England-bound today.
Seriously man, it’s been a freaking blast. Like, totally wild.
Only in America is a phrase that resonates well enough; a nod to the unique culture of America and its hold over the world.
I write this, as I sit outside a Starbucks with a flat white coffee and my Apple computer – a little self conscious of representing so many modern clichés. And even more so, since this Starbucks is on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood? It is just along from the world-famous Comedy Store where the world’s greatest stand-up comics have cut their teeth and no doubt, struggled and been stared at.
In America, everything is big!
Not such an insightful observation I know, but it bears repeating.
Last evening, flying into Phoenix, Arizona was a whole new experience.
Sitting at the front of the plane, Tom and I had the honour of disembarking first and straight off the plane are 3 police officers and I wonder who they are waiting for? Someone causing trouble aboard at the back of the plane? Someone with a package of contraband in the hold?
Day 3 of this very exciting trip. Today, Tom is doing a session on the movie, Spies in Disguise which looks bloody wonderful. As I type, Tom is through the glass with the directors, writers and other important types. And all around me is movie history – with photos covering the wall of the luminaries who have worked in this very space. Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Julie Andrews, Shirley McLain, Shirley Temple… to name but a few.
Much to be grateful for here in LA. On our first day, the weather is set fine, Tom’s voice recording session is put back until Thursday and so he has set us up for 18 holes. A chance then, for the old(er) man to put the upstart in his place? What Eclipse?
Travelling to LA with my eldest son is wildly different from my days doing it off my own bat.
Picked up from home. Dropped at a special Heathrow dropping zone and checking gate, met by a kindly man called Joe who knows my name already and escorts us to the lounge – a quick lunch and from here, Joe is back again to take us to the plane. I could have found it on my own, I’ve done it many times already but I like the gesture and we chat en-route. ‘Oh, you live in Ealing? I grew up in Ealing. Do you know…’
Anyone who has read Eclipsed will be aware of my ill-fated trips back in the day to LA with my screenplays – which to this day all remain at various stages of not being made. It was all very painful at the time but funny to look back on now and good fun to write about on this blog and in the book.
Not that I’m particularly virtuous but when it comes to presents, I prefer to give than to receive.
As a young lad, I used to enjoy apportioning whatever money I had for gifts to lavish on my family and which of course were mostly useless and a complete waste of money. Such gifts that stick in the memory was a plastic handbag for my mum and most bizarrely, a pineapple for my dad.