I was away this past weekend in DisneyWorld (a subject of probably fifty future bolgs). All aside it was difficult getting home (on Delta, no less — another blog). Wildfires in Southern California closed all five airports off and on.

Nothing was as dramatic as flying over the desert and into the L.A. Basin and seeing the hills on fire and having very limited visibility as we flew from clear skies into thick black smoke . . .

I went shopping today and it appears that there’s been a turn in the supermarket strike. United Food and Commercial Workers union employees went on strike at two stores and were locked out of other supermarkets some three weeks ago. In the beginning, the parking lots of the supermarkets were empty, the store shelves were empty — no fresh seafood, deli, or bakery items graced store shelves.

Today my local Ralph’s was quite different. The parking lot was full at nine o’clock in the morning. Deli, bakery, and seafood items were back on the shelves. The lines were long — shopping carts were full.

Traffic is still snarled with MTA workers still on strike and public buses not running. Our country’s history has been frought with union battles and in the era of escalating healthcare costs — who knows how they will turn out.

L.A. is still L.A. and I’m glad to be back.

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