Brushes with fame ...

:: Brush number 1.
I was talking to Will's school counsellor yesterday and he mentioned that his brother-in-law was a writer. "Oh," I said, "What's his name?" "Michael Connelly - you might have heard of him ... " "Really? The Michael Connelly? Yes - I've heard of him!"
:: Brush number 2.
See the young chap sitting between Lily and Will in this picture (having dinner at Bondi)?

That's young Trevor Wilson, a great kid and one of Will's best school mates. He is also a guitar prodigy (and Will says he has a great big gravelly voice). One of Trevor's best mates is Lenny Kravitz. In fact, Trev went to New York last year for a week to lay down a few tracks with Lenny. And Trev cracks a mention on Lenny's latest CD cover notes. And on Trevor's 16th birthday, Will was out driving with him (Trev drives an enormous LandRover - can you imagine?) when Lenny rang to wish him happy birthday!
By the way - Will is wearing the suit jacket that Dave wore on our wedding day, 24 years ago. I guess it would be classified as 'vintage' now. Will wears it a lot and he's very fond of it. It looks great on him.

:: Brush number 3. Lily's going out with Nick, a fellow student, and Gerry Garcia was his uncle!

:: Okay - that's more than enough name-dropping.
Will and I have been talking about cars a lot lately. We spend a lot of time doing that, because we are surrounded by them, and some of them are the most beautiful and astonishing cars on the planet. Recently we've been thinking about what car I should get next, as it's been recommended to us that I keep my Ford Freestyle only until next February, as they depreciate so rapidly that they're just not worth hanging on to. This is my wonderful Freestyle:

It's beautiful, a V6, with leather seats and two extra seats that fold down in the boot. I love it to bits - but I average only 18 mpg and petrol is now over $3 a gallon down here in Southern California. And since I got it last February, I've done over 18,000 miles.
It has been a fabulous car, size-wise, for me to gain confidence on the freeways, and I've felt very safe and sound in it. But if it's wise for me to trade it in, I think I should go smaller and more economical.
Which is why Will and I are talking abut cars. He wants me to get one of THESE (click on the link). And he keeps leaving pics of very expensive-looking BMWs and Mercedes on my desktop, so when I switch on the computer they flash in front of my eyes.
Of course, he's thinking that he'll have his licence soon, so may get to borrow Mum's car occasionally. So his choice of cars for me is coloured by that 17-year-old's logic!
I, meanwhile, would very very happily settle for one of THESE.They are pretty cheap (and a LOT cheaper than Will's choice!), they're a lot of fun, and they'd get me more mpg. Will is not happy - unless, of course, I get the V8 GT version. Can you imagine a smallish car with a V8 engine?

:: I'd get a Prius, the little Toyota hybrid, if only they weren't so damn ugly. I'm sorry that that matters, but it does! They look like nasty little Moreton Bay bugs, and because they are so 'environmentally okay', they are allowed in the carpool lanes on the freeway even when there's only the driver on board (usually you have to have at least two people on board to qualify). And Prius drivers are very often the sort of dickheads who get in the carpool lane (which is also a fast lane because it is protected from the other lanes) and sit on 60 mph, or slightly less. Just because they can.

:: Talking about lanes on the freeway - my what a revhead post this is! - our local bypass has been completed, taking people easily and smoothly from the westbound 56 freeway and on to the southbound I-5, and also on to the 805 which splits from the 5. There are bypasses in both directions, so you can go north on both the 5 and the 805 and take the new bypass on to the eastbound 56. It cost $180 million to do this, and at one point there are now 21 lanes, counting both directions! Truly amazing!