California driving

There is a miniature can of Coke perched precariously on the tray table next to my laptop as I write this. It’s small enough that some turbulence won’t create a sticky tsunami, merely a sugary puddle. I’m on the evening flight back to London from the City of Angels and we’ve just taken off from LAX.

As the Boeing 787-9 banked left after the undercarriage had retracted, I saw the geometrically sprawling lights of La La Land far below. It is a truly vast metropolis. Grim in daylight, it glistens at night like a giant Christmas decoration. A golden grid stretching off into the inky darkness.