winging it in... Boston

Let’s play ball…

So it is back! Baseball season is here and the Red Sox are back at home for the first time this season- not only are they back but they opened at Fenway Park against the Yankees! Given the abysmal form of the Red Sox so far this season- they have played six games, and they have managed to lose… six games, I was interested in the spectacle rather than the game. This time however, the support of the crowd and the atmosphere of being back in Fenway Park obviously helped, and they pulled their first victory of the season out of the bag. True to form they lost again today. I now have my tickets ordered for when the Twins are in town… and I may yet upgrade to a package, just so I can see the Cubs.

The weather this weekend has continued on the same theme as last week, and it has been a great temperature for being outside, being out and about and generally wandering around. So I have been making the most of it and I have used it as an excuse to head to the shops, well I had to walk there… and once there it would have been rude to buy anything… I am now the proud owner of a fantastic new Coach bag! I absolutely love it. So much so, that it may fall into the same category as my laptop- no one is allowed to touch it, breathe on it, and I’m not over keen on people looking at it. Unfortunately, in the case of my bag, this means that I need another bag to put it in before I can take it out. I am beginning to see a few minor issues with this policy.

It is not only me who has been out and about enjoying the weather. The Red Sox being at home and the milder days has suddenly made Fenway seem busy, bustling and more alive than it has in recent months. Give me a few weeks and I’m sure I will be back to complaining about all the people who pack the streets, spill out of the bars and forget that people live here. But for now, I have enjoyed the crowds, the noise from the ballpark, the duck tours quacking and trolley tours waving as they pass you in the street. It does remind me why I love the city so much. I so love being surrounded by people, people watching and seeing life unfold. I am still anti-social, and I don’t actually want to interact with these people, I can create enough drama and excitement in my own life to keep me amused. I just like to know that there is activity around me. It is the same reason I love apartments- it is my own space and identity but interconnected, however tentatively with something bigger.

Saturday night was theater time! I do usually quite enjoy a musical and Rent was playing so I head off to see a show. I should say in advance that Rent is not my favorite show. Whilst I do usually enjoy musicals this one really does stretch the genre to its limits. It has no real place for songs to fit, and tends to be dialogue sung rather than spoken. Given the rather heavy subject matter too, I’m not quite sure it works as a musical, but then who am I to argue with a Tony Award? Based on Puccini’s Opera La Boheme- which is a prominent catch phrase- it is the story of artists fighting capitalist growth, development and HIV/AIDS. It was the end of the 80s and these were the big news stories- or at least it is what comes to my mind when asked to sum up that decade, or part of the impressions I have of it, without ever having really been part of it. I guess from this point of view using art and music to being this to the attention of the public is the perfect way to go, although in originally opening just off Broadway, they may have been attracting the capitalist market they were criticizing. Generally tho, this was an interesting performance and enjoyable. One or two of the actresses may have been a little screechy for my ears, and for a rock musical there were one or two characters that didn’t look quite like they belonged… but I did enjoy seeing the throw back cell phones, the leg warmers and the neon colors- that being much more my experience of the 80s.

Winging it in... Boston

We'll get some purple French tail-lights and thirty-inch fins, oh yeah

Much as I hate to start with the weather, this week it has to be done! It has been hot, it has been cold, it has been up, it has been down… I am convinced the snow on Friday was just some big April fool’s joke. Thursday may have been slightly overcast but it was generally warm and sunny, only to be followed by snow showers, hail and a good 2/3” of snow fall on Friday. I wondered what had happened as I started the day clearing the snow from my car. This wasn’t just a quick flick of the glove either. It was proper hard-core ploughs and gritters out on the roads snow.

Imagine my surprise then, when Saturday dawned bright and sunny and averaging about 52F. It did take a huge amount of motivation to drag myself out of bed to go for a run, but I was pleasantly surprised that I had put the effort in. It was a gorgeous spring day. The ducks were on the pond, the trees were in bud, there was a slight wind blowing, but it wasn’t cold. What is more it continued into Sunday. Unfortunately my enthusiasm for running didn’t and Sunday’s run was really tough going.

Some of that could be down to the “Diner Dinner” I managed to put away on Saturday. Having spotted a 1950s diner a few weeks ago I was more than happy to head back there for lunch. I had nothing much else to do all day- I really was being very lazy, and lunch out seemed like a good plan. I was, maybe a touch, over enthusiastic at the prospect of a Chocolate milkshake. I was a bit disappoint that it wasn’t as good as 59 Dinner in Houston TX, but then, that is a long way to go for a chocolate shake. I was more perplexed that it arrived in two glasses, with two servings of whipped cream, two cherries and two straws… I hadn’t asked for two… I mentioned this to the waitress, only to be told that this was how it was served. I understand one glass and a the mixing tumbler arriving at the table, I even understand one glass and the extra arriving at the table; but surely two glasses and two of everything makes two milkshakes? Why not just use half the measures, half the cream, half the cherries, half the straws and then half the price, and call it one milkshake?

Sunday saw me cruising down the freeway toward Hartford CT, all in the name of Carmax. For a retailer who claims to be the largest used car dealer in the US their stores in the North Eastern states are very thin on the ground. Then again, I guess if people are willing to drive 90 miles to see you why build another one. It was with a heavy heart that I asked for an appraisal on my car. I really do love my car, and the thought of selling it is not a happy one.

I did have a while to contemplate this while sitting in Carmax- and I have to say as far as Carmax goes this one was very nice. The people were very friendly, very helpful and even offered me quite a lot for my car. Which was lucky, as I have found a Tiffany’s App and was busy using it to select all the jewelry I would like to buy. Turns out I will have to sell about 4 cars to afford all the things I’d like. At least it might help me get over the anguish and heartbreak of parting with my car at some point in the not too distant future.