# Greetings from Boston!



## Mation (Oct 3, 2005)

Hello there 

Thought I'd do a self-indulgent thread to post occasional ramblings while I'm over here in the U.S. of A.

Arrived here in style yesterday having made a big cry-baby, panicky fuss on the plane when they wouldn't let me assauge my flying terror with alcohol on top of valium, but instead upgraded me to first class!   

Slept all the way in a full-length bed with a duvet and big fluffy pillow, I did 

I'm staying in a lovely flat in Brighton, which is a studenty area about 15 minutes on the T (train/tram thing) away from Boston University.

Haven't seen much yet bar the department I'll be in and my bf's brother and his wife's house, but I'm off to explore Harvard Square shortly.

To everyone who tried to tell me I'd freeze* I should actually have packed my bikini because it is currently hot and sunny and lovely 

* Yes I know I'll pay for this later...


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## Strumpet (Oct 3, 2005)

*waves at you*  
Hope you have a wonderful time mation!    

Look forward to your adventure blog!


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## Pickman's model (Oct 3, 2005)

are you going to salem?


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## fat hamster (Oct 3, 2005)

Woohooooo!

You made it! Yay!!!!

<jumps up and down and waves frantically to Mation>  










			
				Mation said:
			
		

> Arrived here in style yesterday having made a big cry-baby, panicky fuss on the plane when they wouldn't let me assauge my flying terror with alcohol on top of valium, but instead upgraded me to first class!
> 
> Slept all the way in a full-length bed with a duvet and big fluffy pillow, I did


<makes a note of Mation's technique for future reference when flying out to see her> 

So what time is it over there?


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## axon (Oct 4, 2005)

Welcome to the Land of the Free (terms and conditions apply) Mation ! I've baked you a metaphorical electronic apple pie.  Enjoy !


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## Mation (Oct 4, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> <makes a note of Mation's technique for future reference when flying out to see her>
> 
> So what time is it over there?


Tee-hee  I can highly recommend flying Wuss Class  And it's now 5 past midnight and I'm wery wery sleepy. Come and visit Hammy come and visit Hammy come and visit!

I've been out wandering about Harvard library, trying and failing to step quietly on marble floors and attracting snooty glances all the way. Snuck in to their fabulously grand and ornate chapel too. Very impressive organ. I'll post some pictures in a couple of days when I've taken a few more. (Oh joy! cries everyone)

I'm going to try to get to Salem for Halloween or thereabouts, Pickman's.   

I tried to get myself in the mood with the very same pumpkin beer you were talking about the other day axon, but got served ginger and cinnamon beer instead in a bar in Harvard Square. Very nice it was too (the beer, not the bar). Did badly in a pub quiz... the plural of octopus is octpodes, apparently.   

Thanks Strumpet


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## treefrog (Oct 4, 2005)

Yay!! 'Ello love, jammy you for getting into first class! 

Snake is doing very well, has discovered the delights of using my neck as a place to snooze..


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## flimsier (Oct 4, 2005)

Tell everyone on the streets, '"unlucky v the White Sox" from flimsier' please!


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## Roadkill (Oct 4, 2005)

Lucky you.    Boston's lovely.


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## dingleweed (Oct 4, 2005)

i love boston its very nice!!
have fun


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## flimsier (Oct 4, 2005)

flimsier said:
			
		

> Tell everyone on the streets, '"unlucky v the White Sox" from flimsier' please!



Errm, after one inning of their first game, they won't be laughing!!


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## MarkMark (Oct 4, 2005)

Glad you made it safe & sound!


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## madamv (Oct 4, 2005)

I look forward to hearing all about your travels.   

 I never get to go anywhere me


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## Mation (Oct 5, 2005)

*waves hullo to all*

<minutiae>

Did some work stuff today (apparently I'm expected to do some   ) and then spent some time wandering around Brookline. very odd that it's a separate city given that it's right in the middle of Boston and starts over the road from from my place, distinguished only by the general swishness. Very affluent, very beautiful houses, huge gardens, and funnily enough, full of people who made eye-contact and smiled at me... I thought Boston is supposed to be cold and unfriendly? Oh... it wasn't Boston. Hmmmm.

I found a pretty good supermarket at Coolidge Corner where the chap on the till asked about my Necker cube tattoo, and then reeled off a whole load of links he thought I should look at from the Society for Neuroscience website   And indeed I should as I'm off to their conference in Washington in November.

Found some good Indian food too!  I saw a really cheap and grotty-looking 'all you can eat' buffet and thought 'that's the place for me!' and indeed it was.

I'll do some proper touristy things over the weekend... 

Facsnating this, isn't it! 

Any other tips for me to endear myself to Bostonian's after flimsier's helpful suggestion?   

Has Isobel had scale to scale contact with Mir yet, frogperson?


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## tastebud (Oct 5, 2005)

glad to hear it's going well. enjoy!


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## Agent Sparrow (Oct 5, 2005)

Excellent! Keep the news coming, and so glad you've had a good start!


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## girasol (Oct 5, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I tried to get myself in the mood with the very same pumpkin beer you were talking about the other day axon, *but got served ginger and cinnamon beer instead* in a bar in Harvard Square. Very nice it was too (the beer, not the bar). Did badly in a pub quiz... the plural of octopus is octpodes, apparently.



Cinnamon beer???  If they do them in bottles you have to get me one!!! Sounds wonderful, I love the smell of cinnamon above everything else...

Glad to hear you're settling in ok!


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## fat hamster (Oct 8, 2005)

Been checkin' this thread now and then...it's been three days...you still out there, Mation??   

Hope you're just having so much fun you haven't had time to post!


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## Mation (Oct 9, 2005)

Still here! 

I've actually been doing some work! (First time I've been absorbed rather than just busy in ages.   )

But! Also got out and about a little... It's been really hot and sunny here all week until yesterday when it just poured buckets all day, on my first proper sightseeing fest. 

Really wanted to go on a whale watching boat but the weather was so filthy it didn't seem worth it, but I did go to the Aquarium. They have leafy sea dragons. I *love* leafy sea dragons! But I got depressed when there was a big harbour seal training show and left...

Wandered around downtown to Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall and did some of the Freedom Trail to Boston Common...

Managed to get to the Christian Science centre when the last 'mapparium' show had sold out, so I might try again later. Despite being a misnoma, the centre has a big stained-glass globe of the world as it was known in 1935... You can walk on a bridge through it and the acoustics are all odd - it's a whispering gallery. Was talking to one of the professors in the department here at BU who made acoustic measurements of it years ago and apparently sounds just move very strangely up, down and around as you walk in a straight line through it...

Made it to the Museum of Fine Art and looked at lots of beautiful stolen things... my favourite being a beautifully painted, red porcelain arse from Tibet (iirc).

Went to the top of the Prudential tower on Friday night for hideously expensive cocktails and did some people watching in Back Bay. There are some terrifyingly glamourous bar staff here!

Ooh and I had dinner in a very posh restaurant last night, on my own, eating only side dishes of macaroni and mashed potato with champagne as they didn't have a vegetarian main.   

I need to meet some Americans... Properly, I mean, not just in passing. (Lab mates don't count as they're all weird geeks anyway!   ) Haven't really got a sense of the place yet beyond the very friendly but superficial politeness. Haven't spotted any racism yet, but I'm trying not to look toooo hard...

I stopped a random black woman on the street to ask where she got her hair done as I haven't seen any appropriate salons yet, and she gave me her phone number, so I'm going to call and see what I can see...

<thinks about brainaddict's travelogue compared to this>


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## crustychick (Oct 10, 2005)

*waves*

Hi Mation!

Glad you're having a cool time


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## D (Oct 11, 2005)

Have you been to Jamaica Plain?

There were - and probably still are - some cool arts collectives in that area.

I bet you'd find a fair number of places to have your hair cut in Roxbury.


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## bluestreak (Oct 11, 2005)

ello sunshine, *waves*

all goes well then?


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## Miss Caphat (Oct 12, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> Have you been to Jamaica Plain?
> 
> There were - and probably still are - some cool arts collectives in that area.
> 
> I bet you'd find a fair number of places to have your hair cut in Roxbury.




  Oooh, actually there's a really fun place in J.P. I used to live there and I'd pass this place on the bus, I forget what it was called but you really can't miss it, it's famous. 

   Ask people, I think they'll know what I'm talking about..it has a funny name. Or you can just take the main bus route that goes through Jamaica Plain (the #39) and look out for it. 

    Sorry to be confusing! 

    Anyway, also check out the Arnold arboreatum in J.P. it's gorgeous and very big. (this is all assuming you're still there)


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## pseudonarcissus (Oct 12, 2005)

I'll be in Boston the weekend after next.  It's the Head of the Charles rowing race.  I expect to see you there cheering me on


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## fat hamster (Oct 12, 2005)

<waves to Mation>


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## Mation (Oct 13, 2005)

pseudonarcissus said:
			
		

> I'll be in Boston the weekend after next.  It's the Head of the Charles rowing race.  I expect to see you there cheering me on


Ooh! PM me - I'd love to come and cheer you on 

<waves enthusiatcally to crustychick, bluey and Hammy>

I'm planning the Arboretum for next Sunday, Miss Caphat, for a bit of local leaf-peeping, and I'm venturing into New Hampshire (gulp) on Saturday for the same.

D - I'm definitely going to Jamaica Plain for a post-conference party in a few weeks, but I should think that will alll be a bit stuffy. Will investigate the arts collectives...

And meanwhile, from the comfort of my chair, i'm quite enjoying the vagaries of Boston life on craigslist....


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## D (Oct 13, 2005)

Ah, craigslist.  The wonders of the internet.


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## MarkMark (Oct 13, 2005)

Glad to hear you're settling in there. Liked the story about finding a bid red Tibettan arse in _The Museum Of Stolen Things_ (sounds a bit like our 'British' Museum then)  Enjoy yourself & keep us posted.


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## pseudonarcissus (Oct 13, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Ooh! PM me - I'd love to come and cheer you on



a friend reports:

"I was amused to read in Vanity Fair's (Sept 2005) autumn diary section 
detailing ("cool places to be and when") the following -

October 22-23  BOSTON
Hunky Ivy League rowers converge on Boston's Charles River for the Head of 
the Charles, a weekend of preppy handbook without irony.  On the sidelines, 
corduroyed young men hook up with girls in pearls; think of it as America's 
version of European royal-family inbreeding."


I don't read Vanity Fair and my friend claims she found it lying around at the hairdresser.  Anyway, maybe we can find ourselves some hunky ivy league types for the weekend.  I must dust off my corduroy.  I'll PM

I was up there a few years ago and we rented a car and hiked up Mont Monadnock which was very pretty.


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## Mation (Oct 14, 2005)

pseudonarcissus said:
			
		

> October 22-23  BOSTON
> Hunky Ivy League rowers converge on Boston's Charles River for the Head of
> the Charles, a weekend of preppy handbook without irony.  On the sidelines,
> corduroyed young men hook up with girls in pearls; think of it as America's
> version of European royal-family inbreeding."


Yikes! I don't have any pearls, but I do have rather a lot of courderoy.

I shall come in drag!


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## Mation (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I've perked up a bit after being such a moaning misery-guts over in shagging and diseases and have managed to leave the house, despite the weather's best efforts to prevent me. It has been raining like a bastard for the last 9 nine days.

Found a local bar on Saturday night where I sat on my own for a bit listening to 80s rawk and hip-hop and reading Piers Morgan's diaries until I noticed 3 young Americans giggling and apologizing to me for using such filthy language within my earshot. I hadn't noticed them saying anything, but took the opportunity to introduce myself to some clean-living college boys. Two students of criminal law and one hip-hop producer who was heroically drunk. 

They told me all about how they used to take ketamine in church even though they believe in god 'n' all   , were keen to know what 'cracking one off' meant (they brought it up!) and practised their English accents on me. Ooh and they (all white) warned me not to go to South Boston as while Boston is apparently becoming less racially segregated in some areas (like Brighton/Allston, where I'm staying), not so down there and they didn't think I'd be safe. Happy to take their advice at the moment.   

Tried to go leaf-peeping yesterday. Got up very early for a pick-up from a hotel in town. Despite assurances from the concierge that the Fall Foliage Spectacular bus wouldn't arrive for ages and that he'd tell them to wait while I went to the loo if they were early, I got left behind. After calling me a liar and telling me he wasn't deaf and that I'd definitely said I was going on some shopping trip I hadn't heard of, he called the company and asked them to come back, only to be told that 'someone' had phoned them and cancelled my booking and that the tour was over-subscribed and I could just sod off really. (He put me on the phone so they could tell me themselves.)

I jumped in a cab and went to the tour offices, to find a line of people waiting for the bus which hadn't yet arrived and was still doing the rounds of hotels - so I joined it and got the last seat on the bus. No problem with my booking as far as they were concerned! And there was no-one behind me in the queue - it was just exactly full....

Sat next to a lovely, black (it's relevant!) woman from Texas who'd just moved to Boston and was being a tourist for a bit...

We decided to find the tour funny. It rained all the way, the leaves hadn't really turned much, we couldn't stop anywhere as it was too wet, the driver and tour guide spent the whole trip telling us he wished he'd stayed in bed and that he should have stayed retired instead of coming back to tourism after 10 years, and talking on his mobile phone as he sped down the fast lane of the motorway with one windscreen-wiper broken and looking almost anywhere but the road. I had a good view of the windscreen as I was in the front row of seats.

At lunch, Regina and I sat with a Scottish couple and were asked by the rather dotty woman whether we were sisters or just friends... "Er, we just met on the bus." ''Oh! Do you sing?" "No - I'm a neuroscientist".   

Still! At least I went off for a 3-hour whale watching tour this morning. At least, I got to the harbour but despite this being the first warm and sunny day for ages, the trip was cancelled due to gale force winds that have now arrived and are trying to re-arrange the park outside my window.



(I did manage a quick trip round the harbour on another boat but even then the plastic chairs started to blow off deck!)

And I'm going to hook up with Regina again, possibly to go hiking in the White Mountains.

And I got Stobes a fridge-magnet.


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## fat hamster (Oct 16, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> "Do you sing?" "No - I'm a neuroscientist".


 indeed, but also   .


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## laptop (Oct 16, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I shall come in drag!



* Takes cold shower *





* Realises the boiler is broken and there isn't any other kind tonight *






So much for the sincerity of that servile "have a nice day" service, then. Glad to hear it's shaping up Soviet


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## Mation (Oct 16, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> indeed, but also   .


The timing was a bit off as Regina went to the loo as I said what I do, but when she arrived back I did ask the Scottish woman whether -she- was a singer.  It went *whoosh* but amused us!




			
				laptop said:
			
		

> Glad to hear it's shaping up Soviet


Indeed. 

<girly bit>

Oh and I forgot the other reason I'm feeling better.. I went to Filene's Basement at Downtown Crossing, where the clothes get marked down and then down further automatically, by a percentage of the original price according to how long they've been there. Saw loads of bum-length, soft, grey, flannel dressing-gowns with hoods and was wishing very hard for a longer one with pockets to see me through Sundays and the already quite nippy mornings. And after looking at least 20 of the wrong sort, one materialised! 

For $7.50.


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## Mation (Oct 17, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I went to Filene's Basement at Downtown Crossing


Speaking of which, I just saw this article in The Boston Phoenix  about Wal-Mart trying to take over the Filene's/Macys building, but Boston doesn't seem to want them.  

Good!


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## mango5 (Oct 17, 2005)

Hey you I've only just seen this  You write what you want it's not a competition 
*subscribes to thread*


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## Jenerys (Oct 17, 2005)

[also subscribes to thread] 

Have just emailed you gorgeous


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## Mation (Oct 18, 2005)

One of my neighbours is freak...

I did something naughty - I admit it. Last week I took the rubbish down as I was on my way out... This was the first time and I thought I'd read in my sublease agreement that rubbish was to be left behind my building, #76. When I got downstairs I saw that I couldn't get through the gate to the back of the house without a key, and thought that the person I'm subletting from (Esther) must have forgotten to give it to me (as she had with the key to the letterbox). So as I was already late, I left the bag by the gate. Felt a bit guilty. I did this precisely once.

Today I got an email from Esther who had in turn received an email from the company that manages the building. There was a complaint about me leaving the bag in the wrong place (it should have been behind #79, as I found out when I looked at the lease again).

How did they know it was me?

The person who found the bag *went through my rubbish* and found something that mentioned this flat.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 18, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Speaking of which, I just saw this article in The Boston Phoenix  about Wal-Mart trying to take over the Filene's/Macys building, but Boston doesn't seem to want them.
> 
> Good!



Filene's Basement is an institution.


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## D (Oct 18, 2005)

Mation - is your tagline a reference to Cheers?

That's very Bostonian of you.


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## Mation (Oct 18, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> Mation - is your tagline a reference to Cheers?
> 
> That's very Bostonian of you.


It is! I went and sat on his stool at the bar in the Cheers-interior-replica bar that looks nothing at all like Cheers!   

No-one cried "Mation!" so I'm thinking of changing my name...


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## djbombscare (Oct 18, 2005)

Now this is just freaky. .  I've just found out I've got to fly out to Boston for a week on Nov 28th.


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## Skim (Oct 18, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> The person who found the bag *went through my rubbish* and found something that mentioned this flat.




 

That notwithstanding, it sounds like you're having a fab time


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> Now this is just freaky. .  I've just found out I've got to fly out to Boston for a week on Nov 28th.


Spooky! 

I'll be an expert Boston bore by then and can tell you where to go. As it were. And if you're about for a cuppa that would be lovely. 

*waves to mango5, LilJen and skim*


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## laptop (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Today I got an email from Esther who had in turn received an email from the company that manages the building. There was a complaint about me leaving the bag in the wrong place (it should have been behind #79, as I found out when I looked at the lease again).



Er...

How long has Boston been in Switzerland? 

Don't hang any washing out!


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

Isnt' the Boston chinatown the crappiest ever?


I didn't realize you were a neuropsychologist. That must be why you knew who Muriel Lezak was, a while ago - at least I think it was you.

Judging by the weather, you might as well be in Vancouver.


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Isnt' the Boston chinatown the crappiest ever?
> 
> 
> I didn't realize you were a neuropsychologist. That must be why you knew who Muriel Lezak was, a while ago - at least I think it was you.
> ...


Had a wander round Chinatown after my mini harbour tour on Sunday. Wasn't desperately excited by it, but then I don't know what would make me so.

I'm *not* a neuropsychologist! There's a difference!  And I don't know who Muriel Lezak is. I was however, wearing blue.

Appropo of the silly thread in general, did I mention the queue (sorry, line) for the loo on Saturday? 

Leaf-peeping tour bus stopped for a nanosecond at a cafe so we could all go to the loo, and the queue was all muddled. So people (all from the bus) attempted to work out who was in which place. The woman in front of me looked straight past lil old me, to the woman behind me (who was only half inside the room as it was so crowded) and said "You were after me, weren't you?" and the tosser blatantly lied and answered, "Yes, I'm next, after you." I looked back and forth between them and realised that they weren't likely to look in my direction anytime soon, so just said "Erm, I think you'll find that I was before you", to the queue-jumper. She didn't say a word, and the one in front said "oh" and looked away again.


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> Don't hang any washing out!


No chance of that!  I'm using the residential laundry in the building across the road. Seven quarters for a wash and seven for a dry. Grrrrr.  Fucking fiddly money.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Appropo of the silly thread in general, did I mention the queue (sorry, line) for the loo on Saturday?
> 
> Leaf-peeping tour bus stopped for a nanosecond at a cafe so we could all go to the loo, and the queue was all muddled. So people (all from the bus) attempted to work out who was in which place. The woman in front of me looked straight past lil old me, to the woman behind me (who was only half inside the room as it was so crowded) and said "You were after me, weren't you?" and the tosser blatantly lied and answered, "Yes, I'm next, after you." I looked back and forth between them and realised that they weren't likely to look in my direction anytime soon, so just said "Erm, I think you'll find that I was before you", to the queue-jumper. She didn't say a word, and the one in front said "oh" and looked away again.



Ah yes:the good old USA.

The problem in the US is that if you're black, you aren't sure if that kind of stuff is racial, or is just generalized rudeness.

Then, there are some things that you know boil down to race.

I hope you have a thick skin. If you do, you can laugh at the silliness of it.


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## D (Oct 19, 2005)

You know, I've never lived in Boston; but a number of people I know who have say they encountered far more abundant, insidious, and totally let's-pretend-it's-not-there racism in Boston than they did living in New Orleans, Washington DC, Baltimore, most anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line.


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> The problem in the US is that if you're black, you aren't sure if that kind of stuff is racial, or is just generalized rudeness.


Well that's just it! I seldom know, here or at home (though I think this time it was definitely racism given how polite everyone was being to everyone else).

I've had white friends outraged on my behalf before when they've spotted things like me being overlooked at a bar, while I've just been thinking it was busy... Hard to tell and I'm not keen to tot up all my experiences of this compared to some (white) other person, but I suspect that if I did there'd be an imbalance.

I did find it quite funny though. 

D - yes I remember you saying that when I was asking about New Orleans before my trip there last February and thinking 'oh fuck!'


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> You know, I've never lived in Boston; but a number of people I know who have say they encountered far more abundant, insidious, and totally let's-pretend-it's-not-there racism in Boston than they did living in New Orleans, Washington DC, Baltimore, most anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line.



I think part of it is that you're not expecting it there, or in other northern cities, so it takes you unawares.

I know that during my limited travels in the south, I was braced for all sorts of nonsense that never happened. Maybe I was lucky, but the racial issue seemed fairly relaxed - at least where I was.

But I've been totally floored by minor racist incidents in places like SF, Chicago, ..... and Great Falls Montana.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised at that last one.


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised at that last one.


Why not?


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## laptop (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Why not?



_We_ know that Montana is north of the Mason-Dixon but lots of _them_ aren't that hot at geography


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## D (Oct 19, 2005)

JC2 - Have you been to Detroit? Newark? DC?

I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of those northern (DC's kind of neither north nor south, really - just its own weird, dreadful political apparatus divorced from the rest of the country) cities where the population is predominantly black.


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## djbombscare (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Spooky!
> 
> I'll be an expert Boston bore by then and can tell you where to go. As it were. And if you're about for a cuppa that would be lovely.
> 
> *waves to mango5, LilJen and skim*



I think a cuppa a tea in Boston has gotta be a must.

Im well excited. Im going on my own so its like a little adventure


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> I think a cuppa a tea in Boston has gotta be a must.
> 
> Im well excited. Im going on my own so its like a little adventure


Cool - I'll investigate some tea rooms 

D - I went to Washington DC for a week or so a decade ago. I was staying with a white friend and her mother in the suburbs and just remember both of them being very frightened everytime we went out in the evening, especially if we were near somewhere 'urban'. Her mother actually assesed my handbag for size and was slightly reassured that it looked big enough to contain a gun!   

When my friend and I missed the last metro home one night after a concert at the Wonderland Ballroom, she was so terrified that some blokes were hanging around about 75 metres away that she opened the door of a cab that had stopped at the lights but had its light off and a passenger inside, and asked if we could jump in and share! We did. It was a bit bizarre.

Went to a club and got talking to the (black) bouncers there. They were very friendly but warned me that if I did find myself in a poor area that it wouldn't matter what color (sic!) I was - I should just keep my  mouth shut so they wouldn't know I'm English!

Am of to DC again in a month or so for a week... Will be staying in town this time.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Why not?



Parts of the Pacific Northwest, mostly in parts of Montana and Idaho, are home to a number of white supremacists.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> JC2 - Have you been to Detroit? Newark? DC?
> 
> I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of those northern (DC's kind of neither north nor south, really - just its own weird, dreadful political apparatus divorced from the rest of the country) cities where the population is predominantly black.



No, none of those. Places I've been with the largest black populations were Chicago, Oakland; and East St. Louis, of course, but I didn't linger there very long.


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## Mation (Oct 19, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Parts of the Pacific Northwest, mostly in parts of Montana and Idaho, are home to a number of white supremacists.


Ah. 

Good thing to know in advance of my solo camping holiday adventure then.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Cool - I'll investigate some tea rooms
> 
> D - I went to Washington DC for a week or so a decade ago. I was staying with a white friend and her mother in the suburbs and just remember both of them being very frightened everytime we went out in the evening, especially if we were near somewhere 'urban'. Her mother actually assesed my handbag for size and was slightly reassured that it looked big enough to contain a gun!
> 
> ...



I think one of those unspoken things about urban whites in a lot of US cities is that blacks tend to scare them shitless.

I recall walking down a street in Chicago one evening. Everything ok, me minding my own business, no one paying any attention. Then some ragamuffin type street kids/dealers started walking beside me, trying to sell me a rock or something. There was nothing menacing about it, but they were walking beside me for maybe half a block.

While they were there, the oncoming white pedestrians regarded me and them with looks of horror, like they were witnessing a knifing or something. I don't know what it was, whether my acknowledgement of the street people somehow made the dealers visible to the whites, or if my speaking to the dealers took me down to their level in the eyes of the whites. 

After the dealers took off, it went back to normal, and the whites stopped noticing me. Very weird.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 19, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Ah.
> 
> Good thing to know in advance of my solo camping holiday adventure then.




Just cross the border into BC, and you'll be fine.

Except for the bears, of course.


----------



## Mation (Oct 20, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Just cross the border into BC, and you'll be fine.
> 
> Except for the bears, of course.


Don't worry! I have no trips planned that way at all.


----------



## Mation (Oct 20, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> I think one of those unspoken things about urban whites in a lot of US cities is that blacks tend to scare them shitless.
> 
> I recall walking down a street in Chicago one evening. Everything ok, me minding my own business, no one paying any attention. Then some ragamuffin type street kids/dealers started walking beside me, trying to sell me a rock or something. There was nothing menacing about it, but they were walking beside me for maybe half a block.
> 
> ...


Yes very odd.

I had another 'is or isn't it?' experience today... At lunch in a very crowded cafe/bar I sat alone at a large table for four as it was the only place left.

Two young white women stood near the table, glancing at it frequently in visible distress, but not sitting down (while they were waiting to pick up their meal). Eventually someone else got up and they could take that table instead. Hmmmmmm.


----------



## Stobart Stopper (Oct 20, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> Don't hang any washing out!


I have never understood this, it's the one thing my sister misses, even after almost 30 years of living in the US. Why is it frowned upon to hang washing outside?


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 20, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Yes very odd.
> 
> I had another 'is or isn't it?' experience today... At lunch in a very crowded cafe/bar I sat alone at a large table for four as it was the only place left.
> 
> Two young white women stood near the table, glancing at it frequently in visible distress, but not sitting down (while they were waiting to pick up their meal). Eventually someone else got up and they could take that table instead. Hmmmmmm.




That's not 'is or isn't', that 'is'.

The US is great for generating racial paranoia in us minority types. What I do now when I'm there, is just ignore it as best I can. No point in letting ignorance make me upset: fuck 'em.


----------



## Mation (Oct 21, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> That's not 'is or isn't', that 'is'.
> 
> The US is great for generating racial paranoia in us minority types. What I do now when I'm there, is just ignore it as best I can. No point in letting ignorance make me upset: fuck 'em.


I can ignore it easily when I'm with other people, but when I'm on my own, instead of upsetting me as such, it makes me feel the need to justify myself.   

Just got back from Symphony Hall where I got an $8 'rush' ticket to see a Sibelius concerto (very good) and Shostakovich's symphony #8 (I *love* Shostakovich!). 

In the first half I sat in the second to last row of the stalls and had a pretty awful view, but there were lots of unsold seats so I moved upstairs to the lower balcony after the intermission. Lots of people did it, moving to better seats. But the looks I was getting from the people around me made me start blathering on to the the chap I was next to about my PhD as if to say, no honestly, I *am* civilised enough to be here.    

Fantastic concert though.


----------



## D (Oct 21, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Just got back from Symphony Hall where I got an $8 'rush' ticket to see a Sibelius concerto (very good) and Shostakovich's symphony #8 (I *love* Shostakovich!).
> 
> In the first half I sat in the second to last row of the stalls and had a pretty awful view, but there were lots of unsold seats so I moved upstairs to the lower balcony after the intermission. Lots of people did it, moving to better seats. But the looks I was getting from the people around me made me start blathering on to the the chap I was next to about my PhD as if to say, no honestly, I *am* civilised enough to be here.
> 
> Fantastic concert though.



Boston is great for classical music.  Sorry to hear that people were unfriendly. 

Re DC - I lived in the District (which was bad enough...I wouldn't have survived a day in suburbia!) in an area called Adams Morgan, which has been massively gentrified.  At the time, though, it was still the heart of the largest Ethiopian community outside Ethiopa (Washington DC is - or was - that place overall).

I also looked at some flats in Columbia Heights and considered NE and SE - all of which are predominantly black areas.

If it's anything like it was, go to the U Street corridor when you visit.  And I'll be curious to hear how SE has changed - it was really beginning to transform when I was there (2001).

***

Oakland is a great town.  I prefer living in SF, but I spend loads of time in Oakland.  It's too bad it's one of those places where downtown is deserted after the workday (save for one really cool bar...the name escapes me right now).


----------



## Mation (Oct 21, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> Boston is great for classical music.  Sorry to hear that people were unfriendly.


Ah they weren't so bad... Some very hostile looks from some people, but others were friendly and chatted to me. 

In any case, I wasn't really there for the audience. Although! I was greatly cheered by a young group who sounded as though they were perhaps from Berkelee College or one of the music schools. One guy had the most humungous afro I think I've ever seen and I felt very sorry for the person sitting behind him!


----------



## laptop (Oct 21, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Two young white women stood near the table, glancing at it frequently in visible distress, but not sitting down (while they were waiting to pick up their meal). Eventually someone else got up and they could take that table instead. Hmmmmmm.



This is where you mess with their heads, if they look as though these have contents worth messing with, by inviting them to sit down, in your very best and Most English accent. 

You could also try out different English accents - see whether you can hold an entire conversation in West Yorkshire, or Mockney, or Princess Di, or whatever. 

(When I was first in Philly my mother - born within hearing of Bow Bells - made her first ever international phone call, so she spoke politely to the huge and incomprehensible machine she'd just connected to - with the inevitable result that the cry went up "Laptop, the Queen's on the phone!" Only actual trained dialecticians can tell.)

If there doesn't appear to be anything worth messing with, just spread out a large newspaper and enjoy the elbow-room


----------



## Mation (Oct 22, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> This is where you mess with their heads, if they look as though these have contents worth messing with, by inviting them to sit down, in your very best and Most English accent.


Yes, you see I can and often do do that... but it's a thin line between that and the justification thing. Depends on how much I've had of it recently and how dented my confidence is, really.

Love the idea that Bow Bells = RP


----------



## Mation (Oct 22, 2005)

Oh bloody hell, my head!

Went to Avaland (America's #1 club night!)  at Avalon to see Carl Cox last night... A lab mate and his partner were going and invited me along, which was nice.

I'd forgotten what clubs are like really... This one was a complete meat market and there seemed to be very few people there for the music. Lots watching the barely-clad go-go dancers though (pots, kettles etc  ).

I followed LilJen's instructions and got down the front to jig about... The music was so-so - I've got no idea on genres but it wasn't techno - so to amuse myself I borrowed a pen and a bit of paper, and then leapt up on stage before the bouncers could get me, and handed Cox an instruction to play One Night in Hackney and then jumped down again.

He pissed himself laughing. 

Then I went off to the side of the stage to chat to his 'people' as they seemed to want to know what I'd done. This got me entry backstage and lots of free vodka and champagne!

And after the show I had a nice chat (iirc, but I was steaming) with Carl... Made him say 'I'm Carl Cox and this is urban75 radio' into my phone and then made the poor man listen to a voice record I have of my boyfriend snoring, as I was missing him!   

But I did manage to keep my clothes on and go home without propositioning anyone!


----------



## D (Oct 22, 2005)

Well done!

That's impressive.


----------



## MarkMark (Oct 22, 2005)

wahey! fuck american express! From now on I'm gonna use the all new "one night in hackney" blag!

<makes notes>


----------



## Mation (Oct 22, 2005)

If only I'd tried it at Symphony Hall!


----------



## mango5 (Oct 22, 2005)

Good on you gal... you're getting those stories to bore us all with forever... keep going


----------



## fat hamster (Oct 22, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> so to amuse myself I borrowed a pen and a bit of paper, and then leapt up on stage before the bouncers could get me, and handed Cox an instruction to play One Night in Hackney and then jumped down again.




(read this to BH, who says, "Wow, she's cool!"  )


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

BH thinks I'm cool?   

Had a lovely (if wet) day today at the regatta with G & R... Attepted to cheer on pseudonarcissus, but probably arrived too late as we waited forever for a bus.

After a quick return to Filene's basement where I got me some bras, I went off to Vinny T's (where they serve the largest plates of pasta in the entire world, I'm sure) to meet pseudo.

He's lovely.  Here we are, a couple of hours ago: 







Pseudo! You have to come to London and bring your lovely friend with you. She's a natural urb if ever I saw one.

(And I'm not sure why but dinner and drinks seemed to be gratis    )


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 23, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I But the looks I was getting from the people around me made me start blathering on to the the chap I was next to about my PhD as if to say, no honestly, I *am* civilised enough to be here.
> 
> )



Don't do that. Something to remember: if they're giving you dirty looks, they're probably too scared to actually say anything to you...


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 23, 2005)

Bravo on the Carl Cox thing: good old English pluck.


----------



## Jenerys (Oct 23, 2005)

Told you you could get backstage didnt I   

Tits, smile and an English accent got me *everywhere* in the US


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Told you you could get backstage didnt I


You did indeed!


----------



## laptop (Oct 23, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Told you you could get backstage didnt I



So now you're set up for a few months of intense ligging, Mation 




			
				LilJen said:
			
		

> Tits, smile and an English accent got me *everywhere* in the US



I was about to say "it worked for me even without the tits" but then I remembered how much weight I put on when I got there...


----------



## girasol (Oct 23, 2005)

Great to see a photo of you Mation!    






Nice one!


----------



## Jenerys (Oct 23, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> I was about to say "it worked for me even without the tits" but then I remembered how much weight I put on when I got there...


Pizza and beer diets will do it every time   




(Where is that Mation....and how the fook do I use skype??!!)


----------



## Jenerys (Oct 23, 2005)

Iemanja said:
			
		

> Great to see a photo of you Mation!


Had you forgotten what she looks like?


----------



## girasol (Oct 23, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Had you forgotten what she looks like?



Nearly, it's been so long!   

Nah, it was just nice to see Mation's smiley face from the other side of the pond...


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

Iemanja said:
			
		

> Nearly, it's been so long!


Waaaaahhh! Homesick! Miss you! 

Just got off the phone with LilJen and am planning to come straight to the u75 christmas party after I land on the 16th and have a little kip.


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> So now you're set up for a few months of intense ligging, Mation


Ah yes, and I always have better ligging adventures if I'm on my own... So I shall see what's coming up and launch a full fluttery, bosomy onslaught! Off to Noo Yawk soon. Hmmmmm.


----------



## mango5 (Oct 23, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> ...launch a full fluttery, bosomy onslaught!


Glad to see you're keeping up with Urban trends.


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

mango5 said:
			
		

> Glad to see you're keeping up with Urban trends.


Perhaps I should get one of these...


----------



## mango5 (Oct 23, 2005)

With your smile?  You don't need it


----------



## pinkmonkey (Oct 23, 2005)

Just to say how much I am enjoying this thread.  It is really cheering me!

Sounds like you are having a ball.....


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

Aw.. ta you two 

Right - off out to the gym now to listen to some acid techno on my shiny new shuffle and pretend I'm at a squat party


----------



## Crispy (Oct 23, 2005)

Ooh, you missed a classic example last night 

Good to hear you're having fun. Show them thar murkins how to do it u75 stylee  Fantastic blag skills btw - I'm impressed!


----------



## treefrog (Oct 23, 2005)

Genius blag skills! Happen to be listening to that very track right now, Cox should have played it and put the wind up those gogo girls!

Isobel says hello, she's grumpy 'cause she's about to shed her skin...


----------



## Mation (Oct 23, 2005)

treefrog said:
			
		

> Genius blag skills! Happen to be listening to that very track right now, Cox should have played it and put the wind up those gogo girls!
> 
> Isobel says hello, she's grumpy 'cause she's about to shed her skin...


Hehe I think he would have if he'd had it there... he was giggling about it afterwards 

My poor grumpy baby! Shedding her first skin away from home (since I've had her ok so the occasion isn't *that* momentous!). Have her eyes gone Village of the Damned blue?

If the skin comes off in a big enough piece, put Mir inside it to confuse her!


----------



## treefrog (Oct 23, 2005)

they have. Mir shed last night, so both of them were looking very odd for a day or so.

that's a very mean idea, poor baby!


----------



## magneze (Oct 24, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I followed LilJen's instructions and got down the front to jig about... The music was so-so - I've got no idea on genres but it wasn't techno - so to amuse myself I borrowed a pen and a bit of paper, and then leapt up on stage before the bouncers could get me, and handed Cox an instruction to play One Night in Hackney and then jumped down again.
> 
> He pissed himself laughing.
> 
> Then I went off to the side of the stage to chat to his 'people' as they seemed to want to know what I'd done. This got me entry backstage and lots of free vodka and champagne!


  Nice one.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Oct 24, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> BH thinks I'm cool?
> 
> Had a lovely (if wet) day today at the regatta with G & R... Attepted to cheer on pseudonarcissus, but probably arrived too late as we waited forever for a bus.
> 
> After a quick return to Filene's basement where I got me some bras, I went off to Vinny T's (where they serve the largest plates of pasta in the entire world, I'm sure) to meet pseudo.



Well, I finally got to meet my first Urbanite! 

After a day getting all nostalgic about British weather (it rained and I froze half to death) and finishing 20th in the men's masters 8 category of the Head of the Charles Regatta I had dinner with Mation.  A slightly surreal internet date at a quite table for 20. Mation is wonderful. I really was starting to miss London.  I think we really do need to organize a Usa75 meet though.

I'll try and get Ellie on the boards too


----------



## Mation (Oct 25, 2005)

</mutual slapbacking>   

Goshy it's windy and rainy ouside at the moment. Must be the fringe of Wilma, I think.


----------



## MarkMark (Oct 25, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Must be the fringe of Wilma, I think.



Yeah, she tells me it's been windy over there!




 before <---------> after

sorry.. couldn't resist that -  keep the stories coming!


----------



## Mation (Oct 25, 2005)




----------



## mhendo (Oct 25, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Yes very odd.
> 
> I had another 'is or isn't it?' experience today... At lunch in a very crowded cafe/bar I sat alone at a large table for four as it was the only place left.
> 
> Two young white women stood near the table, glancing at it frequently in visible distress, but not sitting down (while they were waiting to pick up their meal). Eventually someone else got up and they could take that table instead. Hmmmmmm.


Yeah, i'm never sure how to interpret stuff like that here in the US. It could be about race. But it could just as easily be about Americans' general propensity not to impose on the personal space of others. They might simply have been worried that trying to sit at an already-occupied table would somehow offend the current occupant (you) and instead decided to wait for a free table. Or they could be crackers. 



			
				Mation said:
			
		

> Had a lovely (if wet) day today at the regatta with G & R... Attepted to cheer on pseudonarcissus, but probably arrived too late as we waited forever for a bus.
> 
> After a quick return to Filene's basement where I got me some bras, I went off to Vinny T's (where they serve the largest plates of pasta in the entire world, I'm sure) to meet pseudo.


I think i must have been in Filene's Basement around the same time as you. Except i was buying socks. I've just left Boston after a five-day visit. The weather was great on Thursday and Friday, but the weekend was pretty sad. I was hoping it would be nice for the regatta.

Have you been to the McIntyre & Moore bookstore in Davis Square yet? I've been to excellent used bookstores all over the US, and this one has to rank right near the top, especially for a history grad student like me. Heaps of literature, great art books, politics, etc., etc.

I see you've been to the MFA. The collections there are just amazing. It's a bit expensive, but it's nice that you can go back again on the same ticket in the next ten days. When i wander around these art museums, i wonder that places like Egypt and Greece have any damn artifacts left, after all the pillaging. Sad thing is, i guess, there's more ancient art outside the ancient world than there is in it.

Anyway, glad you're having a good time. Boston's a great town. But the drivers and the pedestrians are homicidal and suicidal, respectively.


----------



## Mation (Oct 25, 2005)

mhendo said:
			
		

> Yeah, i'm never sure how to interpret stuff like that here in the US. It could be about race. But it could just as easily be about Americans' general propensity not to impose on the personal space of others. They might simply have been worried that trying to sit at an already-occupied table would somehow offend the current occupant (you) and instead decided to wait for a free table. Or they could be crackers.


No I don't think they can have been crackers as they didn't come with soup. Crackers come with soup here. Not bread. (Scuse me whittering about my latest minor irritation!) But yes, it could have been a personal space thing. It didn't feel like it, but then I suppose it wouldn't given what I know/am learning about attitudes to race here. 






			
				mhendo said:
			
		

> I think i must have been in Filene's Basement around the same time as you. Except I was buying socks. I've just left Boston after a five-day visit. The weather was great on Thursday and Friday, but the weekend was pretty sad. I was hoping it would be nice for the regatta.


 I'm in an office in the basement, so I missed the nice days!

I think we should have a new t-shirt that says 'Urbanites say aye!' to be worn at all times lest I miss others while out and about 




			
				mhendo said:
			
		

> Have you been to the McIntyre & Moore bookstore in Davis Square yet? I've been to excellent used bookstores all over the US, and this one has to rank right near the top, especially for a history grad student like me. Heaps of literature, great art books, politics, etc., etc.
> 
> I see you've been to the MFA. The collections there are just amazing. It's a bit expensive, but it's nice that you can go back again on the same ticket in the next ten days. When i wander around these art museums, i wonder that places like Egypt and Greece have any damn artifacts left, after all the pillaging. Sad thing is, i guess, there's more ancient art outside the ancient world than there is in it.
> 
> Anyway, glad you're having a good time. Boston's a great town. But the drivers and the pedestrians are homicidal and suicidal, respectively.


Not been to Davis Square yet - thanks for the tip  I've found one good second hand bookshop so far, in Kenmore...

I got to the MFA about an hour and a half before it closed and they let me in for free, so I think when I go back (and I will - there was lots I didn't see), I'll go at the same sort of time.

On the driving - so far people have actually been very considerate (or bewildered by my London crossing). I'm a Camden girl and thus used to wandering regardless across the street, and as everyone else seems to do that here I've been feeling quite at home. And on the occasions I have hesitated when I can't work out which direction the traffic will come from, I've found that cars will stop (when I think they have right of way) and wave me on...

Anyway, hope you had a good time while you were here


----------



## mhendo (Oct 25, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I got to the MFA about an hour and a half before it closed and they let me in for free, so I think when I go back (and I will - there was lots I didn't see), I'll go at the same sort of time.


If that doesn't work again, you could try going on Wednesday evenings. 

After 4pm on Wednesdays, it's "pay what you want" time, as entry is by voluntary contribution. They suggest a donation of $15 (the normal entry fee), but you can pay as much or as little as you like. My partner went and paid four or five bucks.


----------



## Mation (Oct 26, 2005)

mhendo said:
			
		

> If that doesn't work again, you could try going on Wednesday evenings.
> 
> After 4pm on Wednesdays, it's "pay what you want" time, as entry is by voluntary contribution. They suggest a donation of $15 (the normal entry fee), but you can pay as much or as little as you like. My partner went and paid four or five bucks.


That's good to know 


On the ligging front - I've found, via the interweb, what seems to be Boston's only club that stays open all night... Most of them close at 2am. It's a private members club for which you have to pay a few hundered dollars a year, plus entry on the night, and so you can only get in if you're a member or a member has invited you as a guest.

I posted on their message board to complain about the lack of proper partying provisions in this town and have received an invitation from the owner of the cub to come along to check it out!   

Will keep y'all posted.


----------



## laptop (Oct 26, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I posted on their message board to complain about the lack of proper partying provisions in this town and have received an invitation from the owner of the cub to come along to check it out!




Lig + ½ !


How did you let them know you were British?


What will you say when they say "just say something in that se-xy ac-cent - I don't mind what!"?


----------



## Mation (Oct 26, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> How did you let them know you were British?
> 
> 
> What will you say when they say "just say something in that se-xy ac-cent - I don't mind what!"?


I just said I'm from London in my post.

Erm...I could try

"Did you know that cream tea is a euphemism?"

What do you think?

(For what..? Post your suggestions here please!)


----------



## MiddleMonkies (Oct 27, 2005)

Even though I dont know you-I really enjoyed reading about your impressions of Boston, having grown up there myself. Right on.


----------



## Mation (Oct 27, 2005)

Thanks MiddleMonkies  

And I'll bore everyone with this thread for weeks yet.   Not much to report mid-week though, as I'm mostly just doing home --> office and back.

Whereabouts in Boston are you from?


----------



## MiddleMonkies (Oct 27, 2005)

I'm from Dorchester- I don't think you went there during your trip.


----------



## Mation (Oct 27, 2005)

I'm still in Boston - here till mid-December. What's Dorchester like, then? Should I visit?


----------



## Mation (Oct 29, 2005)

Ow. My head. Again. Too pissed to post properly but suffice it to say tat I ended my evening out lying on a marble staircase at MIT stroking the ground and worshipping. I don't think they'll let me enroll....


----------



## laptop (Oct 30, 2005)

It's all right, no-one here was looking, you can come out now...

Unless this weekend's silence is the harbinger of tales of heroic ligging to come. Whose snow-bedecked yacht? 

* Runs away to underused-words thread *


----------



## Mation (Oct 31, 2005)

No yachts, sadly, but plenty of snow!

Friday was fun. Started off irritatingly when I tried to get a bus to Central Square but discovered the one I needed only runs once an hour. As I was very late I tried to hail a cab but found myself waving at a vetinary surgeon's ambulance (they look like taxis). The driver (of the cab, not the vet) was Eritrean and could tell me all about the restaurant I was going to.

Met KC (labmate) and several of his MIT chums there. Learned some new words (from some film or other) like Chinegro  (Everyone there, bar a Dutch guy) was Asian-American and laughing at how specific racial terms can get in the States. 

Had some delicious homemade honey wine - sweet and quite spicy. And the food was gorgeous - lots of lentils and an Etheopian version of sauerkraut and things... Best meal I've had since I've been here! 

Then we all went of to Middle East, which is apparently a very hip music venue. It was a Latin night and halloween party and most people were incredibly elaborately costumed. I thought I heard one of our lot say "Look! he's come as a favela!" and wondered what on earth it entailed, but turns out she said banana. 

A friend of KC's is the singer in a Latin rock band and they were the star turn. Not really my sort of music (unless it's Los Lobos' Kiko) but they were fun and the place was packed ith people who knew all the words and were bouncing around like mad things. Did lots of crap fake-salsa-ing (I can't do the step properly *at all*) and drank gallons.

Went round to KC's afterwards for an impromptu party. He lives in a very very swish flat near Harvard, with the most humungous telly I think I've ever seen... 

Got a lift home from the designated driver at about 4... The car was parked opposite an MIT building, and he needed to go in and use the loo, hence my lolling about on a staircase inside while I waited (obviously).

Woke up on Saturday to huge, fat and fluffy snowflakes. It was, of course, freezing but beautiful and a big improvement on the soul-destroying rain we've had. 

Just about managed to get myself to a capoeira class in Brookline. My first ever. I'm really shit  (But I'll get better!). Mestre Calenga is a very patient teacher and it helped that the class only had four people in it. Turns out he used to live in London, a couple of doors down from my mother and the house I grew up in! And he knows the woman who runs the capoeira class at my local gym in Holborn, where I am planning to start in January. Titchy planet, eh? 

Had a peaceful walk back past some mansions in Brookline. Everywhere looked stunning and opulent as hell. The leaves have turned and the snow was settling and I ignored the fact that I'd chosen to wear shoes that aren't in the least bit waterproof...

My thighs hurt a lot today. Probably not helped by all the jigging about I did last night. I went to Rise - a mostly gay club that opens at 1:30 in the morning and stays open till half six. Doesn't sell any booze (bugger! I didn't drink before I went, thinking I could do so inside) and the security was very, very tight, so I couldn't get any other enchancement either.Probably just as well. Another weekend where my clothes stayed on!! Everyone else was 'rolling' though. They came prepared.

I saved the $20 entry for guests by blagging an invitation from one of the owners of the club, tee-hee. And it was lovely. Really friendly, small and much less like a commercial club than Avalon.

I was adopted by a group of guys who saw off the occasional straight bloke that made unwelcome advances toward me, and made sure I didn't look like Jenny No-mates.

There was a fire alarm in the middle - I thought it was a breakdown section in the techno at first  - and we all had to evacuate. But it was just the smoke machines on overdrive... I'll definitely go again. I have instructions to let them know when so I can go in free again, and my bodyguards will sort me out first so I can roll if I want to!

Got outside this morning into brilliant sunshine and had a few hours kip. It was so warm this afternoon that I didn't need a coat at all.

Sorry for the long post!

This was a good weekend.


----------



## axon (Oct 31, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Goshy it's windy and rainy ouside at the moment. Must be the fringe of Wilma, I think.



I'll show you fucking Wilma!   
40% of city still without power.  They lifted the boil water order earlier in the week.  On a lighter note, the local paper's front page was a simple but enigmatic picture of Wilma Flintstone with the words "Bitch" imprinted over her head.  I can't imagine London's Metro ever running with a front page like that.

Hurricane Beta about to fuck up Nicaragua (no Americans or Europeans so doesn;t deserve a newscast).

And worst of all, my kebab is nearly done!


----------



## Mation (Oct 31, 2005)

axon said:
			
		

> I'll show you fucking Wilma!
> 40% of city still without power.  They lifted the boil water order earlier in the week.  On a lighter note, the local paper's front page was a simple but enigmatic picture of Wilma Flintstone with the words "Bitch" imprinted over her head.  I can't imagine London's Metro ever running with a front page like that.
> 
> Hurricane Beta about to fuck up Nicaragua (no Americans or Europeans so doesn;t deserve a newscast).
> ...


You're just not taking *my* suffering seriously, axon!


----------



## spring-peeper (Oct 31, 2005)

Mation,

Any little trick-or-treaters out your way?


----------



## Mation (Nov 1, 2005)

Not one! I expect they're all across the road in Brookline if they know what side their unnaturally-sweet bread is buttered on. It's all students and foreigners round here! 

I did see a very good pumpkin at KC's party on Friday.. His flatmate carved it and won first prize in a competition. I thought it was rubbish at first until I realised that the face wasn't a face at all - it was that Linux penguin. Very geeky!


----------



## laptop (Nov 1, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> pumpkin penguin


----------



## Mation (Nov 1, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

>


But whhhhyyyyy?

The bloke wot dun it was the geekiest of MIT geeks!


----------



## Mation (Nov 3, 2005)

<carries on regardless>

Had a nightmarish talk to do this morning for the lab (which inlcdes some big-brained names in the field) and it went ok. 

Got my program working 

So! I can start looking forward to New Yawk on the weekend. I'm hoping I can stay there till Wed for Offline rather than coming back on Monday and returning. 

And then I'm off to DC later in the week for a huge neuroscience fest and to catch up with people I haven't seen for too long (like axon!  )

Ooh and I had dinner with G & R tonight and had peanut brittle afterwards. I've read about peanut brittle in books.


----------



## D (Nov 3, 2005)

*peanut brittle*

is very tasty and very sugary


----------



## laptop (Nov 3, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> But whhhhyyyyy?
> 
> The bloke wot dun it was the geekiest of MIT geeks!



Ah. So long as it was a bit of self-mockery... next year, the GNU gnu...


----------



## Mation (Nov 4, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> Ah. So long as it was a bit of self-mockery... next year, the GNU gnu...


Caramel filled pumpkin, anyone? It's really GUI.

 

So I'm off on travels for 10 days or so on Saturday... I was going to New York this weekend anyway, but instead of coming back before heading to DC, I'm going to stay till Offline. Yay! 

I can't wait to get to a *proper* city!   

And I had some collard greens at lunch today. I've read about collard greens in books.


----------



## laptop (Nov 4, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I've read about collard greens in books.



And that's where they belong. As do grits.

Have fun in The City...


----------



## Mation (Nov 5, 2005)

Oh ffs. Just come back from the post conference party that is held every year at very swish home of one of the leading names in the field. My labmate took my 'if I were 15 years younger' comment and relayed it to the object    claiming that I'd told him to! I feel 12!   I left the party early to be on the safe side.

Spent a good half hour of the time there listening to another big name do his impression of a generic ultra-right fuckwit... Was very funny. We were asking him (his character) serious questions on US politics, foreign policy, global warming, intelligent design etc and he just kept it up (almost) straight faced. 

And I've got an invitation to Conneticut to stay at one of the other big guy's sometime before I come home before Christmas. He's rather intimidating and bullish to established career auditory neuroscientists, but very sweet to confus-ed me-types. I think I'll go.  

What's Conneticut like, anyone?


----------



## axon (Nov 5, 2005)

Stop referring to people as big names..please.  Kick them in the bollocks, and then refer to them as people that have achieved great things in an insignificant field through a disparate combination of luck, background, employees, insight, and skill.


----------



## Mation (Nov 5, 2005)

axon said:
			
		

> Stop referring to people as big names..please.  Kick them in the bollocks, and then refer to them as people that have achieved great things in an insignificant field through a disparate combination of luck, background, employees, insight, and skill.


Yeah yeah... it -is- just shorthand. I don't think I'll impress anyone by having met the *big names* in auditory psychophysics!  (But I -am- impressed by what they've done )


----------



## Jazzz (Nov 5, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> My labmate took my 'if I were 15 years younger' comment and relayed it to the object    claiming that I'd told him to! I feel 12!


_"Be careful what you wish for..." _


----------



## Mation (Nov 6, 2005)

Jazzz said:
			
		

> _"Be careful what you wish for..." _


Oh shush!   

Just popped in to an internet to caff to say how much I fucking love New York!!    

It's *wonderful* here and I'm having a brilliant time being dazzled and feeling like I'm on a film set. Everything is HUGE!


----------



## laptop (Nov 7, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> It's *wonderful* here and I'm having a brilliant time being dazzled and feeling like I'm on a film set. Everything is HUGE!



But not an original sight in the entire city. I mean, I'd seen it *all* before. Had even seen bits of the South Bronx that USians never see, while watching Soviet TV in East Berlin 




			
				Mation said:
			
		

> What's Conneticut like, anyone?



Er, preppy?


----------



## djbombscare (Nov 7, 2005)

I got my dates in Boston fly out on the 28th and I'm Westborough from Mon-Thurs then they are moving me to downtown Boston for Fri/Sat so I can see the sights etc. My flight is on the Sunday at 8.15am.

Sooooo Im on me tod in a big bad city, and I've promised Fizz I wont get arrested. Any suggestions?

Oh and I gotta go pressie shopping


----------



## Mation (Nov 11, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> But not an original sight in the entire city. I mean, I'd seen it *all* before. Had even seen bits of the South Bronx that USians never see, while watching Soviet TV in East Berlin


Nowt original, no, but lots of fun nonetheless.

Did lots of touristy bits, up the Empire State Building, Staten Island ferry, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, through central park, went to MoMA, had my hair done in Harlem (and came out looking like Carol Vorderman impersonating Tina Turner    ), went to Offline (yay! ).

In DC now for Neuoscience.




			
				laptop said:
			
		

> Er, preppy?


Bugger.






			
				djbombscare said:
			
		

> I got my dates in Boston fly out on the 28th and I'm Westborough from Mon-Thurs then they are moving me to downtown Boston for Fri/Sat so I can see the sights etc. My flight is on the Sunday at 8.15am.
> 
> Sooooo Im on me tod in a big bad city, and I've promised Fizz I wont get arrested. Any suggestions?
> 
> Oh and I gotta go pressie shopping


Hurrah! Go to Newbury Street in Back Bay for pressies (go to the T station called Copley on the B branch of the Green Line)... It's all a bit swish but street is very pretty, and there are a few interesting little shops in amongst the designer ones. 

Doing the Freedom Trail is a good way to see a lot quickly - the city isn't that big so you can get around much of it in a day and the trail is only 3 miles long. (Edited to add that there's a big red line on the pavement to follow - you don't need to go on one of the guided tours.)

If you fancy coming along to Rise for a jig about, let me know as we can probably get on the guest list.


----------



## djbombscare (Nov 11, 2005)

Cool Thanks Mation,

I'll let you know whats going on when Im out there and sort something out : )

I think I'll potter about on the Saturday Day take some pics, and search for fizzer pressies and stuff. Wouldn't mind checking out Salem but dunno how far it is and I'm sort of planning on walking distance or public transport being my range. 

I've benn told I gotta go to harpoon louis or something like that. And stay away from the cheers bar. I'll just line up with the japanese tourists and take a pic of the sign I think.


----------



## djbombscare (Nov 11, 2005)

Hey if I packed my Blades or Skateboard is it cool for that ?


----------



## laptop (Nov 11, 2005)

mation said:
			
		

> laptop said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sorry, that was based on reputation only. Here's hoping it's wrong...


----------



## Mation (Nov 11, 2005)

djbombscare said:
			
		

> Hey if I packed my Blades or Skateboard is it cool for that ?


Seen a few people on skateboards but can't remember many (any?) on blades... Not much help.. sorry!


----------



## MiddleMonkies (Nov 11, 2005)

No-not really


----------



## MiddleMonkies (Nov 11, 2005)

Sorry--that was in response to whether you should visit Dorchester--the answer: No, not really


----------



## Mation (Nov 15, 2005)

Wonderful wi-fi here at Neuroscience (just about to have a mini-symposium thing on time and the brain and I can faff about on here and lookup refs at the same time!   )


----------



## fat hamster (Nov 15, 2005)

<waves to the lovely Mation>

mmmwwwaaahhhhh!  
n loadsa huggles

xxx


----------



## Mation (Nov 16, 2005)

<waves back>

And to you Hammy!  xxx

Feeling terribly emotional today... One of my labmates is currently having his viva - the first in our lab to have one, and I'm waiting for a phonecall from the lot of them before they go off to celebrate. Wish I could be there too!

Just went to a brilliant lecture on scrub-jay cognition. They're very clever! They can remember what, where and when for specific past events, can make predictions about specific events in the future, and change their behaviour accordingly. And they're sneaky... They can hide and re-hide worms depending on whether they have been observed and by whom, but tend to do this only if they are in the habit of pilfering from others.

The dalai lama lecture the other day was pretty interesting too. He basically said that if there's anything in Buddhist teaching that is demonstrated by science to be untrue, then the teaching should be changed, and that if brain implants or drugs could enable one to acheive a 'higher state' of consciousness without loss of critical thinking, then he'd be happy to adpot them! Said it would save him hours of meditation every day 

Back to Boston tomorrow...


----------



## bluestreak (Nov 16, 2005)

cool!  that's my excuse as well!

glad you're having fun mation


----------



## Mation (Nov 16, 2005)

Indeed   

Yay! Hooray! Miles is a doctor of philosophy!!


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Nov 17, 2005)

Mation....have you put your Xmas tree up yet?  Enjoying the lead into the "holiday season".

6 years here and the fact the the decorations go up in early November is killing me....next it will be bad xmas music...

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? It's one holiday that's quite nice, Americans seem more hospitable.  One year friends and I got stumbled upon a bar in the middle of nowhere in NM and ended up aving a lovely dinner all for free.

I think I'll have a house full of orphans so i'm looking at Delia's roast turkey recipe.  I can't quite bring myself to deep fry the bird..


----------



## MarkMark (Nov 17, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> The dalai lama lecture the other day was pretty interesting too. He basically said that if there's anything in Buddhist teaching that is demonstrated by science to be untrue, then the teaching should be changed, and that if brain implants or drugs could enable one to acheive a 'higher state' of consciousness without loss of critical thinking, then he'd be happy to adpot them! Said it would save him hours of meditation every day



That's what I like about buddhism. If it doesn't work for you then don't take it any further (say the buddhists). Historically, Buddha is supposed to have said 'this is how it worked for me, try it for yourself, if it doesn't suit you don't worry.. try something else'.

Having said that, tibetan buddhists believe some bonkers stuff.

(ps. no I'm not, if anyones wondering)


----------



## Mation (Nov 18, 2005)

pseudonarcissus said:
			
		

> Mation....have you put your Xmas tree up yet?  Enjoying the lead into the "holiday season".
> 
> 6 years here and the fact the the decorations go up in early November is killing me....next it will be bad xmas music...
> 
> ...


<waves> Hello there! 

Nope, no tree - haven't thought about Christmas yet at all! No plans for Thanksgiving yet either. Will have to investigate and make orpahn-eyes at people!

Deep-fried turkey??!




			
				MarkMark said:
			
		

> ps. no I'm not, if anyones wondering


Yep - if you're going to have a religion it seems a fairly innocuous one, but not for me, thanks.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Nov 18, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Nope, no tree - haven't thought about Christmas yet at all! No plans for Thanksgiving yet either. Will have to investigate and make orpahn-eyes at people!
> 
> Deep-fried turkey??!



My neighbours put their tree up last weekend.  You'll be aware of Christmas pretty soon, I assure you.  It all really starts next Friday. Round the clock jingle bells, including radio stations dedicated to saccharin xmas hits.

Deep fried turkey is the cooking method of choice in the south.  You can buy humungus deep fat friers specially for the job.  Lots of people are killed or burn down their houses/trailers every year (top tip: put bird in frier, fill frier with oil cold....remove bird.....heat oil and immerse your turkey, that way the thing doasn't overflow with boiling oil) (I have never fryed a turkey, I hasten to add, I'll be following Dehlia online)

You're welcome to get your orphan eyes down to Texas, it would be nice to have an English speaker around, it looks like my house will be full of Mexicans/Colombians/Nicaraguans.  Turkey and tortillas and refried beans!

I'm sure you'll get invitiations close to home anyway and have a good one.  Enjoy the one holiday when you're not expected to shop for anything other than food


----------



## Mation (Nov 19, 2005)

Thanks for the invitation! I'll have to stay up this way, having been off a-skiving for ages, but sounds like it will be good fun round at yours 

Had a great night out last night playing darts all evening with the two sociable people in the lab. Finally found some non-preppy bars, and near where I live to boot.


----------



## Mation (Nov 20, 2005)

Finally got round to uploading some pics!

Lots there, all in a jumble from Boston, new York and DC.

Some of my apartment and my street and the park next door,  The Museum of Fine Art (including that red arse, on page 10!), MoMA, The Museum of African-American History (and the woman I met on the way, wearing her 'I heart being black' badge on her lapel), Neuroscience (and the Dalai Lama), the Head of the Charles race, the chapel at Harvard, the Aquarium, a blurry eme at Offline, and axon's in there somewhere 

A few of them are a bit squished - the batch resizing was veeerrrry slow and I by the time I spotted it...


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 20, 2005)

Great photos: I'd love to get back to Boston, and I'd love to visit NY for the first time.

Looks like a great visit so far.


----------



## fat hamster (Nov 20, 2005)

Wow!


----------



## Sunspots (Nov 20, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Finally got round to uploading some pics



Cool pics Mation, thanks for sharing!    The NY ones reminded me of my own visit there.


----------



## Mation (Nov 20, 2005)

Thanks 




			
				D said:
			
		

> JC2 - Have you been to Detroit? Newark? DC?
> 
> I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of those northern (DC's kind of neither north nor south, really - just its own weird, dreadful political apparatus divorced from the rest of the country) cities where the population is predominantly black.


I didn't take many pictures in DC, but what really struck me (apart from 34, 000 neuroscientists in one place!) was how many homeless people there are. Everywhere (downtown, at least). Virtually every bench I passed had someone living on it. And they are all black.

Also went into south east DC to the African-American museum (part of the Smithsonian, but curiously hidden away, a metro and then a bus-ride away from the rest) and absolutely everyone I saw in Anacostia was black and poor. The whole area (that I saw) was ridiculously run down, although the woman I mentioned earlier was saying that, having moved out 40 years ago, white people were starting to move back in and the house prices were going up...


----------



## laptop (Nov 20, 2005)

Nice photos.

They let you take photos in galleries? 

And did you get to a show at the Apollo?


----------



## spring-peeper (Nov 20, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Thanks
> 
> 
> I didn't take many pictures in DC, but what really struck me (apart from 34, 000 neuroscientists in one place!) was how many homeless people there are. Everywhere (downtown, at least). Virtually every bench I passed had someone living on it. And they are all black.
> ...



That's America's dirty little secret.  You can read about it all you want, but you have to see it to believe it.

It's a real eye-opener though.  Well, it was for me the first time I encountered it.  Actually, every time I see this it never stops disturbing me.

It just re-enforces the idea that America should look after their own people before trying to save the world.

btw - lovely pictures and excellent thread!!!


----------



## Mation (Nov 20, 2005)

Just added a few more from today on pages 11 and 12... 



 

Finally made it to the Arboretum.. Leaves mostly gone but it was still gorgeous  And saw some murals on Washington Street and Columbus Ave.

Got talking to a (black) man round the corner on my way back home today... He says Boston has really changed and that in the 70s he used to be asked for 3 sets of ID before he would be allowed into any bar (if he was allowed at all). Another guy - homeless - came up to cadge a cig the other day and asked me (on hearing my accent) whether it was true that 'they treat black people good over there'. 

No show at the Apollo laptop - I just went to have a look round (but in fact it was all being renovated so I didn't see much).

It was fine to take pictures without using the flash - I did ask


----------



## fat hamster (Nov 20, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Another guy - homeless - came up to cadge a cig the other day and asked me (on hearing my accent) whether it was true that 'they treat black people good over there'.


Whatever did you reply?


----------



## Mation (Nov 20, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> Whatever did you reply?


Didn't know what to say... Ended up mumbling something about how there is some racism, but yes pretty good really. He then turned to a couple of white guys nearby and said something I didn't catch, before walking off.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 21, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Just added a few more from today on pages 11 and 12...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That's the thing about travelling in the states: you can come across situations of black poverty that are so unbelievable that you are incredulous almost to the point of laughing out loud, until you realize that what you're seeing isn't a set background from some grade B movie, it's real.


----------



## Mation (Nov 23, 2005)

Bah!

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow but my orphan-eyes aren't big enough and I don't have any invitations   (apart from to Texas with the lovely pseudo  - I come if it wasn't so far!)

Phoned a few homeless shelters to see if I could volunteer, but they don't want any more people.

</sob story>

So! What shall I do tomorrow then?


----------



## spring-peeper (Nov 23, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Bah!
> 
> It's Thanksgiving tomorrow but my orphan-eyes aren't big enough and I don't have any invitations   (apart from to Texas with the lovely pseudo  - I come if it wasn't so far!)
> 
> ...



Thanksgiving is very much a family time - bigger than Christmas, imo.  It doesn't surprise me that no-one invited you.  Still sucks, though.    

We always plan to do touristy things while down there at Thanksgiving because they are less crowded.

But you have to go and eat turkey somewhere - it's unamerican not too.  Don't forget the pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

Enjoy!!!


----------



## D (Nov 23, 2005)

Well, it's farther than Texas, but you're welcome to join our hippie Thanksgiving and have some

TOFURKEY

***

I'm surprised that nobody wants anymore volunteers.  I bet there are some cool things happening in Boston around T-day.  Any Native American cultural events?


----------



## Concrete Meadow (Nov 23, 2005)

Come on down to Nueva York, Mation. There are still plenty of places looking for volunteers to serve at all hours! 

Thinking of you -- and D, JC2, fat hamster -- and all urbanites from the States ... 

Tippy Hanksgiving


----------



## Mation (Nov 23, 2005)

Concrete Meadow said:
			
		

> Come on down to Nueva York, Mation. There are still plenty of places looking for volunteers to serve at all hours!
> 
> Thinking of you -- and D, JC2, fat hamster -- and all urbanites from the States ...
> 
> Tippy Hanksgiving


Thank you, and I'm sure JC2 and fat hamster will appreciate that too! 

Don't worry spring-peeper - I'll find sommat to do  I'm a veggie though, so no turkey for me. 

Just been out looking for tofurkey D  Didn't bloody find any though and settled for tofu turkey slices instead.  Thanks for the invite   - would come but for time and money

<goes off to browse craigslist and the Phoenix>


----------



## laptop (Nov 23, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> <goes off to browse craigslist and the Phoenix>



If anything, I found Thanksgiving more mawkish than Xmas. Being exposed to other people's dysfunctional families - and was it just in Philly that there was this huge lie about the happy happy Injuns?

By the third one I wanted smallpox blankets 

But there's bound to be a gay bar having the US equivalent of "bah! humbug!" day, no?


----------



## fat hamster (Nov 23, 2005)

Concrete Meadow said:
			
		

> fat hamster -- and all urbanites from the States ...


Well, I've been called many things in my life, but never until now a USer!   

Mation, have a lovely day tomorrow - I'll be thinking of you.


----------



## D (Nov 23, 2005)

I have just transferred my !TOFURKEY! from the freezer to the fridge and I bought about 10,000 lbs of swiss chard, baby bok choi, spinach, broccoli, and kale to feed 12 tomorrow.  I've also got some apricot butter for the basting.

mmm.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 23, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Bah!
> 
> It's Thanksgiving tomorrow but my orphan-eyes aren't big enough and I don't have any invitations   (apart from to Texas with the lovely pseudo  - I come if it wasn't so far!)
> 
> ...



I was in India once during Holi. People throwing paint on each other. It didn't mean a damn thing to me.

Thanksgiving isn't your holiday; you don't celebrate it at home, so why worry about it? Get in some DVDs, and treat yourself to a day of indolence and eating rich food you don't normally eat.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 23, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> Well, it's farther than Texas, but you're welcome to join our hippie Thanksgiving and have some
> 
> TOFURKEY



Mation, don't do it. If you do, you'll immediately start speaking with a nasal Brooklyn accent, your feet will reform into the shape of a Birkenstock, and your body will immediately become allergic to any non-wholistic sanitary products. Who needs that?


----------



## magneze (Nov 24, 2005)

Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## D (Nov 24, 2005)

Aaaah! My eyes!


----------



## Mation (Nov 24, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Thanksgiving isn't your holiday; you don't celebrate it at home, so why worry about it? Get in some DVDs, and treat yourself to a day of indolence and eating rich food you don't normally eat.


I'm not worried about it! I just thought that as I'm over here it would be interesting to see something of it. I can do without (another   ) day of indolence, so I'm doing a bit of work, then I might go for a wander later and see what I can see (where can I get some of those smallpox blankets?  ).

Magneze. Thanks my love, but, erm,


----------



## laptop (Nov 24, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> (where can I get some of those smallpox blankets?  ).



You're the one surrounded by biochemists, _non_?


----------



## Mation (Nov 24, 2005)

_Non_. Engineers and signal processors mostly. Plus the odd physicist. 

I need to rethink. Some kind of machine maybe...

Aha! Yes, yes it's all much clearer now.

If only I had a DeLorean I could go back and _nick _ some blankets!


----------



## SubZeroCat (Nov 24, 2005)

Hello Mation!

Hope all is well  

My sister is NY at the moment, doing an internship. She says it's freezing out there (like over here!). What's it like in Boston?


----------



## laptop (Nov 24, 2005)

Get the physicists to build a wormhole somewhere in mid-Atlantic. Effective in, say, early 1492.

Would save a whole lot of problems...

But come back before they turn it on


----------



## Mation (Nov 24, 2005)

Good thinking! Will do.   

<waves to SZC>

Hello there! 

Snow flurries today, proper snow tomorrow and it'll be -5 tonight apparently. You're due for snow too, aren't you?

I have warm things and waterproof things, so i quite fancy a long walk about town..


----------



## Jenerys (Nov 24, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> So! What shall I do tomorrow then?


Answer your friend's email


----------



## Mation (Nov 24, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Answer your friend's email


  

Check your inbox.


----------



## Jenerys (Nov 24, 2005)

[blows kisses to Mation]


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Nov 24, 2005)

Mation,

I hope you have fun today.....wrap up warm.  I'm just waiting for the stuffing to cool before I prepare my bird.

Go for a walk, I'm sure you'll find a convivial atmosphere in the bars once the family tensions have risen to boiling point in everyone's homes.  Not even a Queen's Speach to use as an excuse for a little nap this afternoon


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 24, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> I'm not worried about it! I just thought that as I'm over here it would be interesting to see something of it. I can do without (another   ) day of indolence, so I'm doing a bit of work, then I might go for a wander later and see what I can see (where can I get some of those smallpox blankets?  ).
> 
> Magneze. Thanks my love, but, erm,



Well then, Happy Thanksgiving to you, and all the americans here.


----------



## Jenerys (Nov 24, 2005)

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving


----------



## D (Nov 25, 2005)

The verdict is in:

do not overcook tofurkey or it becomes something akin to leather.

But it comes with stuffing and very tasty vegan gravy.

And my basting kicked ass.

I'm stuffed and preparing to head over to a friend's place to watch a movie and have tea.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 25, 2005)

Makes sense: it rhymes with beef jerky.


----------



## Mation (Nov 25, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Yes, Happy Thanksgiving


Ta my lovley  And (rather late in the day!) to all you US urbs like JC2 and Hammy! 

<sticks bottom out for some of D's basting>

Wandered about locally today. A few of the bars were doing free turkey dinners for all, which was nice. I stopped for a drink in one.... As I'm still struggling with oversized (for my wallet) US bills and can't tell them apart at a glance, I was faffing about with dollar bills and counted out the four I needed rather slowly. A woman at the bar smiled kindly up at me when I reached four and said "You did very well!"   

Off to a lesbian bar/club downtown shortly. My bf seems very interested in this for some reason.


----------



## Mation (Nov 25, 2005)

That was fun  Dire music - some chart rnb bollocks with the odd bit of christmas drivel - but met a friendly group of women and had a dance about anyway. 

Was a bit surprised when I arrived at the club to open the door and find many, many men dressed up to the nines in tacky couteur, but then realised I wanted the side entrance instead.

Had a wander about Boston College today. Tried to take some pics but my camera is misbehaving. It's such a glorious, sunny day, and absolutely freezing (there were a few snowflakes last night), so I stopped and had some homemade ice-cream in an ice-cream parlour. And it's going to be 18 degrees on Tuesday. Mad weather! 

There is no structure to this post at all.


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## D (Nov 26, 2005)

Homemade ice cream is what Boston's all about if you ask me.

My friend and I went on a bike ride on a couple of the many trails that criscross and loop around the greater Boston area.  Our touring map was devoid of things like emergency/petrol stations and the like, but it had an infinite number of independent ice creameries listed (and there seemed to be one every mile or so).


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## Mation (Nov 26, 2005)

Well I thought that if they could manage to open on a quiet day, in a quiet area when it was -1C and sell ice-cream, then it was the least I could do to go in and have some! 

Recovered from the leathery tofurkey yet?

My slices were vile!


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## D (Nov 26, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Well I thought that if they could manage to open on a quiet day, in a quiet area when it was -1C and sell ice-cream, then it was the least I could do to go in and have some!
> 
> Recovered from the leathery tofurkey yet?
> 
> My slices were vile!



The tofurkey would have been okay if it hadn't been reheated so many damn times.  There's nothing to speak for it over plain ole toful, though...Baked tofu with the same glaze (apricot, tamari, sesame oil - mmmm) would have done the trick and been considerably easier to chew.

The gravy, however, was divine.  And my greens were scrumptious.

I still have lots of pie, some dumplings, and some veggies.


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## D (Nov 26, 2005)

Mmm.  Warm pumpkin pie and persimmon.


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## Mation (Nov 26, 2005)

Mmmmmmmm. You're making me really hungry! And I haven't had any pie.

Put some in an envelope for me?

Speaking of persimmon fruit.. I bought one the other week when it was still a bit green and so left it to ripen. It was quite a bit bigger than any I've seen on sale in the UK, and I was greedily looking forward to it. When I thought it was ready, I tried some and all of the moisture in my mouth vanished in a nanosecond.   

I was barely able to pull the pieces of fruit away from my tongue to throw it away - spitting out was impossible. 

What happened to my lovely sweet sharon fruit?? (Are they ever called sharon fruit in the US?) They usually taste like Tcp when they're not ripe (which I quite like, actually). The thing I had could be used as a weapon!


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## D (Nov 26, 2005)

I've never heard them called "sharon fruit" and, well, I have no idea what happened with your persimmon.

The fruit in California is far superior to the fruit anywhere else in the country.  It's the only place I've lived where everything grows and it's possible to buy anything immediately ripe.

But I know what you mean about the occasional dryness of persimmons.


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## Mation (Nov 26, 2005)

Occasional? Ok, they have some less freakishly oversized ones in the Chinese supermarket and I need to go there today, so I shall try another.


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## D (Nov 26, 2005)

Make sure you get the fuyu ones, not the ones that start with an "h".  The fuyus are the short, squat ones that look like tomatoes.  I cannot stand the sort of torpedo/cone-looking ones, which get soft and squishy and leave this disgusting gummy coating on my mouth (maybe that's the kind you had?).

The fuyu ones are crisp, not too soft when ripe, and delicious.


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## Mation (Nov 26, 2005)

ah! That must be it. I had a torpedo, but I'm used to having the tomato type. The latter are on sale at Super88. Hurrah!


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## fat hamster (Nov 26, 2005)

D said:
			
		

> I've never heard them called "sharon fruit" .


I have.  Maybe it's an English thing.


> But I know what you mean about the occasional dryness of persimmons.


They can be horribly astringent.

<purses lips at the memory>

I prefer my sharon fruit cooked, in a pudding.  I had a wonderful recipe for persimmon pudding once...gotta find that again before Christmas.


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## Mation (Nov 26, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> I have.  Maybe it's an English thing.


I'm sure my mother (from Guyana) calls them sharon fruit too...

Hurrah! My bf's friend - the chap I stayed with in Battery Park - is in town with his lady-friend tonight, so we're going to go out for dinner and dancing. Wonder if i can get on the Rise guestlist again..

And tomorrow I'm going to get a free tour of Boston! I saw an ad on craigslist from someone who wants to start a tour business and needs people to practise on. So, assuming she's not an axe-murderer I should get to see a bit more than I have, from a native's perspective.


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## Mation (Nov 27, 2005)

Excellent night out last night!   

Went to a strange sort of middle-eastern burlesque tapas bar in Cambridge for dinner. Delicious food, though too much dosh for too little. Then went on to Rise.. 

This time both dance floors were packed and the music was banging. Met a friendly bloke who was there last time and remembered my name straight away .. There were no disturbingly intense-looking men trying to chat me up and pretending they didn't know it was a gay bar.. Was prepared for the lack of alcohol. Danced till dawn in my bra and was rather overdressed given the state of everyone else!   

And I just had a great tour of Boston. It was a bit odd - felt like I was pretending to be a customer and the woman showing me around was pretending this was her job (about the size of it, really). Saw lots of things I had missed - graveyards, parts of the black heritage trail, little restaurants in North End, John Kerry's humungous house in Beacon Hill and photos of how Back Bay looked before the landfill when it were all sea. Popped in to the Bull and Finch, wandered around some tiny back alleys amongst some very rickety old houses and saw several places I want to go back and have a proper look at on foot.


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## spring-peeper (Nov 27, 2005)

Sounds like you are still having a great time 

I hope you wrote something nice about the tour guide in her book!


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## Mation (Nov 27, 2005)

spring-peeper said:
			
		

> Sounds like you are still having a great time
> 
> I hope you wrote something nice about the tour guide in her book!


Her book?


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## pseudonarcissus (Nov 28, 2005)

sounds more like we all need to book flights to Boston to enjoy a U75 walk with Mation as the guide before she leaves.

right, I need to go back to tend my vege soup...the surplus from last Thursday (it was uncooked so it's not all mushy).  I was going to put cold turkey in it but it smells too good as it is.

I always feel I have such uneventful weekends after reading Mation's posts


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## spring-peeper (Nov 28, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Her book?



I'm sorry, not too sure what it's called.  Usually after things like that, there is a questionaire or a book to sign so that you can make comments.

If she was using this or a similar method getting feedback, I was hoping that you said nice things that would encourage others to use her as a tour guide.


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## Mation (Nov 29, 2005)

Oh ok! She didn't have a book, but I emailed her lots of thanks and some suggestions afterwards Told her - *very politely* - that her car may need a magic tree.    She took it well!

Yep - come on up this way again pseudo and help me talk-up my weekend  

So I was on the T this evening on the way to the gym... A woman standing a couple of people away collapsed, and seemed to be unconscious for a bit (it was too crowded to see properly) and was then helped up by the people around her. 

She seemed a bit embarassed and in a hurry to get off... I got off after her as it was my stop. As we were crossing the road she started staggering around at was about to hit the floor again! Me and some bloke who'd just got off the same T managed to catch her before she fell, and then tried to get her to the pavement. Poor thing was completely out cold for a while and sweating like a bastard, but came round a bit and said she'd given blood earlier in the day but hadn't eaten since. Tsk!

Someone went off to see if the gym had a wheelchair, and I phoned a friend of hers. She was desperate to get home thought there was noone there and she was still unable to support herself, and we thought she should wait for the ambulance that the gym had called. You won't be wasting anyone's time _or making a fuss_, I told her as a police car, one fire engine and two ambulances screamed to a halt in front of us!!    

She was absolutely fine - they checked her out and I went off after her friend got there .


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## laptop (Nov 29, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> You won't be wasting anyone's time _or making a fuss_, I told her as a police car, one fire engine and two ambulances screamed to a halt in front of us!!



 Were they private ambulances competing  with each other and the EMS/fire truck?


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 29, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Oh ok! She didn't have a book, but I emailed her lots of thanks and some suggestions afterwards Told her - *very politely* - that her car may need a magic tree.    She took it well!
> 
> Yep - come on up this way again pseudo and help me talk-up my weekend
> 
> ...



Seems you're having a pretty exciting time down there.


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## fizzerbird (Nov 29, 2005)

pseudonarcissus said:
			
		

> sounds more like we all need to book flights to Boston to enjoy a U75 walk with Mation as the guide before she leaves.
> 
> right, I need to go back to tend my vege soup...the surplus from last Thursday (it was uncooked so it's not all mushy).  I was going to put cold turkey in it but it smells too good as it is.
> 
> I always feel I have such uneventful weekends after reading Mation's posts



Djbombscare is there, somewhere...

Arrived yesterday, full of snot and with a hacking cough (am surprised they let him on the plane to be honest) but he phoned me about 8ish yesterday evening and was checking out the hotel and going to look for somewhere he could purchase cough sweets.

He is unsure of the weeks Itinerary as he is there for one weeks training with his new job.

Be great if he was near mation, but it's a big place.

Hopefully he'll get internet access and bring me back lots of lovely presents.


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## Jenerys (Nov 29, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Oh ok! She didn't have a book, but I emailed her lots of thanks and some suggestions afterwards Told her - *very politely* - that her car may need a magic tree.    She took it well!


Oh I'm missing you my lovely   




			
				Mation said:
			
		

> You won't be wasting anyone's time or making a fuss, I told her as a police car, one fire engine and two ambulances screamed to a halt in front of us!!


The fire engine? Why the fire engine?


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## Mation (Nov 29, 2005)

No idea gorgeous!  

I heard the sirens and thought hmmmm, I wonder if that's all for her, and had to stop myself giggling in bewilderment when literally one policeman, four firemen and two ambulance crews were gathered round her. 

<waves to the lovely fizzer>

Glad the Scare got here safely. I think he has my mobile number so if he's nearby and has time to hook up that'd be cool.  

Meanwhile I'm off down to Hartford in Connecticut this morning to visit another lab. Staying overnight to make pizza with the crew, then back tomorrow.


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## Mation (Nov 29, 2005)

Ah! Now I think about it, I wonder if the person who went off to phone from the gym actually just hit one of the emergency buttons on those posts with the red light on top??


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## spring-peeper (Nov 29, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> Oh I'm missing you my lovely
> 
> The fire engine? Why the fire engine?



Part of the Emergency Services.  (or it was a slow day and they were bored  )


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## axon (Nov 29, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> The fire engine? Why the fire engine?



In case the woman was going to spontaneously combust.  Better safe than sorry.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 29, 2005)

LilJen said:
			
		

> The fire engine? Why the fire engine?



In lots of places in NA, the fire dept are the first responders to medical emergencies. The firemen are also paramedic trained, and they make the first assessment.

So for eg if you phone in with a heart complaint, it will be firemen who first show up.


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## Mation (Nov 30, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> In lots of places in NA, the fire dept are the first responders to medical emergencies. The firemen are also paramedic trained, and they make the first assessment.
> 
> So for eg if you phone in with a heart complaint, it will be firemen who first show up.


Yes, but whhhhyyyyy? Why aren't the ambulances there first for medical emergencies? Are there fewer of them?

Meanwhile I'm still in Farmington at the U Connecticut medical centre. Have been made a huge fuss of and had a very stimulating row   

Back to it!


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## Jenerys (Nov 30, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> ...when literally one policeman, four firemen and two ambulance crews were gathered round her.



[Slides off new leather couch]


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## laptop (Nov 30, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Yes, but whhhhyyyyy? Why aren't the ambulances there first for medical emergencies? Are there fewer of them?



I've never seen a public ambulance _proper_ in the US - and I lived there for 3 years.

There are private ambulances chasing after profitable customers. Which is presumably why two showed up? (My post above seems to have been a bit too brief?)

And then - if you're lucky - there's the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) which is run by the Fire Department. So in NYC ambulances are red and square. Did they send an actual fire engine out in Boston?

If you're unlucky - which means outside a Big Bad City as far as I can tell - you're likely to wake up to find someone rifling through your wallet to find out whether you can afford to be saved.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 30, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Yes, but whhhhyyyyy? Why aren't the ambulances there first for medical emergencies? Are there fewer of them?



I don't really know, but I'm guessing that many medical 911 calls don't require an ambulance, so that resource is kept for when it's really necessary.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 30, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> I've never seen a public ambulance _proper_ in the US - and I lived there for 3 years.



Where do you live: Hooterville?


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## Mation (Dec 1, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> I've never seen a public ambulance _proper_ in the US - and I lived there for 3 years.
> 
> There are private ambulances chasing after profitable customers. Which is presumably why two showed up? (My post above seems to have been a bit too brief?)
> 
> ...


How horrid. 

Don't know if the ambulances that turned up were private, or whether they were in competition.. They looked the same at a glance, and it didn't occur to me that they might be jostling for business. 

It was definitely a proper fire engine though!


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## fizzerbird (Dec 3, 2005)

I just got two postcards from bombscare dated the 29th November.

4 days...thats bloody quick, I'm impressed!


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## Mation (Dec 4, 2005)

Haven't sent any postcards!

Woke up a short while ago to this!





That's the view from my window to the park next door.   

Uploaded a few more photos, on pages 13 and 14, of Boston College, my trip to Conneticut to stay with the lovely, lovely Tino and Peggy, and the snow just now.

Tino has a photograhic memory and knows every single bloody paper that has ever been written on binaural hearing instantly. He loves a good shouting match, knows everyone in the health centre and stops to hug and say hello to them all, phones up NASA and successfully demands to speak to astronauts just to say hi, taught the chef in the Tower of London to make pizza, made me pizza and subjected me to Sinatra, has a mini Italian restaurant setup in his office and is just generally lovely!


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## djbombscare (Dec 8, 2005)

Hey up it did that in about half an hour. I went into Logan airport and there wasn't a sniff of snow. Come outside for a smoke half an hour later and it was all white. It was wicked. 

Anyway I had a wicked time over there in Boston. Sorry I didn't get to hgook up with you Mation. The Bostonians were sort of trying to kill me with kindness. I have never eaten sooooo much in all my life. We didnt get over to Boston from Westborough until about 6 pm. A tour of Cambridge, Harvard Square, Fanhuil Hall. Then over to the Old Oyster bar, The one thats the oldest restaurant in the US. 

Back across Boston tour of the common, Beaconhill and Newbury St and it was off to Legal Seafood for a meal, then off round some pubs. 

Then back to the Paramount building and right up to the top to get a wicked view of Boston by night and yep you geussed it MORE FOOD. 

2am Im stuffed right up, we finally crawl back to the Hotel, after being detoured round and round circles, as they closed the main bit of the tunnel to the airport bit. 

It was Fun But I didnt need to eat for days


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## Mation (Dec 10, 2005)

Glad you had a good time 

You wouldn't believe how much snow there has been today!! I was out and about around lunchtime and it was a complete white-out. Couldn't see more than a few metres in front of me for swirly, pelty snow, and there was thunder too.

And *gulp* I have to fly soon  

Not enjoying the news of the plane skidding off the runway in Chicago    or the plane that was struck by lightning at Logan Airport in Boston this afternoon...

Looks as though at least 6 inches fell today and it's all piled up in big heaps. Must take my camera out...


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## laptop (Dec 10, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> And *gulp* I have to fly soon



Where are you flying to? 

(Hoping the weather's clearer there... and that Boston is clearer when you get back!)

Taking off in the snow is no problem, so long as the wings are de-iced


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## fat hamster (Dec 10, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> Where are you flying to?


I do believe she's coming back to Blighty this Thursday.

<looks forward to having the lovely Mation home again>


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## Mation (Dec 11, 2005)

Er, ta laptop   

I'm flying on Thursday and arrive early on Friday morning. I can't wait to be home!    

I've been having a much better time here of late so I'll be somewhat sorry to go, but that's more about a couple of people I've met than Boston itself.

Any chance you'll be passing through London on your Christmas travels Hammy? It would be wonderful to see you, and in any case I'm looking forward to a long catch-up on the phone.  xx


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## laptop (Dec 11, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> Er, ta laptop
> 
> I'm flying on Thursday and arrive early on Friday morning. I can't wait to be home!



* Decks Heathrow with bunting *







* Bunting is confiscated *


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## Mation (Dec 11, 2005)

laptop said:
			
		

> * Bunting is confiscated *


  Terrorist bunting?!

It's the thought that counts


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## fat hamster (Dec 14, 2005)

Good luck for your flight home tomorrow, Mation.

xxx FH


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## sheothebudworths (Dec 14, 2005)

Have you read her thread in general fh? 

The fucking nutter.....


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## fat hamster (Dec 15, 2005)

Tee hee - I have now! 

Love you, Mation!


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## Janine (Dec 22, 2005)

Mation said:
			
		

> *waves hullo to all*
> 
> <minutiae>
> 
> ...


Well, Mation, you were in my 'hood!    I'm sorry I wasn't on the boards at that time, I would've met you for a cuppa - coffee, that is, as you must have seen Coolidge Corner is inundated with chain coffee shops!


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## Mation (Dec 22, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> Tee hee - I have now!


Bugger.    

So home again!

Very, very glad to be back  No upgrade this time, but the flight was ok. Fell asleep on takeoff   

Will post some pics of Salem when I can find my camera (it's not under a saucepan lid  )

Sorry to have missed you Janine - Coolidge Corner was very nearby!


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