The 405 was packed as I approached LAX. I thought about getting onto the 105 West to Sepulveda and taking the surface streets home. Instead I decided to try something else. I took the Century Blvd. exit, knowing that it would rejoin the 405 about a mile later; and it was wide open. This worked pretty well until I got past Century and was at the point where there is a long slope back down to the freeway. That’s where traffic came to a dead halt. Not especially good, but I was farther along than I would be if I had stayed on the freeway.
So I’m sitting there. I look at the iceplant and wonder if my Jeep could make it down the steep hill if I were to do a little impromptu offroading. I decided not to, of course. Iceplant is slippery, and my stock tires have enough trouble when I offroad in deep mud. Just fantasizing, y’know?
I looked down at the curb where the iceplant was flowing over. Hey, there’s a green piece of paper! Seeing that a Federal Reserve Note was just sitting there, I put the tranmission in park, took off my seatbelt, hopped out and grabbed it. Woohoo! It was a fin!
Once, back in the '80s, I was driving on Sepulveda on a windy day. A bit of green paper flashed across my windscreen. “That’s a twenty!” I thought. (How did I know?) I made a quick U-turn at the next light, and sure enough there was a $20 note waiting for me at the curb.
Now five bucks isn’t a whole lot to crow about. I make more than that in 15 minutes at work. Plus I still remember that twenty from years ago. But a fin’s a fin, eh? I thought it was quite satisfactory.
Iceplant is a succulent plant that is native to the areas around freeway onramps and offramps in the Southwest. I suspect it did not exist before freeways, as I never see it growing wild.
At least it was better than yesterday late morning. I was taking the folks to LAX and had a good giggle at the people trying to get north past the gas tanker that decided to plow into the embankment, spilling about 800 gallons of gasoline across 2 of the 4 lanes of traffic.
Yeah, I took Sepulveda to 1 home to Oxnard. Don’t remember losing a 5er, though.
Hmmm…what is it about LA that there’s always so much money lying on the ground? I’ve picked up more change here in eight months than I have everywhere else my entire life. Do people just not bother to pick it up?
[Slight hijack]
A mystery to me is why in L.A. its THE 405, whereas most everywhere else (outside of Canada, I believe) it would be I-405 or Route 405 or just 405.
I’m sure this has been asked before, but I missed it. Can anyone tell me?
That’s just Californian vernancular, Xema. It’s “the” 10, “the” 405, “the” 210, “the” 5, etc, just as in other places they’d be “I-405” or “405.”
This is not dissimilar from the Coke/soda/pop, ghettoblaster/jambox/radio, “he goes”/“he’s all” regional verbal preferences. (Come to think of it, can anyone think of any others?)
JohnnyLA, “the” 405 is EVIL and I’m glad you were rewarded for having to suffer it!
This reminds me of the time that my brother and sister were taking a walk in the neighborhood around the school, and found a $20 bill on the ground!
Then there was the time we were all at the mall in a now-defunct arcade space (Lazer Illusions), and my sibs and their friend found a $5 bill stuck inside the change machine! They got it out, and decided to split it.
Then there was the time at school where I needed lunch money, and there was $5 in coins lying around right where I was! Bonus!
[/slight hijack]
However, as far as the OP goes, I’ve never really had much luck with things like that on the streets. Sure, I’ve found loose change and kept it, but certainly never anything on the order of even a $5, let alone a $20! But there’s always hope… maybe if I go walking around near the bank or the mall…
anya marie: I got a silver quarter (1942) as change when I was in Las Vegas a few months ago. Unfortunately I seem to have accidentally mixed it in with my other quarters, and it wound up in the washing machine slot.
(Not that I am saying there is a better way to get there…)
