hell and damnation rains on (or near) Bill Kay

If I were of a more religious turn of mind than I am, I might think that the Almighty had some quibble with the godless hordes of America's west coast.
First there is a sizeable earthquake in nearby Reno, Nevada. None dead, little damage, but a distinct warning for those inclined to heed it.
Then, last Friday morning, a 66-year-old vetinarian is out swimming off the coastline of San Diego when wham! A 17-foot Great White Shark mistakes him for a seal (so we are told, the shark hasn't yet issued its own plea in mitigation) and bites his legs off. Mercifully, he died soon after being hauled ashore.
But on Saturday the fates really move up a gear or two. Unseasonably hot weather, with or without a little help from a local boy scout troop, sparks a brush fire in the San Gabriel Mountains near Santa Anita racetrack, only a few miles from Pasadena. More than 1,000 people are evacuated and the fire service say it will take a week to bring under control.
On the same day, just across the border in Tijuana, two drug gangs or warring factions within one gang engage in a wild west shootout that lasts ten minutes and, at the latest count, kills 15 in a torrent of bullets from rifles and machine guns. This brings the Mexican drug-related murder total to 860 so far this year, after 2,500 died the same way last year.
Amazingly, a government spokesman was quoted as saying he hoped there would be 'more such events', because it was a handy way of getting the drug barons to kill one another, saving police time and manpower. I've heard of less government, but that is going a little far in my view.
OK, I've crossed Tijuana off the list for day trips, I have no plans to go hiking in tinder-dry mountains, I never was keen on swimming in the sea and I'll take my chances that earthquakes don't rumble any closer than Nevada. All the same, it's a little too close for comfort.
The strange thing is how easy it is to get used to all this mayhem. It was the same when the London underground bombs went off in July 2005. I really was close to one of them, the Edgware Road bomb, but if it is on your doorstep it is a local incident. It seems odd that the same event makes headlines round the world, even though I am more aware than most people that all this and more is being pumped across the newswires 24 hours a day, and the receiving media make an objective decision whether to relay it.
As it happens, the Santa Anita fire and Reno earthquake are almost routine and do not merit much coverage outside the region. But the shootout and the shark attack did make worldwide headlines, largely because of their Hollywood echoes - Jaws and the Gunfight at OK Corral, as well as many other westerns.
While America reluctantly comes to terms with some form of gun control after a series of grudge shootings at colleges and supermarkets, gun use seems to be out of control in Mexico.
The statistics on shark attacks suggest that they are pretty rare on the west coast - 98 incidents in the past 80 years, only 8 dead - and perhaps there is no practical way of eliminating them entirely. But it still seems strange, more than 30 years after Spielberg made his name with Jaws, that people are still being eaten alive by sharks.
The rubber shark still leaps out of the water at the Universal Studios Back Lot tour, and I have seen no reports of the stunt being suspended as a mark of respect after Friday's gory death. Doubtless the tour guides are making black jokes about the real life replay of the film.
Talking of black jokes, have you heard the one about the black 7-year-old who stole a car and went for a joyride? 'You gotta keep an eye on him the whole time,' remarked his mother.