Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars, Traffic Hell

This afternoon, I experienced the joy and delight of driving through downtown Beverly Hills five days before Christmas. Wonder of wonders, one of the top shopping neighborhoods in the world was jammed to bursting with people buying stuff. Moreover, the streets were crawling with cars containing people who had or were about to buy stuff. Further, due to those charming one-way streets, I had to go south from Little Santa Monica Boulevard down Rodeo Drive to get to my destination on Camden. Yes, Rodeo -- which, even as a small child in the Northwest, I knew (a) was pronounce Roh-day-oh, and (b) was a high-end shopping mecca. Filled me right up to the eyeballs with holiday spirit, I can tell you.