Tour De Town

In the summer, there is an influx of tourists into Los Angeles. There are always some, I suppose, but it's more evident in the summer. The sidewalks of Hollywood are more crowded, or at least the sidewalks on the west end of it are. There may be found the tourist traps and world-renowned landmarks, and there may be seen the big crowds of visitors from elsewhere in America and across the globe. I'm of two minds about them.

Partly I find it to be a rather interesting experience, sharing the city with these people ever so briefly. I don't enjoy their habit of milling about in front of those landmarks and clogging up the sidewalk when I'm trying to go somewhere. On the other hand, the somewhere I'm going might not be a thing without their dollars propping up the local economy. I guess that I have to say that they're a beneficial presence on that basis.

Something else they provide is a source of amusement as I watch them make their way and encounter things I do so seemingly long ago. They also provide a rather useful fresh perspective sometimes, although the other day it was not exactly so. There was what I took to be a family on the subway, and try as they might, the could not quite get the hang of maintaining their balance as the train shifted one way in acceleration and then the other in deceleration.

In fairness, that trips me up sometimes as well, and this is particularly likely if I get cocky and fail to brace myself adequately. While we're being fair, though, I don't make unoriginal observations about the exercises' similarity to surfing. I never found it to be so similar, and I never held a contest to see who among my friends on the train could stay on their feet the longest. We're all pretty good at that. I don't recall it taking a lot of practice.

Of course, this is just sour grapes. Enjoy the city, rubes from around the world, and please pardon me for scowling at you and cursing under my breath at the many ways that you seem to make life difficult. You don't mean to, and you definitely make life easier by spending money. I just wish that you could spend it on pay-per-view movies and the honor bar in your hotel room. That's supposed to trickle down, and then we don't have to cross paths.