Absurdist Americana No.1

Waiting to arrive in America, the country that probably created the dream of the open road.

It's incredible what the word California evokes in the age of the credit crunch and the oil crisis. Hollywood icons riding around in Toyota Prius (what is the plural of Prius, surely not Priuses?), eight wheeled Hummers driven by evangelists in plaid.

However rough the finish on American motors, there's something special about arriving at LAX in the middle of the night and picking up your rental in a roboticaly monitored car park the size of Bristol and heading out onto a snaking interstate of red and white lights.

Final call.