos and drink slightly too many margaritas and had been invited to Cory’s Spooktacular Halloween house-party. A costume was required.

Hmmm. Thinks…. I’m a Brit, I have the accent already….. I should dress up as something iconically British. Robin Hood? A Beefeater? A knight?

Groovy baby, yeah!

And so, after a final night trip to The Upright Citizens Brigade, one of the pioneering schools of improv comedy, (they are inordinately funny; you should go. Definitely go. Go!) I was once more in an airport, this time with a destination of Mexico City. Which will be the subject of my next blog.