A fistful of dollars

No, these aren't for me! I am thinking about a jaunt over to the city by the bay but I don't think that will be until a bit later in the year. These are actually for me old Mum who's flying out next weekend to see her nieces and nephews - and she's looking forward to it too. I told her I'd give a fistful of greenbacks that she can use as spending money while she's over there. A kind of late late Christmas present.
There's something quite exciting about foreign currency, isn't there? When I stood watching the Thomas Cook woman unpeeling these notes for me yesterday, my mind filled with images: Obama speechifying to huge crowds in front of the White House, freeways unrolling in the Pacific sunlight, blinking WALK DONT WALK signs, air-conditioned shopping malls, the Golden Gate Bridge looming through the fog like an orange dragon, sushi bars, people telling me they just love my accent, sprinklers chugging quietly on neatly trimmed lawns, the headquarters of Google, the headquarters of Apple, burger joints, motorcycle cops in aviator shades, panhandlers asking me if I've got any spare change, obese people, poor people, homeless people, street corner gun stores........