Hello all. Well, it is supposed to be a long holiday weekend here in Amurrica, what with the 4th of July happening on a Tuesday, Monday is supposed to be a day off. My friend and coworker is taking a much needed and long deserved vacation with a pal in Maui and I am genuinely happy for her. The place is gorgeous- a beensy little hobbit A-Frame on top of the main house with an enclosed outdoor shower, bowers of tropical plans and a peek-a-boo ocean view. Looks like heaven and if anyone I know deserves the break, she does.
Of course, in her absence, everything decided to kind of explode. We both manage the buildings we live in as part off our jobs. Turns out a switch wasn’t properly switched on the notoriously unhelpful software we use to manage tenant stuff so something went flooey for one of her new tenants that I had to deal with. And a plumbing back up. And the garage gate here became possessed by Satan and kept opening and closing by itself, then just decided to stay open all night. So of course this meant that someone in the building got their car broken into, because despite being told again and again not to, apparently like many Angelenos, they simply could not resist leaving expensive headphones, or Vuitton Bags, or full sets of Shakespeare Folios, or the Ark of the Covenant unattended in their center console. Even after being told the gate is frozen open (if you checked the police reports, people do it on the street all the time- it’s a major portion of crime in the area. People especially going to clubs don’t want to be weighted down by taking their Silvie bags stuffed with cash, bearer bonds, and loose emeralds, so they leave them in the car.)
Irv’s Burger- a local fave
It’s now Monday and the gate healed itself in time for the gate guy to look and be unable to investigate because the problem disappeared. It is now noon on Monday and I suppose I should be cleaning my bathroom but I am just not going to. I’m going to put the top down and go for a cruise. I hope the car won’t explode. I took the Rembrandt out of the back seat and all the Faberge eggs out of the trunk, so if I park it to go into Starbucks I should be okay.
I did wear Mitsouko, but that was more in the spirit of armor and pleasing myself than anything else.
So what did you do over the holiday, if you are in an area that celebrates? What did you wear? Let us know in the comments.
Images: Pexels.
Way back in the day, I was horrified to learn that there had been a rash of car burglaries overnight in my apartment complex. I was even more horrified to realize I had inadvertently left my car unlocked. I was relieved, though a bit nonplussed, to realize that nothing was taken and my car wasn’t even touched. I guess being a teacher with an old car pays off. Sorta.
I watched Macy’s fireworks from the comfort of my home (and comforting my dog) as I am recovering from pneumonia, my least favorite souvenir from my recent trip to Europe. Great trip though!
I have to admit that I am only half glad my car apparently is so sordid it’s ignored by thieves. I’m surprised they don’t leave stuff. Like wash cloths and car wax.
Lordt! (insert eyeroll here) – the ‘leaving stuff in the car’ thing: NEWP!
A friend left her LAPTOP! in the car, parked on a Near North street in Chicago – then was FUMING! because the car was broken into and (wait for it) the laptop was STOLEN!
I, too, wore Mitsouko. Vintage parfum in 90F with rain. I stank up the jernt sumpin’ fabulous!!! Wrestled M. Jacques into his room (and locked the door) when the M-80s started booming.
Went to bed.
Seemed like the perfect way to spend 4July.
They STOLE IT!?! The crust! I’m shocked! Absolutely shocked! I left my old iBook in my car with the top down and when I came back it was a new MacBook Pro, the car was vacuumed, and they topped off the tank and rotated the tires! I was parked right at the corner of Delusional and Deranged in Upper Outtayomind. I was annoyed it was the Space Grey and not Rose Gold, but I didn’t want to seem ungrateful..
I’m going to go respritz some Mitsy Sue now..
Never understood the leaving stuff in car thing. I live in a Pittsburgh suburb and the majority of crime here is stuff stolen from UNLOCKED cars. I grew up in a small Iowa town, we didn’t lock our cars but that was 50 years ago. As for the fourth, we hung out with friends and heard the fireworks in the background. Too much effort required to go see them, I guess!
I made this same comment below! People on the listserv in my old neighborhood are all: my car was broken into! And then they say/admit it was unlocked. OK it’s still stealing, but mostly they only hit the unlocked cars, they weren’t “breaking into” them with any kind of force or skill beyond trying the door handle and finding it unlocked.
You aslo have to worry about those proximity keys. I have a neighbor who had to put hers in a box when she comes home because her apartment is right above her parking space, so the car thinks the keys are right there. Well, they are, just 6 feet or so above the car..
Lord, I FORGOT about that! In our D.C. house (small-lot neighborhood) if I set my purse down on the side of the living room next to the driveway, you could open my car! Fortunately the front door with the hall table was on the other side.
I figured it out (b/c I’m Jessica Fletcher, you know) when my friend got her car rifled in her driveway. She always out the keys by the bowl in the door. Luckily she only had some meter change in there.
I did a ride along with BHPD a few years ago and they said that that was one of the biggest issues. People think that bacuse there’s a hedge or a gate that it’s like they chained Cerberus and Cujo to the bumper of thier Camry. Uh, no.
Nothing special here. I live on the 4th floor and had a great view of the fireworks last night. It was a great show.
I have never kept anything in my cars except a few car emergency things in the trunk. I never saw the point of filling cars with stuff or leaving it in them.
Lately I have been buying 8-10ml decants of perfumes I seriously like. That way I can enjoy them until or if I decide to buy full bottles. I’ve been wearing MEMO Lalibela a lot these last few days. It surprised me by how great it is in hot, humid weather!
I west to the Apple store for something. Then hung out at the nearly empty Beverly Center mall (it’s hasn’t been the “cool mall” in years) since it is enclosed, unlike the Grove and Century City which are far more popular, it was heavily air conditioned. So I sat there and had a frosty coffee beverage from Starbucks. For about a week.
Ah, air conditioning on a hot day. Heavenly!
Especially when you aren’t paying the Edison bill!
On Monday evening, the 3rd, we went and hung out at the local gathering spot to get a good view of the fireworks show given across the street at a local country club. It had been raining all day, but fortunately stopped in time. I wore Cartier Declaration, my annual 4th of July scent. It was a great show. Sorry to hear that your holiday was topsy-turvy and filled with stuff going wrong. Yeah, I can’t believe folks leave so much valuable stuff in unlocked cars. If that weren’t bad enough, now thieves are going around stealing air bags and catalytic converters out of certain makes and models!
I’m glad you had a nice time at the fireworks- sounds lovely!
Yes, we are having sirbags and catalytic converter thefts up the wazoo. Far more the latter than the former since I think nobody can tell if the one that trying to steal is the exploding Takata ones and maybe they don’t want to risk it. Of course they risk getting squished by a Prius if they aren’t careful getting the CC out, which has happened with some frequency.
The local Police have been hosting free etching services for people to make them less attractive to criminals. I guess they etch the VIN on there. Maybe the phone #. I wonder if you could get something personalized. Like a Hello Kitty design?
I had a funeral to go to Monday and when I went home, I inexplicably left my ancient manual car in neutral, which I never do. About 15 minutes later, my neighbor came over – my car rolled across the (narrow) street and hit their brand new vehicle in their open garage and dented it. The back end of my car is pretty ripped up too. Talk about a freak accident! But I spent yesterday with out of town cousins in for the funeral, lots of old stories and laughter, just what I needed to decompress. I wore Zoologist Bee, which is still around this morning.
Oh NO, this is terrible! At least nobody was injured beyond the cars! So sorry this happened.
First thing I thought as well- it’s a car and can be fixed.
Oh, I am sorry to read that! But accidents happen and nobody was hurt. And you smelled fabulous!
No holiday here in the industrial ex mining & steel belt of England. We had less rain than Cinnamon in the south but there has been a nip in the air. Rapidly changing weather has given me a fibromyalgia & chronic fatigue flare. Unsurprising, considering my stress levels in the past 18 months. I’ve been watching tennis & cricket recently, along with medical appointments, that’s about all I’m fit for!
Well, you can only do what you can do. And whatever you can do to lower the stress levels than do it, say I
Oy. I live in a wealthy area of Southwest England and people do that shit — the leaving stuff in fancy cars thinking it’s semi-rural, no one will notice. But of course they do and bye bye things.
Wasn’t a holiday here and it rained cats, dogs and rabbits. Almost all day. At 9 PM the sun came out. So, I took a walk. Wore Perfumer H Smoke, which I am liking a bit too much for the price point.
Well nobody in LA who isn’t waaaayyy up in Topange or Tujunga or someplace is even remotely rural. Certainly not West Los Angeles.
Perfumer H seems to be all that. Grrrr. I’m going to be forced to try them.
GAH! I’m the worst Tom. Always forget what’s in the car. Fortunately mine is a shitbox so no one ever thinks it could contain valuables.
Happy 4th all.
Portia xx
I’m the same way. My car isn’t new, isn’t tidy, isn’t washed and has enough unfixed dents on it it should have the badging changed from “Z-3” to “Z-2 1/2” I could probably hide the Koh-i-noor diamond in the old mail and empty tissue boxes on the passenger floor and thieves targeting my garage would move on to the greener pastures of the shiny, newer cars.
I’m just laughing at this post! I’m a Californian (though Sierra up north)–but I totally get this! Ha! I’ve had a sht weekend, out with a chainsaw getting rid of burn debris (PG&E thank you, 2015 Fire), and if you’re a Californian you’ll know, and I was prancing around up and down 75% slopes the last two weeks, no problem, swinging off of oak limbs, dangling from Manzanita with various tools of the trade. I went inside to get a cool drink for the hubs and tripped going down stairs I’ve gone up and down 55 years, splitting my knee wide open (left), and badly spraining and tearing ankle (right). I’m enjoying the 4th of July on a couch with crutches nearby, seven staples to the knee and a trip to Ortho Surg in my future. BUT: today hubs went to post and I got my book “The Rooster House” (Victoria Belim, and the dedication alone brought tears to my eyes) AND my Luckyscent samples from Chasing Scents, “Rain Tree,” “Slow World” and “Tea Service.” This is (temporarily) taking the edge off my *exceedingly bad mood. I’m loving this Ausie brand and the smells are divine. If you like SL, you may like this line which is lighter and brighter but has that SL fruits vibe. I don’t carry ANYTHING of value in my dusty beat-up Rav in Cali. Have a good one!
Omgoodness, that’s awful! Hoping for speedy recovery. That had to be so painful.
My knees hurt just reading that
Oh I am sorry to read that! I hope you mend soon!
Quiet July 4th here. I worked Monday, and Tuesday off work for Independence Day was a treat. I went hiking with my dog and relaxed otherwise. Fireworks in the area were cancelled due to severe thunderstorm weather.
My husband used to leave the garage door open all the time, and our expensive bikes were stolen hanging in the garage. I still have to remind him to close the door!
Oh for the days when you could leave the garage open.. Now if it isn’t thiees you likely have an HOA who gets apoplectic if you leave it open for more than 5 minutes to unload the car..
BAHAHAHA my former neighborhood in the D.C. ‘burbs was fairly high-dollar (not me though). People left purses and laptops and expensive sports equipment in their cars ALL THE TIME, often unlocked! And shocker, other people drove around those neighborhoods in the wee hours, checking car doors — looking for unlocked ones — and helped themselves. And people still leave things in their cars even though it was constantly discussed that this kind of theft was common. Mine was rifled once (my fault, unlocked in the driveway) but all I have in there is kleenex and granola bars.
I did a ride along with the BHPD and they said that people who live in the houses above Santa Monica are always doing that- they think because there’s a hedge or a gate (that is by code only 3 feet tall if at the property line) the car is inviolate
That boggles my mind too – people who leave computers, wallets, purses, etc in their cars. If I don’t want to carry my purse I leave it at home and stuff my license and money in my pocket or a tiny light crossbody bag.
I’m in Canada so no 4th of July, our holiday was Saturday the 1st so people either got Friday or Monday off. No fireworks because the air quality has been so bad due to the fires.
Honestly I don’t get it. THe local papers are just peppered with reports. Sometimes I wonder if people just make this crap up “Oh ossifer, I had a specially made Birkin in the car that was carrying my Picasso drawings and loose rubies and now it’s gone! Let me call my insurance…”