And California Wants High Speed Rail -- and Within Budget? Hello....

LA County's Blue Line from Long Beach to downtown LA (the county's oldest and most-used light-rail system) broke down (canceled or delayed) an average of 14 times a day in January and February, 2012.

"I've traveled many metro lines in the nation, and I've never experienced so many delays and breakdowns as I have on the Blue Line," said Robert Cheshier of Long Beach, who rides the train three days a week to his job in downtown Los Angeles. "Seriously, who is overseeing this poorly run transit system?"

The county's first commuter rail system built since the Pacific Electric Red Cars, the 22-year-old Blue Line has seen at least $239 million in maintenance put off over the last decade. The amount represents only part of a $1.3-billion maintenance backlog that hangs over the entire rail and bus network run by the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Yup.

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Notes to the Granddaughters

The four of you are in Florida this week, so your Grammy and I have taken advantage of our own little vacation to spend a few days in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

May says it is her favorite "town" in the whole world, and that's saying a lot. She has lived fourteen years as an adult in Europe and Asia. Her winter home is in southern California, and her official residency is in San Antonio, Texas. May was born in Japan and spent her first few years in Japan, Japanese being her first language, Spanish her second. She didn't learn English until she was seven years old and that was the old-fashioned way: immersion, none of the modern "English-as-a-second-language." But I digress. But it needs to be said to put in perspective when she says Cape Cod in general, and Provincetown, specifically, are her all-time favorite places in the world.

In general, I have found folks friendly wherever we've been. I doubt one could find a friendlier or more accommodating society than Turkey, but in the English-speaking world, I don't think anywhere outdoes Provincetown for genuine friendliness. 

Today it's overcast and looking out over the ocean reminds me of England. I never got to Land's End in Cornwall, England, but I imagine this is exactly what Land's End looks like. I am literally less than one hundred feet from the place where the Pilgrims first set foot in "America." They signed the Mayflower Compact in the harbor outside my window:

The Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620, by 41 of the ship's 101 passengers, while the Mayflower was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod. -- wiki

Provincetown was not anything like I was expecting. After reading about the summer carnival in Provincetown, I expected a "New Jersey" Trump boardwalk with casinos and gaudy disco clubs, and franchise hotels, motels, and eateries. 

The closest I can describe it: it reminds me of a late 1950's San Francisco neighborhood -- just before the revolution.

I am not aware of any nationally-known restaurant or motel in town. No Holiday Inn. I don't think I've seen a McDonald's. Commercial street is a narrow street, one way, which allows parking on side, surprisingly enough, because even without parking it's almost impossible to drive down the street in an F-350 with side-view mirrors extended (we are driving a Honda Civic; side-view mirrors not retractable). Commercial Street is a 3-mile meandering thoroughfare running the length of the town from east to west.

A point of interest not to be missed is the newly renovated city library, just completed this past winter. It appears to have been built around a replica of the Rose Dorothea, the 1907 schooner that won the race that year. We've been to many libraries over the years but this may be one of the best we've ever visited. Maybe more on libraries later.

May greeted Haji in his native Turkish. Haji has been in Provincetown for two years, selling Turkish merchandise, and appears to "specialize" in a peculiar Turkish "cowboy" boot for women. Our five-year-old granddaughter would love a pair, but at $189/pair we will hold off for now. Which reminds me of a story. We were talking to Mary who serves drinks in the bar where we are staying. We got to talking about our grandchildren. Last year her five-year old grandson enjoyed Carnival immensely. How did he "do" with all the drag queens? He was mesmerized by their boots. He loved it. But back to Haji. It turns out that May and he stayed in the same hotel in Mersin, Turkey, some years ago. Not at the same time but they could share memories.

We told Mary that we could have come to Provincetown any time this week, but we came at the end of the week only because her work week does not start until Thursday. An hour or two with Mary brings us up to date on all that is going on in Provincetown.

So, we're staying at the Provincetown Inn at the end of the cape, and as noted, can watch the ghosts of the Mayflower sign the compact. We keep looking for the whales, but they are a bit farther out. May saw several yesterday and has the drawings to prove it. She drew what she saw and she showed me a pen-and-ink drawing with a tail flash.

Everybody says we need to take a whale viewing tour (which we've done out of Boston) but we will wait until we can take the granddaughters.

We haven't checked the room rates at the inns downtown -- all within walking distance -- but I don't think we could afford them, even if vacancies were available. One of the regional knitting clubs is hosting a "conference" here this weekend, "Adventures in Knitting." May jokes that we are staying at an inn where elderly gay males and those who like to knit hold their conferences. 

Later, I will write about my all-time favorite bookstore, the Yellow Umbrella Bookstore in Chatham, at the elbow of Cape Cod.