What's your status?

A man in the UK was jailed for life this week for murdering his wife because she changed her status on Facebook.
The jealous husband, convinced she was having an affair, became incensed when she changed her status to ‘single’ on the social networking site.
Somewhat harsh, but it makes you think. We gaily display our personal lives all over the web – and you never know who’s reading so perhaps we should all be a little more careful.
Personally speaking, I’ve got a bit of a problem with the whole ‘status’ listing on Facebook and MySpace. You can currently only select from married, single or ‘in a relationship’ – whatever that means out here in L.A. It’s far too black and white, when the reality is many shades of grey.
I had a conversation recently with a male friend on the subject. He’s young, hip and lives in Hollywood, but even he confessed to be a bit confused sometimes on the status subject.
In the UK for example, you are either going out with someone, or you’re not. In the U.S there seems to be a lot more variation on this theme. You can be ‘seeing’ someone and indeed lots of other people. You can also be dating non-exclusively – that’s dating a few different people, or exclusively – that’s just the one. This should not be confused with ‘going steady’ which is dating exclusively and pretty seriously.
In college, you can be ‘pinned’ to someone – that is, a girl wears a boy’s fraternity pin to show they are serious about each other. An L.A neighbour recently confessed she went to dinner in college halls wearing someone’s pin but over dinner, became so attracted to the boy at the opposite end of the table, that during the course of the meal, she slipped the pin off and into her pocket, a fact which didn’t go unnoticed by said new object of her affection. They’ve now been married 50 years.
But I digress. Earlier this year I congratulated another friend when I saw he had changed his MySpace status from ‘single’ to ‘in a relationship’. Ah yes, he told me, I changed it somewhat reluctantly as there was no ‘status blank’ option. OK you’ve got me there…..social networking status is a tricky business indeed.

Peace and...leaf blowers

I’m cat sitting for a friend right now, in a beautiful house surrounded by tall trees – a kind of zen space, a retreat away from the world, even though I’m only a short hop from the manic 101 freeway.
So this morning, I rose early, made my tea (because that’s what Brits do), put on some Native American wind flute music and strolled out onto the patio to soak up the sounds of nature……and that’s when I heard it. The unmistakable noise of the leaf blower.
Until I came to California, I really wasn’t that familiar with them. In the UK I’ve only ever seen them used occasionally in some of the big London parks.
I had fondly anticipated The Hissing of Summer Lawns, having been a lifelong Joni Mitchell fan, as we don’t have a lot of sprinkler systems in the UK either, but the onslaught of leaf blowers was not something I was prepared for.
Because just about everyone seems to have gardeners here, every gardener is pretty busy and imagines leaf blowers will make their job easier, I suppose.
Maybe it does, but having observed them at work, they really don’t seem all that efficient to me and they’re a damn sight noisier than a broom. And what about the environment?
OK, compared with driving, emissions are paltry BUT I hear that leaf blowers in the U.S emit more than 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide a year and burn enough fuel to fill 6.4 million oil barrels. That sounds a bit hefty just for the sake of blowing a lot of leaves all over the place.
And do we actually need them? I mean, really?
Does anyone else have this problem – or is it just me?

Up In Smoke 10/15/08

So the Santa Anas blew and the official fire season got under way this week, tragically with lives and homes lost across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
It's my third year in California and when I lived in the UK, I had only a dim appreciation of what fire season was all about. As a travel journalist working out of my London office, it tended to be a concern only if it impacted on the British holidaymaker.
Having now experienced fires on a regular basis, seen the mass evacuations, the devastation caused by the losses to both people and wildlife, not to mention the incredible bravery and dedication of the fire fighters, I have a whole new take on the subject.
Californians now live with fire risk year round, drought conditions producing tinder dry materials ready to burn at the drop of a hat. When the Santa Anas come in October, we get doubly nervous.
We clear the brush from around our homes, have our evacuation plans down pat and when we get that first whiff of smoke in the air, we know the sound of sirens will be ongoing for days, if not weeks.
It's something that binds Californians together and it's the price we pay for living in nature's back yard.
California has some of the best fire fighters in the world and we're grateful to them.
Well meaning friends emailed me this week, having little idea of the geography of the region as to most Brits, Los Angeles means Hollywood and Disneyland.
It won't make much sense to them to say "Well, they closed the 210 so traffic was hell coming back from Burbank," but it makes a lot of sense if you live here.
I got my permanent resident status this summer and although I can't vote in the upcoming elections, I feel at least a little more like a real Californian. As I watch the valley burn this week, it touches me in a way I never could have imagined when I lived on the other side of the pond.
I'm part of the land and the land is part of me.