So This Robber Walks Into a Bar ...

For one Huntington Beach bar patron, it was the unhappy hour. As you may have heard, minutes after a bank robbery, a suspect was arrested in a nearby bar where he had ordered a beer. Ronald Langdale, 58, had taken only a few sips and was counting “a wad of money� when he was apprehended, police said.

What this seems to point up, once again, is the lack of thought that goes into planning getaways.

Consider some of the flawed exits from bank heists that led to arrests in recent years:

* A robber in Cerritos was still wearing his mask as he drove away.

* A robber in L.A. was stranded outside a bank because his getaway driver thought he had time to get the car washed down the street.

* A robber in Rolling Hills Estates put the bank loot in his gym bag and didn’t notice that two of his traffic tickets fell out. (Worse, his car wouldn’t start outside.)

* And, perhaps most inexplicable of all, a Pasadena bank robber tried to make his getaway in a Yugo. He got about a mile.

The bibulous bank robber (cont.): In the case of the Huntington Beach arrest, I like to think the suspect had that wad of cash out in the bar because he was going to buy one for the house.

For that getaway to England: Regarding the puzzling traffic sign in London (see photo), B.J. Ahlen of L.A. was one of many to set me straight, so to speak.

“ ‘Adverse camber,’ he said, “means that a curve is graded the wrong way, so the outside of the curve is lower than the inside. Nightmare to drive! I guess this is England’s contribution to population control.�

Aren’t we special: In San Diego, Lyle Davidson noticed a snooty listing for condos that said prospective buyers would be involved in a “competition� (see accompanying). Yes, a competition to see who can fork out the most bucks.

Such a deal: A reader sent along an ad for a cleaning fluid that’s just the thing for homeowners who think their germs are too drab (see accompanying).

The boss did what? The latest communique about etiquette-challenged employers was dispatched by a San Clemente resident: “Being a somewhat casual beach town office, my boss quite often wore sandals and would trim his toenails while dictating. Sure enough one day I was hit by one of the projectiles on the forehead.

“Protective goggles would have been nice.�

Mondegreen of the Day: This instance of misinterpreted remarks occurred one Feb. 2 when Rocky Quiroz was substitute teaching a second-grade class. “When I wrote the date on the board in the morning, I mentioned that it was Groundhog Day,� Quiroz said, “and was writing that out when I heard this surprised kid’s voice behind me say, ‘I thought it was drowned dog day.’ �

miscelLAny: Radio station KFWB-AM (980) has been singling out gas stations that charge comparatively low prices. But what about locations for people who want to be big spenders?

I saw a 76 station on National Boulevard in West Los Angeles that offered a “high performance� blend for $2.459. Can anyone top that?

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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 [email protected].