The Rolling Road : California dreaming

10 Apr 2020

California dreaming

In May 2016 I went to the west coast of the USA. It was almost a spur of the moment decision. A few weeks earlier Virgin Australia had emailed out a tempting offer on flights to LA. A few quick discusssions and bookings were made. Fly into Los Angeles, pick up a rental car at the airport, spend a few days in Santa Monica and then drive up the coast road to San Francisco. Spend a few days in Sausalito and then drive back on the inland road to LA and then home. Easy.
It was a great trip and my thoughts turned to it this morning when reading of the desperate situation in the US on Covid-19. I have visited the US many times-for both work and pleasure. It is a fascinating country and I have always found most Americans friendly and welcoming but I have also found the country and the people perplexing.The American response to Covid-19 has only made me more perplexed and some of the questions I ask myself are in the captions below..

As I type this I find myself wondering whether I will ever visit the US again and if I do what will I find? I can't answer that question so all I can do for now is to look back at the journeys I have made in the US and reflect how fascinating they were. Some, but not all, of these photos have been on the blog before.

The photos below were all taken in Santa Monica and Venice Beach on that 2016 visit. They were all taken with my Leica X1. If I look back over the years every time I take my Leica X1 away in preference to other more advanced cameras I return with what I consider to be interesting photos. Last year I took it with me to Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin and again it delivered for me. There is something magical about it-a combination of the superb lens, its compact form, the simple controls and menus and maybe the fact that it does not look intimidating. The fact that it is small and light also means that I am more likely to carry it with me than other cameras.

Homeless person on steps above Santa Monica Beach. How are the hundreds of thousands of homeless faring in the Covid-19 crisis? How do they get access to care in a country where 19% of GDP is spent on healthcare and yet there is no universal healthcare system? Note the equivalent figure for Australia, the UK and major European countries is approx 9-11%% of GDP and they all have universal healthcare systems..

Study in red

Santa Monica Beach scene 2. A place to rest his head and watch the world pedal by.

Riding into the sunset. Santa Monica Beach

I really don't know what to make of this scene on Santa Monica Pier at sunset. Do they know each other or is it harassment? Perhaps they had a premonition and were practicing social distancing.We'll never know.

A homeless man on the street in Santa Monica with his best friend-a giant cat. So sad. You can see the sadness in the man's eyes. He asked me for some money so he could buy batteries for his little transistor radio. I gave him $10.How can such an affluent country have such massive wealth inequality? How can 1% of the US population own 80% of the wealth? Why did practically everyone walk past and probably not even see this homeless man? Will things change after Covid-19? Will the "celebrities", hedge fund managers, social media "influencers" and grossly overpaid sports stars carry on as before? Sadly the answer is almost certainly yes. And most sadly of all there will be so many more homeless people on the streets.

Sunset on Santa Monica Pier. A strange stall selling things I cannot see anyone wanting to buy.

Are they still smiling? I very much doubt it

This builder of this display at Venice Beach must be very disappointed. Full credit to him for trying. In the face of all that has happened before and now with a monumental mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis why do so many Americans still support Donald Trump? And in a country with so many talented people can the Democrats only find a 78year old man as their Presidential candidate? I am totally perplexed.