I finally got around to seeing Avatar in 3-D tonight. Always fun with a sinus infection. I’m not sure if it was me or the antibiotics but the planet of Pandora reminded me of living in Tenerife in my early twenties.

There aren’t many people who could find similarities between the Na’vi and those who threw up regularly after a night out clubbing in Playa de las Americas, but all can say is that the infamous Veronicas strip was inhabited by many strange creatures.

Or maybe the movie reminded me of a simpler time in my life, when all I did was write terrible short stories on my electric typewriter, regal unsuspecting tourists with more stories in my capacity as island guide and then, um…make up even more ridiculous tales for the ex-pats during my bar-tending hours at Frosties, just for my own amusement.

But I tangentize. Is that a word? High-light of the week without a doubt was a whizz around the Warner Brothers lot on an electric buggy. (I’m a woman of a certain age – is it utterly sad or simply adorable that a cart ride on a studio lot is a mini dream come true?)

I’d driven over to Burbank (via a mercifully traffic free motorway – woo hoo!) for a screening of a movie I cannot blog, Facebook or Twitter about, as my life won’t be worth living but the cart, the cart!

I was picked up at gate number two and hopped onto the back holding tight, as frankly, there isn’t much on those vehicles to stop you from falling out.

We hummed past sound stages that created the likes of Rebel Without a Cause, Cool Hand Luke, The Maltese Falcon and at Stage 6, the most enduring movie ever made, Casablanca. According to a plaque on the wall, it seems that the same sound stage was also home to ER, The Bill Cosby Show and awww, Hart to Hart.

Like a Muppet with no control of my legs I soaked up the sights before being off-loaded outside Central Perk (geddit?), the WB coffee and merchandise shop. Actually it was Starbucks coffee, but I bought one for the hell of it, then had to find a way to smuggle it into the screening room in my handbag without spilling a drop (top tip – use lots of napkins to wedge the coffee into place).

Film over, I was then left to walk back to my car by which time most of the WB staff were on their lunch break and Central Perk and the food plaza next door was a hive of activity (mostly of the eating kind).

I’ve decided, to answer my question above, that it’s b) ’simply adorable’ that I was most enthused about my cart ride. I have dreamed about being part of the movie industry all my life (thanks Dad) and to be able to do those little things that you see on all those old news reels, is a thrill. A cart ride! On a studio lot! What’s not to love?

Life is maybe more complicated now and ok, we don’t live on Pandora (would you really want to? There wasn’t one bottle of red wine on that planet, anyone notice that?) but there are still ways to find the joy in the simple things in life. And that’s my new year’s message to you. (Nods head emphatically.)

More blog-tastic news next week – including my encounter with someone very famous that I can’t yet talk about. So come back soon. Surprises of Pandora-esque proportions await!