We're staying in LA this year for the first time.

The weather is being obligingly English - cold and wet.

Anyway since I'll see even fewer of you this year than last, I just thought I'd use LJ to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great 2009.

G

Today is going to be The Great So Cal Shakeout, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in US history.

Maddie's school have been practicing sitting under desks all week.

It's things like this that make you question living near a major fault line that is near certain to give in your lifetime. In addition, it looks like having both the desk and the kitchen table be made of glass wasn't so smart either. They're not so much a source of cover as a source of impaling shards of doom.

After the last (very small) quake, we finally went and bought a torch and some water. We're probably still under stocked on first aid stuff and food.

Having said all that, if you have to live somewhere recklessly risky, Burbank is the place to be. It seems from the simulations that the mountains on either side of us offer some protection from the worst effects.

If we absolutely have to have an Earthquake, I wonder if today at 10 am might not be a good time. We'd all be under our desks already.

Update: BBC news comes to Maddie's school!

Well, no actually, it didn't

I managed to be driving into an underground car park at the moment that
a magnitude 5.4 earthquake hit LA and I felt precisely nothing.

I only knew it had happened when the news broke on the Radio about 2 minutes later.

When I got into the office, everyone was sharing their quake war stories. The building I work in is on rollers (for just such an event) and apparently the swaying was quite alarming.

On some level I think I'm a bit jealous :)

A little bit on the long side, but I love Clint's Requiem theme too much.

And possibly also gourou

So I had this dream.

I'm standing on a very high brick wall with thegreatgonzo illicitly watching some sporting event. I'm thinking cricket.

I am stood at the intersection of the wall with a higher wall and am thus able to use the higher wall to lean on to gain extra stability. Tony is free standing in front of me and insists on prodding me. This is making me very nervous, but Tony is dismissive of this, pointing out that he doesn't have the added support that I do and is doing just fine. He goes on to reveal that Tom Cruise is further along the wall and appears to be asleep standing up. I am skeptical that Tom is actually asleep, what with him being stood up. And balanced on a wall. Tony however is adamant. He insists that Tom's scientology training can control pleasure centres in his legs and feet that will wake him if he sways too much.

Er and that's it really.

Om Nom Nom Nom.

The Simpson clan will be moving from our nice but increasingly cramped apartment to a nearby house. It's directly across the street from the NBC studios, home of the Tonight Show and Ellen.

Child the First is now a fully fledged Valley Girl who announced that she no longer speaks English, only American.

Child the Second continues to be the most well behaved baby ever. Refusing to cry more than twice a day for at most 30 seconds at a time.

In (very minor) celeb spotting news, Bob's is the place to be apparently. The last two visits have yielded Drew Carey, host of the Price is Right and the ginger one from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Grate.

compare and contrast.