Nowhere is all bad of course, I was in a new country with lots to do and lots of places to go. I’d been in this hostel for 10 days and was feeling comfortable with the place and the people here. Dave, 50 something was a runaway like me but was reluctant to go back to Chicago to face the music. He didn’t say much about what happened; only that he ended up on the street and was going to be getting a divorce. He got himself together a bit and was now back in his home state, just waiting for the nasty divorce to happen. Dave was the Californian I’d been meeting over the years in my travels, a likable easy going guy who had, had enough of all things material and was waiting to be free so he could move on. He wanted to go do some volunteer work somewhere but it had only reached the thinking stage. We had some things in common Dave and I, just a couple of bums on the street. Carl the big black dude, 40 something, chin tucked in, chest sticking out, probably ex military, he rolled in here about 10 years ago from New York and was now working the reception and doing a karaoke night every Wednesday, I caught 2 karaoke nights while I was there and Carl was the only person I saw get up on the mike, it was all his gear and he was goooooood baby. He was a straight in your face kind of a guy, that’s how it is man, you don’t like that, I can’t help you son! Emily 1, 40 something, a Londoner with an American father and was able to work here, was trying her hand at living in the States, so far she had just managed a few days a week at the hostel but she was paying her way. Emily was a bit abrupt and tended to rub people the wrong way, I don’t know why that is, she said,…. you can’t leave that lying there, you need to get up and move that right now….! A black lady with an English accent, she will do OK. Elinor, 60 something, another run away, she left her rich husband in Boston to come over here to paint and get a gallery to show off her paintings, she would disappear for a couple of days at a time and on her return would inform everyone she’d been up in Santa Monica shopping and would have something new on, it was always pink. She showed me one of her paintings, it was very pink, I’m good aren’t I, she said, errr! Yes Elinor very good, she packed her bags one day and was on her way back to Boston, she got to the airport, changed her mind and came back. 4 hours later I walked in and there she was. I just couldn’t do it, she said, he wants me to go back but I just couldn’t do it. Good onya Elinor get him to send the Limo. Alison, 20 something was the self appointed social director, she knew where to go what to do and when to do it. She was going to be around for the summer and any one she came across, was going to party, whether they liked it or not. A big, larger than life girl and with her side kick Emily 2, would collect all the strays in the hostel and show them around town. I managed one night and decided I really was getting old; maybe I’ll just stay home and have some coco. There was Yoshi the Japanese manager, who never smiled, Joe and his mate downstairs on the street that I got to know a little, Manolito and Javier in the Mexican market round the corner. I will no doubt be down that way again before too long, some of these people I hope to run into again. Vegas only lasted a couple of nights before upsetting everyone there and got thrown out in the end, if he is still alive, I might even run into him, I will avoid him if I can. L.A. had sucked me in, shook me around and spat me out but I was ready for THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It was time to get on the greyhound and head for San Francisco.
I am…. THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!