h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Driving in California is, well, an extreme sport. People here see a sign that states the speed limit is 65, and they seem to take that as a suggestion only. Hey, you might want to go 65, but then again, why? If you're doing 65, you might as well do 70, 75, or even 80. Never mind the bumper to bumper traffic, heck, why not just pass that guy on the right? Who cares if he might need to exit in 300 feet.

And why is it that they have to hurry to get to the next red light? My goodness, but what's the rush? You passed me, and now here we are, sitting side by side at the SAME RED LIGHT! Goodness, but that was stupid of you.

And the clean carS! Do these people have nothing to do with their time but make sure their car is spotless? Do they really need to spit shine the tires? And why is it that so many of these people own SUVs when they have never, will never, see an unpaved road in their LIFE? It doesn't snow here, so why do they feel they need to own 4x4s? Is there some secret code about it that I don't understand?

Hi there!

Forgive my total geographical ignorance, since California could be as large at the UK for all I know, but I do love reading the police logs from a place called Arcata. The local paper says it covers "Arcata and nearby Blue Lake, in Humboldt County, California's redwood coast" and features extracts from the logs each week. They are soooo funny!

http://www.arcataeye.com/police/
Scroll down to the bottom to read them in chronological order and take a few each day. You'll soon get a feel for the place. The Pink House is the detention centre so people get "Pinked". There's a Stop sign at at road junction that gets hit by cars so often you'd think they'd move it! But it tells me something about those driving habits you describe.

That's actually quite funny. I get the feeling someone at the paper is *really* bored!

I don't think they make them up. I've seen Police logs from other places too, written in a similar way. Also, sometimes the incidents they refer to are featured on the the news page.

Some of the snippits of everyday Californian life are so bizarre you couldn't invent them, surely? Then there's the ever changing yet sadly similar cast of vagrants, travellers, bored teens and elderly complainers.

It makes me laugh anyway.

No, if nothing else, California is *the* place for nutjobs and crackpots! How else would Hollywood exist?


There's a town in Montana called Wolf Point (I know, I know) and a friend of mine did an internship with the paper there....he sent it back to us, and the police blotter mostly consisted of people calling police because other people were on their lawns. Really.