When it's hot, it's very very hot. 113 degrees Fahrenheit - record temperature this year, and that really wasn't very pleasant. I like the heat, I like the sunshine - that's my favourite thing about living in LA. When you've been uprooted and subsequently transplanted a very long way from home, you need something to keep you positive and a little bit of sunshine goes a very long way. But not over 100 degrees worth of sunshine. Stuck indoors all day with the air conditioning on, only venturing out in the air conditioned car on the school run. Going outside was like walking into an oven. I don't like putting the air conditioning on. I like to be warm; I like it hot. I don't share this American obsession with keeping everywhere inside as cold as possible; we can all cope with a little bit of warmth. Neil works in an office where people have asked for fan heaters to counteract the air conditioning - how can that make sense? Why not turn it down a few degrees and save some energy.....
It's like the tumble dryer thing. Well I like tumble dryers, I had one in England. It lived in the garage and was very useful on wet wintry days when it wasn't worth pegging the washing out. Well hanging your washing outside to dry naturally is unheard of over here. We now live in an apartment where it isn't possible and the tumble dryer, unfortunately, goes on most days. When we lived in our house the owner didn't provide a tumble dryer and we certainly weren't going to buy one. Why wouldn't you dry your washing outside when its 75 degrees and sunny most days? I do find this odd, especially as metaphorically speaking, Americans love to "air their dirty linen in public" and are very good at it, often in a very open space in a loud a voice as possible.....
So anyway, most days are warm and sunny. Last year we had Christmas dinner outside on the patio - full turkey roast, all the trimmings, Christmas crackers, the whole British bubble thing in 80 degrees of brilliant sunshine.
Even the winter winds here are warm - the Santa Ana wind brews up every Autumn. It's a positive lightweight compared to the howling gales we get back home, it wont blow your fence down or rip your shed roof off, but it does swirl the old palm trees about a bit and it's hot - imagine being buffeted about by a very large hairdryer on a high heat setting!
It's always cooler on the coast of course - that's the other metrological phenomenon which they love to talk about here - the "marine layer". This is a layer of fog that floats in off the sea and hangs over LA in the mornings in spring and early summer - "grey May" and "June gloom". It inevitably develops into a pollution ridden smog as it heads inland. This smog will hover around all morning then disappears about lunchtime to reveal a beautiful sunny afternoon, when the temperature can rise 20 degrees in the space of a few hours. The downside of course is the layer of black soot that covers everything in its wake...
LA is reknown for its poor air quality. It's a huge city - in fact the 14th largest "urban area" in the world (Wikipedia - see I don't just make these things up) with a population of over 14 million people, all of whom have at least two cars (well okay I made that bit up). Anyway, the end result is a lot of pollution and very poor air. Not too good if you are an asthmatic or suffer from chest problems. Our daughter had never had a chest infection in her life until she came to LA, where her childhood eczema returned with a vengeance this summer. The doctor informed us that she was sensitive on the outside and in (just like her mother!) and unfortunately the eczema was a good indication that her lungs were overly sensitive too to the harsh, dry LA air. A trip back to England would be a good cure all!
And of course it was true. A trip back home to the damp, grey British summer did the trick. And that's not the only advantage of the UK's climate, it's good for your skin too, that cool moist air keeps our complexions soft, unlined, youthful looking, natural. Ever wondered why there's such a big market for Botox and plastic surgery out here? Life under a cloud aint so bad after all!!!
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