I was already awake when the street took on this new life because I had awoken needing to go to the bathroom. I was sleeping - a relative term - on an air mattress on the floor. Imagine a large woman with bad knees getting up from an air mattress on the floor. On my first attempt I did not make it. My knee was particularly stiff and painful from lying in bed for a while. So I crawled into the bathroom, also a bit of a mistake. The hard floor is really hurtful on these knees. I managed to pull myself up using the toilet and get back into the bed after I discovered that it was only about 1:45 a.m. It was at about two when the street woke up.
Dorothy and I discovered that we were both awake by then and we laughed about the entertainment and the many sounds throughout the night. One night we knew we could handle, but never would we have put up with that room for a second.
We slept somewhat fitfully and awoke when the radio alarm turned on with obnoxious music. Dorothy, being on a real bed, was better able to fly from the bed (again a relative term) and turn the damned thing off.
We were up early because we were going to take the bus to the LA County Museum of Art.
