A just in time recovery (or Ready for a trip to Google-Land)

I wake up to the sound of rain at 8 am.  Rain?  Where am I?  A quick check of my surroundings confirms that I am sleeping in the study of my friend Alan in Lafayette, California.  Most people have heard that California has been plagued by a century-drought.  So what is this sound?









It's actually raining!  Yesterday evening, Gabriel, Alan's and Glenda's son, threw some Sushi restaurant flyers to the ground and accompanied this offering by singing "Let it rain. Let it rain".  It wasn't long until I accompanied him with the movements of a pseudo-native rain dance.  Anyone who has ever have seen me imitate a rain dance will instantly know that it was Gabriel's performance that brought on the rain!


Mention of a rain dance indicates that I have overcome the malaise brought on by YVR food. Very small portions of food yesterday (a spoon-full of quiche for lunch, 4 pieces of nigiri for dinner, and a dry slice of toast with half a bottle of very nice Chardonnay as a night cap at Alan's house seemed to have cured me.  Well, almost. After sleeping for 9 hours like a log in Alan's study, I can still feel the demi-bouteille of Chardonnay behind my left eye.

When checking out Google Maps to find the exact location of Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountainview, I discover that the place is SURROUNDED by Google buildings. We're going to travel into the Heart of Google-Land! (Would this be an opportune moment to ask Google to stop calling me almost once daily from varying phone numbers to tell me that I haven't updated my free Google listing? ) I got the message, guys and gals and googlies, STOP calling me !

By 9 am the rain has stopped (it only soaked the top 2 mm of the soil in the garden. So really only a sprinkle by Vancouver standards ;-)  By 10 am I am having a cigarette outside in the warm California sun. Ready for a trip to Mountainview, home of Google and venue of tonight's Bridge School Benefit Concert featuring Soundgarden, Tom Jones, Brian Wilson (yes, the one of the Beach Boys), Florence and the Machine (think Mix of Sarah McLachlan & Kate Bush), Puss & Boots, Band of Horses, Pegi Young & the Survivors, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and possibly others that I can't remember.