"in my immediated surroundings on Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena" (Don)...

Poem 38 of 230: THE TOURNAMENT OF ROSES

During my last morning in L.A.,
    I watched on a hotel-room T.V.,
Live from the town of Pasadena,
    The Tournament of Roses display.

Perfectionism was on the go,
    And it seemed little expense was spared,
As floats covered in flowers went by -
    Giving a neat but fleeting show.

Yet, catching the bus to the airport,
    I saw the homeless dragging their sacks,
Or begging for cash on street corners,
    And thought: "Housing could have been bought."

From walkaboutsverse.741.com

"If you don't want to listen to me do anything but American songs, I guess I can come up with a few "Possum up a gum stump" ditties for you" (Don)...I know, from the above visit, there are, sadly (see "Green Godly Gardening" thread; or myspace blog, via above link), many such exotic trees in California - but I didn't know you had possums nor songs about their whereabouts?!

Speaking of "possums", Eliza f c (p being interchangeable with f in some lands): as I write, I have Mire ri Moir, BBC Gaelic radio, on - it's mostly unaccompanied singing, some instrumentals, and the occasional combination of the two, and the quality is as good as anything I've heard. This is how I'd like folk radio to be in our country; and we should remember that at some folk clubs and festivals in England it is indeed like this - i.e., singing sessions, instrumental sessions (mostly folks playing just the tune), and occasionally combinging them; suchlike on a far larger scale and I'll stop at least some of my whinging.

Not so much of the Aussie accent, Woody - I've spent hours listening to Brendan Foster and Steve Cram calling athletics; "Nobody ever goes anywhere, learns anything, or ever changes"...for the rest of my travels and studies, please use above link; and I've never mentioned skin colour - in anthropology, we were taught NOT to refer to people in terms of colour (in agreement, in this case, with the American way of "African American", e.g.).