Last week everyone I met in New York was deliriously happy to be welcoming spring after endless months of grueling winter. My friends and family in England are equally excited that sunny days have arrived there too. The season has finally changed. As I am sure you’re aware, LA is not like the rest of the world. Here we have three seasons not four.
First of the year comes Awards Season- The Oscars, Grammy’s, Golden Globes, Bafta and Screen Actors’ Guild Awards. We Uber ourselves to parties and dinners then recover from all that socializing by binge watching reality TV. We change gear when the last of the dry Santa Ana winds blow in from the desert and we shimmy into Vacation Season which begins in May on Memorial Day and ends in September on Labor Day.
We embrace high summer by leaving town. We have to get out. Los Angeles has a 16.5 billion dollar tourist industry. People flock here from all over the world to relax but we are completely stressed out after months of negotiating the road works on the 405 and endless tailbacks getting to our therapy sessions, yoga classes, aesthetician and hairdressing appointments. We desperately need that vacation in Hawaii or a couple of months on Martha’s Vineyard. I go to the south of France and stay not far from Cannes, which is like a scaled down European version of Santa Monica only with better wine and a warmer ocean.
Coming back to town we gear up for the Holiday Season – Before we know it Halloween is upon us and we’re setting out pumpkins and planning our costumes. There’s barely time to recover before we’re ordering turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner. After a few days of cleansing and juicing we begin planning for Hanukkah and Christmas. The New Year celebrations come in a tardy third and only if we have any energy left.
I sometimes miss springtime in London. About now I’d be booking my ticket for the Chelsea Flower Show and clearing out my winter closet to make way for a new linen jacket and white jeans. Here I already have summer-wardrobe fatigue and the closest I’m going to get to a flower show is the organic kale and broccolini on display at the Farmers’ Market. Yes. I’m ready to get out of town and to the unpredictability of the weather in England and to get wearing my unworn Burberry mac.
