As I was driving to work this morning…and yes, I realize that a lot of my stories probably start with “As I was driving to work” but I do live in Los Angeles and thus most of my time seems to be spent driving to work. But on with the story!...I was driving to work this morning and I saw a helicopter fly over. In L.A. this is not really cause for any sort of excitement. It is a little disturbing to be walking down the street at night and then suddenly have a spotlight shining on you from up above. That really does happen. And then you start to wonder…um…who are they looking for and should I really be out walking around the streets alone? But this was daytime and I was safe in my car when I saw the…oh my god. Sometimes I bore even myself with the way I ramble on. Jeez.
OK, so I saw a helicopter and it reminded me of this dream I had and I was struck by just how very much of a Los Angeles dream it was. In this dream I was at work and I looked out the huge picture window (yeah…in reality, no windows in my office. Just one skylight that taunts me with a sunny little blue patch) and I saw tons of helicopters, all headed in the same direction. There were at least thirty of them jockeying around for a view on one patch of the city. And in my dream I said…”Well, it’s gonna be a long ride home tonight!”
Lots of helicopters in one place means something is going on. There is a massive accident or some celebrity is out running in traffic. If you see the helicopters start to congregate, you know it’s going to be bad.
Of course, the other bad helicopter sign is when you can hear them hovering over your house. Usually it’s a car chase in the neighborhood and if you turn on the television, you might just see your house! Oh hooray! Better yet, once I woke up at about 4 in the morning to circling helicopters. It went on for hours. They just kept repeating their flight pattern until I finally got out of bed and turned on the t.v. Turns out that Bob Hope had just died. His house is less than a mile from where I live (which would make you think I live in a nice neighborhood…but…well…) and the news shows wanted…what the heck could they possibly get from a helicopter at 4 am? I guess they just wanted to make sure that I didn’t sleep.
2 comments:
When the helicopters are searching the neighborhood at night, I always say, "Oh, another psycho-killer on the loose!" I'm sure I'm right at least 5% of the time.
The helicopters that land on the roof over my department at work give off an awful odor. I think it's even triggered my asthma before.
I went trick-or-treating at Bob Hope's house (with my nieces) several years ago, before he died. A neighbor girl said they always gave out great candy there...like full-size candy bars...but that year it was some light up thingamajig. And he wasn't handing them out...some assistant was. Phooey.
Gee, I can ramble on too.
ok guys, helicopters aren't just for la - i live next to a river and a bridge and close to a major highway. the helicopters mean one of 3 things - major accident, boating accident or a jumper. And yes, there have been jumpers...
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