Dream Ride for 3 Couch Potatoes

La-Z-Boys: The police log of the Seal Beach Sun reported three youths “riding down a couch on the hill of Sandpiper Drive.”

At least they weren’t watching TV.

IMPROVING SERVICE IS THEIR AIM! Like mail carriers, L.A. parking authorities can’t be stopped by rain or sleet--or staleness. The other day, The Times’ Rick Meyer noticed that your parking ticket is now delivered in a plastic bag during inclement weather (see photo). No extra charge for the bag.

AN APPEAL FOR MORE ENERGY: Officials at Locke High School set out some facetious placards to remind students they’re not at a hotel (see accompanying).

BAD GRADE IN SPELLING: Roger Stearman of Lake Arrowhead suspects the hospital ad he saw was supposed to say “underserved” (see accompanying).

On the other hand, I think the parking authorities sometimes do give tickets that are undeserved.

WARDROBE! Sightings of drivers shaving or applying makeup are, of course, common. But some commuters haven’t even reached that stage of morning readiness.

“I was traveling down Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance,” wrote Marilee Ryniker. “Near the intersection with Artesia, I looked to my right and saw a young woman in what at first I thought was a bikini. However, I realized it was her bra when I saw her putting her slip on over it as we waited for the light. Next came the dress.”

What was the woman’s state of dress upon first getting into her car? “I only hope that her garage adjoined her house,” Ryniker said.

WHAT’S WITH TORRANCE, ANYWAY? Kelvin Filer, meanwhile, recalls that as he was exiting the San Diego Freeway, he saw a “guy in the car in front of us get completely undressed and change clothes. He was able to do all of this before we got to the end of the congested offramp. It was the look on his face as he changed--pure nonchalance--that amazed me.”

The male quick-change artist was using the Crenshaw Boulevard exit in Torrance--a few blocks away from the sighting of the female quick-change artist cited in the previous item.

Two strips passing in the day?

miscelLAny:

The cost of infidelity has certainly gone up. Actor Michael Douglas’ prenup agreement with Catherine Zeta-Jones reportedly requires him to pay her $5 million if he ever cheats on her. (Douglas, you may recall, was said to have been treated for “sex addiction” some years ago).

Anyway, comic George Burns once wrote that during the 1950s he cheated on wife Gracie Allen for the first and only time. He then bought her a $750 silver centerpiece and a $10,000 diamond ring. And neither mentioned the incident until seven years later.

While shopping with Jack Benny’s wife Mary in the silver department of a Beverly Hills store, Gracie commented: “You know, I wish George would cheat again. I really need a new centerpiece.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.