Nicholas Quirke was strangely anxious. He was coming to the end of the road and by close of day he had reached and enjoyed a day in LA. It was a good start for him when he walked across from his Santa Barbara motel onto the beach and stepped into the Pacific Ocean. It felt like a calm oasis before the hurly burly Of LA. The drive along Highway 101 was mostly beautiful with ocean to his right and the temptation to stop and photograph the sea was too great and he took a random turn and found himself on Highway 1 which was where he had expected to be and driving aside the ocean. As he drove along it was saddening to see large areas of scorched trees and bushes on the mountain side. Nicholas found himself laughing with glee as he drove into LA, ‘Mulholland Drive’, he shouted, “Sunset Boulevard” and , “Hollywood Boulevard” he roared. This was going to be an exciting  few days. He had a arrived too early to check in to ‘Hotel Hollywood’ (apparantly Marilyn Monroe had stayed here) and decided that he would make a visit to what he felt was a special spot. His opening to ‘The Eunuch’ had been inspired by the wonderful physical farce of Laurel and Hardy, so treading the stairs of their hilarious 1931 film ‘Music Box.’ felt like treading hallowed ground. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh5wzsy2q38.  He passed a Car Wash and decided to pull in and get the car cleaned before he handed it back to the hire company and make sure there was no damage under the dirt. He was completely in the dark as to how it operated and got shouted at by the employees when he had pulled into the wrong bay.  That was an interesting experience, he noted. As Nicholas was returning to the Hotel  to check in a young blade in the street called out him “like the fit man, where are you from?” which made him feel happy his careful choice of wardrobe for LA was the right choice. He then savoured the sights of Hollywood Boulevard. Sadly, huge old cinemas evocative of Hollywood’s golden past littered the street and spoke of a its faded glory. Nicholas then got ready to go to the theatre. He was seeing ‘Rotterdam’ at the Skylight Theatre and was particularly excited as on his e-ticket there was an invite to a party after the show. The play, echoing ‘Resolutions’ in Denver and set at New Year again,  was excellent and Nicholas found himself on the edge of his seat enjoying the Love Story that unfolded. Some really good English accents, though the pronunciation of Nurofen jarred. When the play finished and the audience were leaving. People were being asked if they were staying for the party, ‘Thank you for coming. Goodnight!’ is what Nicholas heard. He felt unwelcome so came back to the hotel.  He realised it was after 10pm and he didn’t have his door code with him. Was he going to have to sleep on the street on his first night in LA? How quickly his spirits had deteriorated. A disappointing end to an excellent day.