On Wednesday 7 April we checked out the hotel rooftop swimming pool (closed for refurbishment, boo, although they offered to drive us to their sister facility if we wanted to swim), then went for breakfast at Koo Koo Roo at the end of our street, forgot to tip only to realise it when, once outside, we waved goodbye to our waiter through the window. Does one tip at that kind of place where you order and pay at the till, get your own drinks, and a waiter only delivers your order?

We walked back to the hotel to pick up our car and drove to The Grove. We weren’t really going to do shopping malls but this one was recommended by our LA friends, in particular for its farmers market. I’d also found out that it had an Apple and an Abercrombie store, so we polished our credit cards and headed to the gay geek mecca.

We played with iPads for a while. I’d get one if I had money to burn, and even then I’d find it hard to justify its utility as I have an iPhone and a 13in MacbookPro, both of which make me happy every single day.

We spent all of two minutes at Abercrombie, really uninterested. They had a nice sale on at the Gap though.

We then headed to the roof at the top of the shopping centre parking lot and finally spotted the Hollywood sign, after spending most of the previous afternoon looking for it. It’s far, far away. Good thing Stuart got a pair of binoculars from his parents for his birthday!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Kmart to buy beach shorts. I had packed our Speedos with us, but I knew that they’re a no-no on US beaches – American are modest! We also stopped at Whole Foods where we got some fruits for dinner, among which some Muscatel grapes that Stuart had never tasted before, surprisingly as he loves sweet wine. They were very very sweet, and small and not crunchy like the one variety we get in British supermarkets.

We got back to the hotel and thought about going out. Instead we crashed on the sofa in the hotel room. We often seem to do that when we are on holiday.