10.01.2007

The Brightside

I have been known to complain a LOT about the many downsides of living in Los Angeles. I’m not going to apologize for this as there are MANY such downsides (i.e., overpopulation, housing prices, poor urban planning, contagious materialism, etc.). But I have to give credit where it is due and state that Los Angeles has near perfect weather.


What I look at ALL day: the view from my downtown office.

And if the general weather in LA is perfect then there are no words to describe the weather this past weekend, so I will have to settle for “better than perfect” or “Perfect+.” I took full advantage of it by Vespaing far more than usual. On Saturday I rode the Vespa to work, sans parking garage catastrophes this time around. On the way home it was quite windy (which causes some balance issues), but by the time I noticed this I was cutting through the Golden Triangle of Beverly Hills, where the streets were full of smiling Angelenos and tourists walking around and dining al fresco at the faux-euro eateries and otherwise enjoying the Perfect+ weather. I like to think that by buzzing past them mid-meal on my Vespa, I contributed to the faux-euro nature of their faux-euro lunch. That’s me—always thinking of others.

Note her clutched knees
On Sunday I rode the Vespa to church in a big accordion-pleated skirt and platform heels. As I was commenting to notmymomMary, these particular heels actually made the Vespa easier to ride by virtue of making my legs a whole four inches longer. I still had to work hard to keep the skirt anchored between my knees (as opposed to billowing about my head), but it’s the closest I’ve gotten to my Hepburnesque fantasy Vespa outfit to date.

On Sunday afternoon, I woke from my traditional Sunday afternoon nap a bit early and decided that the Perfect+ weather warranted yet another ride. When I was little (and a teenager… and a college student home for the summer), Dave of Dave and Mary fame would curb my cabin fever on Sundays by taking me on “drives” through the desert and around to the then far-reaching suburbs of Phoenix, like East Phoenix. It was great. Except for that one time he ran out of gas and didn’t bring his wallet, but I digress. Since I’m weird (and by “weird” I mean “religious”) and worry about things like “Sabbath-appropriate activities,” I decided that the Sunday drives of my youth meant a leisurely Vespa ride to the beach and back met the Sabbath-appropriate test—especially considering that the Vespa had sufficient gas for the trip and that I always carry my wallet with me in case of emergency.

And indeed, it proved to be a Perfect+ Sunday:

7 comments:

Kate said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kate said...

Darn... I'll try again without typos hopefully.

Wow. That Vespa of yours is a really beaut. I know PDaddy mentioned this, but I also heard Jennifer L. H. talking about her dream of owning a Vespa on whatever late night show she was on... and I thought of you. I'm sure you looked very Audrey Hepburn-ish on your way to church.

Mrs. Dub said...

the best part of the story is that our dad left his huge "car phone" with the gas guy as collateral while we drove all the way home and back to get his wallet.

pdaddy is such a trend setter. (with car phones not running out of gas.)

sara said...

You sure make it sound enticing! I'm guessing the gang will begin to grow by leaps & bounds. Would love to see a picture of the Vespa with its operator and new helmet some day! Preferably in action.

steph said...

you would definitely fit in here in alicante... many vespas (and other types) on the roads. if you come, you could make my real-euro lunch that much more authentic :)

P Daddy said...

Well, any ecclesiastical aspirations I may have had are pretty well shot with publication of the Sunday drives history, particularly the block cell phone as collateral for gas in the middle of the (then) desert episode. But I am glad you are enjoying the perfect weather weekends on your Vespa. Let's start selling velcro knee bands with matching tabs for the inside of skirts. Then Hepburn wannabees can cruise around with knees comfortably relaxed but modesty and road vision intact.

mommie said...

Okay ... so if I have to see "The Brightside" one more day, I may not be able to look on that as a general rule.