Tuesday 16 June 2009

10 hours and 5,500 miles later...

...I've finally arrived home after a week of meetings and pitching shows in LA. As I write this, I'm as jetlagged as Hell and feel like I've spent the last 10 hours wrestling a giant, bad tempered penguin. But it was most certainly worth it.

Although visiting the producers of The Simpsons was AWESOME, as was visiting the Disney studio in Burbank (despite getting hopelessly lost in the multi-story car park), what really hit me was the energy of LA. The feeling of optimism - the 'can do' attitude - was palpable and I left feeling invigorated and energised.

I also thought I'd conquered my fear of flying. Pah! I didn't know it was hurricane season until we were taxiing to the runway for the flight home. I think it was the pilot's casual, dismissive attitude that did it. I understand that he didn't want to cause alarm, but there's no good way of saying, "Oh, by the way, it's hurricane season over the mid-states, so it'll get a little lumpy." I turned and saw the pallid face of my girlfriend. "What the f**k did he just say? Hurricane season?" Nervously, she nodded. "And we're going to fly THROUGH it? Is he out of his f**king mind?" Again, she nodded.

I knew at that precise moment that the flight home wouldn't be the only thing that got lumpy...

3 comments:

Danny Stack said...

Well done! Especially the flying!

Paul Parkes said...

Thanks Danny! The really annoying thing was that the stuff I'd taken to help me sleep through the flight didn't kick in until I was driving home from the airport!

...stupid good-for-nothing pills...

pat dargan said...

what the pilot did not tell you was that he actually is a bad - tempered, giant penguin....
it is rarely known that penguins exceeding 6 ft in height cannot stand hurricanes, yet are fine with porridge and wheat..
ironically hedgehogs are fine with hurricanes yet struggle desperatley with tulips and balloons..

well done on the flying..