Cerritos

I took off at 7am , looked over my shoulder one more time and sighed . Yep , first rideable waves in a while but I got other things to do . Head east , straight out from the coast . It’s hot , again . Humid , again . Artesia Blvd through Redondo Beach , Torrance and then the holy marker himself , the 405, This is the unofficial divide from coast to inland and a whole different play ground . It’s flat out here . Concrete , cars and the shimmer of relentless heat have strangled any optimism there might’ve been . 3 exits to Compton fly by , massive concrete drains like you’ve always seen In Hollywood movies and the scattering of the only two trees that grow over here ,palms and gum trees . I pull off at the 605 and turn towards Cerritos College, Norwalk .Theyre all names you’ve probably heard before , mentioned on tv or heard in movies . This is the real LA out here ; hard , old , weather beaten , black , Hispanic , schools with high wire fences and no grass , corner liquor and drug stores . I glide along wondering what has happened in the neighbourhood last night . It’s dead this morning , hardly a soul out . …., And there it is , Cerritos College . A large education campus in the middle of flatsville . On investigating what this school offers it seems it’s similar to our TAFES in Australia , but I stand to be corrected as I didn’t thoroughly explore its offerings . What I did notice was that nearly all of its alumni are baseball and NFL players . It’s the jungle out here and sport can be the only way out . If little Johnnie wants to be a star he’s gotta crawl over the tough kids who’ll play ball in the the concrete sun of south LA . Im here for a track meet , another offering of a new experience and a method of accruing more intern hours . This is an athletic meet for older athletes , weekend warriors and USC graduates. The event itself was quiet , although I do love track and field and was happy to watch events why others discussed other things . Was even there to witness a 65 yr old man run 12.3 for the 100 m , a world record that was disallowed due to a tail wind . Still the whole event fascinated me , not for the competition or the massage , but for seeing a small bit of the real world . You come here and you pinch yourself that your lucky to have been brought up in Australia .