It Was a Sorry Reaction to an Apology

Time for another episode of “As the Palisades Turns” ....

“Some people just won’t accept a sincere apology, like the woman in the Gelson’s parking lot I encountered Sunday,” a reader wrote for the “Your 2 Cents Worth” column of the Palisadian-Post.

“I accidentally, lightly bumped her car with my car door when I was getting out to go shop. Talking on her cellphone, she came over to tell me, and I apologized.

“She then scolded me and told me I needed to be more careful. I apologized once again. She then started lecturing me. I told her I had apologized, and meant it, and I asked her what more did she want from me -- a kiss?

“She then told me I could kiss an unmentionable part of her body.”

If you think parking is a problem: “I often wonder how, in a neighborhood as affluent as Pacific Palisades,” another reader wrote the Palisadian-Post, “the turn signals on so many of the cars do not work and the brakes refuse to stop at stop signs. Isn’t it strange?”

Incivility on the road (cont.): Near Sydney, Australia, Leon Arnold of La Canada Flintridge spotted a bus that did not seem to have a friendly attitude toward its passengers (see photo).

The ultimate incivility: “In case of a nuclear attack, it’s comforting to know that at least my carpets are fully protected,” commented Stan Laufman of Simi Valley (see accompanying).

Unclear on the concept: In a local newspaper, Will England of Cerritos noticed a biologically improbable category (see accompanying).

That’s Hollywood! Among the sidewalk curiosities of Tinseltown -- the many sidewalk curiosities -- is an apparatus that Jack Herman says has been chained to a pole on Sunset Boulevard for weeks (see photo). “Every day I drive by, it takes a new position,” he said. “I call it the ‘Hollywood Walker of Fame.’ ”

Cinematic family trees: On the subject of strange movie castings, Earl Albert of Temple City took me to task for neglecting to mention “the most prolific of all the ‘she’s-too-young-to-be-his-mom!’ actresses. Jo Van Fleet (born 1919) played mother to James Dean (b. 1931) in ‘East of Eden’ and to Paul Newman (b. 1925) in ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ ” Now that you mention it, I do recall that Luke was sort of a mixed-up individual.

miscelLAny: As for the item about the person who did business with a bank clerk named Noel Fund, Robert Weibezahl asked: “Was your reader making a deposit into her Christmas Club account?”

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, and by e-mail at [email protected].