Opening Day

Hello.

How’s your week been? good we hope. As promised last week I made my way down to Fenway Park to take some pictures of the Red Sox home opening game. We didn’t have tickets for the game but it’s just a great atmosphere round the park and just wanted to be there. We wont be able to do it next year. It was great hearing the crowd cheer as each players name was announced. Then there was the usual flyover by four fighter planes which was pretty impressive. They always manage to fly over the stadium just as the national anthem comes to a finish. The Sox won 14 - 3 against the Seattle Mariners. The game started at 2pm, so loads of people took the day off work, many I suspect pulling a sicky. I didn’t hang around for too long after then cause I wanted to get back and watch Man U thump Roma. Which they did. A good day all round.


It’s the marathon on Monday and unfortunately we’re expecting some pretty crap New England weather for it. It’s definitely going to rain, maybe a bit of snow. It’s going to be cold no matter what. The finish lines just down the road so may make an attempt to get down there. We’ll see how bad it is. Really tired of the cold weather, would hate to be running 26 miles through it.

Em’s got the weekend off, we haven’t really planned anything for it as yet other than buying boxes to start packing some things up. Em’s gone through her wardrobe, pulling out all the stuff she doesn’t wear or doesn’t fit. Who would have thought moving to America would make us thinner. Walking off all those burgers and pizza you see.

Cheerio.

Can you believe it's April?

Hello all.

How's your week been? Ours has been okay nothing special to natter about really. The main thing for us, especially Emma is that it's April. Em can now say she finishes work and fulfils the contract next month, which is like lifting a huge weight off her shoulders. As much as we're enjoying ourselves, being tied down by a contract has put a bit of a downer on things. More than we realised. But there's light at the end of the tunnel and we're looking forward to moving onto the next chapters in our lives. That was a little deep to start with so onto something lighter. Well actually it's not but I'm amused by it.

As mentioned last week violence in parts of Boston has escalated lately. The Mayor & Governor got together to make plans on how to curb the violence. One is to only allow people to buy one gun per month, what a brilliant idea. I just laughed, does that include bullets? Sure that will make all the difference on the black market, "Sorry dude you've already bought a gun this month". I should reiterate that we feel safe and happy in Boston. Every city has it's dodgy areas and neighbourhoods, we know where they are and stay clear. Not seen a Guardian Angel yet, which is a good thing I would be worried if we did.

Now onto lighter matters. Baseball, the season has started and the Red Sox new star, Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka has settled in well. Playing his first competitive game yesterday, he struck out 10 of the Kansas City Royals and impressed the Red Sox nation into believing he maybe is worth the $100+ million he cost. Red Sox first home game is on Tuesday so will do our best to get down to Fenway Park and take some pictures for next weeks entry.

Last thing to say is Happy 30th Birthday to Clare.

Cheerio.

May the force be with you.

Hello all,

I'll start with something many may find a little sad and not the feeling blue kind of sad. Basically one of the highlights of my week was to find an R2-D2 post box, out on the streets to mark the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. There are supposed to be about 400 across America, we've now seen 2 in Boston, the one pictured above is at the bottom of our street outside the Boston Symphony. The postal service also plan to release a set of stamps, not sure if I'm going to be sad enough to buy the set however just yet.

Wednesday night we saw Snow Patrol at the Boston University Arena which was pretty good and Em enjoyed singing along to all the songs, cause she can't do that in the apartment. Well actually she could, everybody else does. We've got a few singers on our floor including a couple of tenors who may work at the Symphony. They're pretty good too, better than the bloke who has started playing saxophone on the corner of the street, who makes the most irritating noise imaginable. Makes you wish for some crap weather to make him go home and bother somebody else.

We managed to have a bit of a tourist day today, breakfast by the Charles river followed by a walk downtown to look for some summer clothes. Had a dodgy sandwich near Faneuil Hall, well mine was okay, Em's was a little rubbery. We spent the rest of the afternoon sat at the other side of the harbour, looking back at the city, watching the ships coming in and going out again.

Boston's gone a little crazy of late, shootings, stabbing's and kids taking guns to school. Usual happenings but on a more escalated scale at present. All in the usual areas, so we're kind of used to it I guess. We know not to head that way and obviously don't plan to, unlike the Guardian Angels who've ventured up from New York to try and help stop the violence. We feel safe, like I say we know where not to go, that's one thing we do thank Roland, the O'Grady Peyton meet and greeter for. Remember him. He took us through those areas in our first week nearly making us change our minds and head straight home. Maybe he was educating us.

Have a good weekend, hopefully the dodgy sandwich won't ruin ours.

Cheers.

Last Friday

It snowed.

Sorry nothing much to talk about, we'll think of something for next week. Hope you like the pictures Em took. 'The film we saw last week 'The Zodiac' was really good by the way.

Cheers.

Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening.

So we've sprung forward into Spring this week, 3 weeks ahead of the rest of the world. Last week we walked to work at 6:30 in the morning sunshine. This week it was like going back to the beginning of winter, a return to the cold and darkness. Sure it's not getting dark until 7pm now but we want our sunny mornings back. I guess in another couple of weeks they will be, which will obviously brighten our moods for the day ahead. Not to mention we should have recovered from the hour of sleep we missed at the weekend.

It's getting a little complicated for Em at the moment, it's hard to explain but she's basically having to work an extra shift a week to fulfil her contract. It's a bit of a shitter. Anyway today's a day off, a day to relax and chill and watch a film about the notoriously never found 70's serial killer of San Francisco. 'The Zodiac'. Which should be good, or so I've read. Tomorrow is of course St Patrick's Day and we've been invited out for a pint of the black stuff which will be well deserved. Not sure if we're going to take in any of the parade on Sunday yet, need to find the route. We know it's in South Boston so may learn more tomorrow and arrange to check it out.

Speaking of St Patrick's Day the home page illustration on the website has been picked up and printed in this weeks edition of Boston's Weekly Dig. Which was obviously very nice and another piece of work printed and out on the streets for the good people of Boston and for my CV.

Happy St Patrick's to all, have a good weekend.

Cheers.

Batteries would help!

It was cold, but not too cold last Sunday as we took a walk down to the harbour to have a look at the USS JFK. A 1,050 feet long aircraft carrier which was making it's last visit to Boston before being decommissioned. "Big John" as it's affectionately known was open to the public for the weekend, and people started queuing at about 3 am Saturday morning for the one hour guided tour. Apparently the queue was almost 2 miles long when they started turning people away. We didn't bother to join the queue, although we would have liked to have had a look around. Standing in the cold for a couple of hours before getting near the ship just wasn't that appealing. We walked down the side with others in an attempt to get a closer look but obviously security was tighter than spandex. We got as close as we could, took the camera out to take a picture only to find the batteries were flat. Nice. I usually always have spare batteries with me, but not this time. Lucky we didn't join the queue and discover this after hours stood waiting in the cold. The USS Kennedy drew around 50,000 visitors over the weekend and set sail to Florida later in the week were it will sit and grow old along with all the other retired Americans.

Our summer west coast tour is all booked, we fly to Seattle on the 18th June taking in San Francisco, Monterey, Los Angeles, Palm Springs (Joshua Tree National Park) and finally Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon before returning to Boston for the 4th July. It's back to good old Blighty then on the 5th via Dublin to swap planes. Better make sure I take plenty of batteries and the charger for this trip.

So sorry no picture at the top of the USS JFK for the blog as I had planned, a nice sunset to warm us up from our window instead.

Cheers.

New York

We took a trip on the 'Lucky Bus' to NYC last weekend just to get away and have a break. Em had seven days off in her shift rotation so thought it would be good to get out and go some place. Why New York, why not New York. The Lucky Bus only costs $30 each for the round trip so it's pretty cheap to get there. I've also wanted to go to the Museum of Modern Art for a while, and then there's all the shops for Em, so we both get a little of what we want. Also took in a trip to the Natural History Museum which is a great place, just too much to take in. Loved the dinosaurs and learned about life and rituals of tribes in the Amazon. Too many kids running around though. The Museum of Modern Art was kinda hit and miss, some great works by some of my favourite artists like Jasper Johns, Kandinsky, Miro and Pollock. Also some very modern art which are based more around concepts such as an empty white gallery room with a light, which turns on and off every 5 seconds which was part of an exhibition on time. I think the episode of The Simpsons when Homer gets a new electronic bed covers the same idea, well at least that's what came to my mind. "Bed goes up, bed goes down. Bed goes up, bed goes down. Light comes on, light goes off. I think I understood it, maybe I miss the point, but it's not 'Art' to me. I can’t really write what Em thought of it. Highlight had to be the Bradford regeneration video. To be stood in a huge New York gallery watching a presentation video about updating our home city thousand of miles away was a little surreal. We had to watch it twice, pointing out the landmarks, Town Hall, Cathedral, Jacobs Well, and The Library.

We had a good few days, French toast and pancakes for breakfast at a diner across from the hotel. A proper New York pizza at a place called ‘Big Nicks’ which I’m guessing refers to the size of Nick because the place was small, you nearly had to stand up to let other people out. When we walked in we thought we’d entered the kitchen, the pizza though was superb. A true New York experience, just as the guide in our hotel room described.

Watched the Oscars on the Sunday while the snow fell in New York, glad to see ‘The Departed’ win best film, probably my favourite film of last year. Although ‘Little Miss Sunshine's’ really good too, so if you haven’t seen either we recommend both. Not that our opinion really counts for anything.

The Baseball season is about a month away and all the teams are in spring training. The Red Sox have a camp down in Florida because it's too cold to be training up in Boston. All the players return heavy and over weight from their winter hibernation. Lots of attention on the Red Sox because of the new Japanese pitcher they’ve bought, cost them just over $100 million. He's starting an exhibition game tonight so may have a look myself, cause I like baseball. Didn't think I would, but I got really into it last year. We've bought tickets for a game in June which should be great, enjoyed the game we saw last year against the Toronto Blue Jays. So looking forward to that.

Well I think that’s enough of my waffle. The summer west coast tour is coming together so maybe more details on that next week.

Cheers for reading.

Mmmmmmmm.

Hello again, apologies to the vegetarians for the above picture of the glorious pastrami sandwich I had the other day. Em opted for the artery clogging grilled cheese, very nice.

Anyway busy week, snow and ice are slowly melting as the temperature rises above freezing for the first time in what seems like a month or so. It's bright, it's sunny, it's lovely today. We've both been feeling a little down most of this week for various reasons but mainly because of work, not enough in my case and too much in Em's case. However into another weekend we head and a trip to New York City so we're perking up a little and plan to enjoy our last trip to NYC for some time.

Last night I attended a Graphic Artists Guild seminar on e-mail promotions and sending out newsletters which was all very interesting. However I was more excited by seeing the illustration I did for the event promo postcard. Which you can see by clicking here. They also printed the gorilla onto a 6 foot banner which was pretty cool to see. I got chatting with some other illustrators who also discussed a lack of work at the moment. So I guess it was nice to hear I'm not the only one, if a little disheartening with regards to my chosen career. Oh well.

Plans for the summer holiday are in full flow and frankly the credit cards taking a beating. We're planning to fly to Seattle for a couple of days then down to San Francisco, again for a couple of days. Then jump on the train to Monterey, for another couple of nights, then back on the train down the coast to Los Angeles. Em's found a delightfully kitsch hotel near the Sunset Strip, so she can find the old hang outs of Motley Crew and Poison in an attempt to relive her 80’s hair metal youth. From LA we had hoped to go to Joshua Tree National Park and possibly stay in the same hotel as U2 did, then onto San Diego for a night or two before moving on to the Grand Canyon, then fly back to Boston for the 4th July and home on the 5th. Which as I write sounds too much to do in a week. So sadly San Diego's been dropped, which is a shame but we want to enjoy this trip and not just move from hotel to hotel. The best and quickest way for us to visit the Grand Canyon looks like taking a trip from Las Vegas, flying over the canyon and being dropped off to have a walk round. So our updated plan is to take the bus from LA to Joshua Tree via Palm Springs, stay there for a couple of nights then fly to Vegas from Palm Springs to do the Grand Canyon, maybe play a slot machine or two in Vegas and finally fly from Vegas back to Boston. We're thinking of rounding off the whole thing by coming full circle and spend our last night in America in the hotel we spent our first. It sounds allot we know but we feel we deserve it, I especially think Em does.

You're only here once.

I need to go stir the chilli, have a good weekend.

Cheers.

That seal wants it's coat back

Let's get the weather out of the way. The snow or should I say some snow finally fell in Boston this week. Closely followed by a bit of rain then a little more snow. Lets not forget the sub zero temperatures too, turning Boston into a massive ice rink. It's treacherous outside. The safest way is to avoid the paths and walk across the tightly compacted snow to the side, which makes you feel like you weigh nothing, leaving the smallest imprints with each step. To walk on the paths is like walking on broken glass. Not much fun, with the wind trying to blow you over. It's been hard getting around, and so cold. So we've not ventured further than down Boylston for a brew the past few days.

Whilst walking about in our 20 layers we've noticed an older generation still opt for the fur off a seals back to keep warm. At least that's what we think it is, there may have been a racoon or two draped over a few shoulders. We counted about 10 women wearing fur coats and resisted the temptation to hit them with baseball bats. It would appear there are still people around for the fur market although as noted they are of a certain age and wealth. I'm happy with my Columbia 3 in 1 which keeps me warm enough, although the 18 layers underneath may have something to do with that.

Spring is only 32 day away and our return in the summer is drawing ever nearer. We've begun to plan things, feels like two weeks ago we we're planning to move here to Boston. Before we do come home we're hoping to explore the country a little more. Em bought a map which has been stuck to the wall and destinations for the ultimate summer holiday have been chosen. The only problem is time. There's so many places we want to go, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, San Diego and lets not forget Vegas. We have to go there. As you can probably tell from those destinations we're planning to travel down the west coast using trains, planes and automobiles. Well a bus or two, we don't fancy driving ourselves. It's going to be the holiday of a lifetime because we know we may never get the chance to do something like this again. So I think we're going to go for it. The 18th June is the provisional start date, returning home on the 6th July. It would be rude not to spend another 4th July back here in Boston, which was such a great experience last year. The only fear is we try and cram too much in and have no time to relax and enjoy the journey. However if we don't get a good tax refund we may just be flying home. Which although disappointing will be one of the best parts of the whole trip anyway.

Cheers for reading, have a good weekend and keep warm.

To be honest...

...we haven't done much this week apart from work, so this could be a short one. We watched the Colts beat the Bears in Superbowl XLI, that's 41 for those like me who are unfamiliar with the old Roman numerals. At least that's what they say it is. Of course there were loads of breaks and the game lasted for over 4 hours, but it flew by. Em bought some plastic cups to drink our beer from, cause that's what your supposed to do. It was a good game, although as I've mentioned before Em wasn't too impressed with it all. Prince was the half time entertainment and made us laugh as he was silhouetted into some phallic poses stroking his guitar. Absolute genius after all the fuss about Janet Jackson revealing her boob a couple of years back, and not many seemed to pick up on it in the news. Maybe Prince is a little disappointed by that.

We've been getting asked for id at some new pubs and bars we've been to lately. You also need to prove your identity when you buy booze from the supermarkets and liquor stores. Most of the time our federal issued resident card is good enough but lately places have been rejecting them and asking us to show our passports. We don't carry those around with us and don't plan to in future so reluctantly have signed up for 'Liquor id's.' I find it crazy that a federal issued identification is not accepted in the Bay State. Not to mention I'm 32. I may not look it, but I do look older than 21. My dad had to show his id, which caught him a little off guard. You don't want to come between my dad and his bottle of whisky Massachusetts. What did my dad have to prove? he's obviously over 21 years of age, and what does a state issued id card do that our federal one doesn't? Apart from cost $25. I don't know the answers but we can hopefully buy a bottle of wine for our Sunday tea with a little less hassle now.

Still no snow in Boston, only had 1.8" so far this year. The average is about 25" or something. It has however been extremely cold. I don't think it's been above freezing this week. We're getting a little tired of wearing all the layers to keep warm. I guess it will soon be Spring, March is approaching fast. I think the colds the reason we haven't been out anywhere this week. Sadly keeping warm in front of the TV has been far more attractive proposition than venturing out. We'll try and do better next week. Hopefully England will too when they play again.

Cheers.

Calm down.

Up until Wednesday I didn't really have much to write about this week, Then the shit hit the fan sort of speak. Suspicious devices were found around the city, near T stations and bridges setting off a full scale terrorist alert shutting down the city. You may have heard about it back home in England, The BBC and Guardian covered it on their websites. So you no doubt know it was all a hoax and the 'supposed' suspicious devices were no more than electronic boards featuring a character from a Cartoon Network series. All part of a 'guerrilla marketing' campaign for the show and a future movie version. The campaign also happened in about 9 other cities including New York, Philadelphia and Seattle, but only Boston fell into what I saw as total paranoia and fear from a cartoon character giving passers by the finger. Maybe I'm a little naive but if I had seen one of the alleged suspicious devices I don't think I would have thought anything of it. Apparently some of the devices had been there for up to two weeks without any cause for concern. The news stations went to work, feeding the frenzy and in my opinion spreading fear through the city while many teens and fans of the show found the whole thing hilarious. Two guys have been arrested for placing the devices and continue not to take the whole matter seriously to the annoyance of Boston's older generations. I myself couldn't believe how it was blown out of all proportion, I mean I'm no bomb squad but you just have to look at the devices. Anyway we still love you Boston even if you’re probably the most paranoid city in America, still at least we know your prepared if somebody leaves a suspicious 'Elmo' rucksack lying around.

Have a good weekend.

So cold.

I don't really want to waffle on about the weather, but I mentioned it was frickin' freezing last week. Well last week was a lovely cool breeze compared to today. It's insanely cold, minus 10 degree C but with the wind chill, feels more like minus 20. Frankly when the weatherman says you could experience a little frost bite if your outside for more than half an hour you decide to stay in and have a cuppa instead of venturing out to the local Starbucks and returning with black fingers.


I ventured down to the Charles River earlier in the week to take a couple of pictures. The river is completely frozen and is one of the most beautiful things I've seen. That's until you see somebody has tried to smash the ice with a dustbin. It has snowed a little this week but only an inch or so. Nothing major. Also out on my walk I came across the local eagle or hawk nibbling on a little rat. We've seen it a few times lately but managed to get pretty close this time to take a picture. It didn't seem to mind the attention. There was even a professional photographer there with his massive lens taking pictures too. Not something you see every day.


We're planning to have a tourist type day once a week before we head home in the summer. This week we went to the JFK museum and library. Which was pretty interesting. As you get older you obviously get more interested in politics and world events. So me and Em found it all pretty fascinating especially the parts of the museum covering the Cuban missile crisis and the Space race. Loads of stuff about how he used television to help get his messages across to the people. So recommend a visit if your in Boston.

The Patriots lost last weekend, didn't have a good Sunday really, Watched Man Utd throw away the lead against Arsenal then the Patriots did the same thing. Leading 21-6 at half time they lost to the Indianapolis Colts 34-38. So it's going to be the Colts against the Chicago Bears in Superbowl 41 a week on Sunday. Still going to watch it, Em’s going to make a chilli which is apparently the thing to do.

Cheers till next Friday, have a good weekend.

Long johns on

Yep it's frickin' freezing, well not so much today but for most of the week it's just been so cold, minus something or other all day long. Em's worked four straight days this week so we've both been up at 5:20 and walking to work with 18 layers of clothing on to try and keep warm. I even had two hats on one day. At least we didn't have the 70 mph winds that have been hitting England and other parts of Europe. No real snow fall yet, sure there will be some soon.

Started a life drawing class the other week, takes place every Friday for the next 10 weeks. I'm posting the drawings to the sketchblog, so feel free to click on the yellow pencil to the left which should take you straight there. Em's well into here yoga classes, attending at least one class a week and getting as flexible as a rubber band. Not quite to Stings standard mind.

My cold's slowly clearing, still got an irritating cough but feeling much better than a week ago. Working off the Christmas belly too due to us not eating and drinking as much, so feeling good. Need to start jogging again, Em's planning to run the Great North Run again, this will be about the 6th or 7th time if she gets in.

The New England Patriots are in the AFC Final this weekend which is like the semi-finals for the Superbowl. Em's not much of a fan but it's bringing back memories when I was a kid and watched it all the time on Channel 4. Should be a great experience if they can win on Sunday and get to the Superbowl while we're here. 'Come on Pats' as they say.

Cheerio till next week.

Well Christmas and New Year already feel like months ago. I know it's January, but in many ways it feels more like March to me. Can't really explain it but the mild weather and no snow whatsoever has probably got something to do with it. It's cold today mind but dry and sunny. Maybe the cold I've had this week is an attribute to my feelings. I'm crap with a cold, suffering from the typical bloke with a cold syndrome. I just shut down, unable to sleep and sit there with tissues stuck up my nose. Luckily Em's pulling me through it.

An interesting start to the year in the apartment. It's not every day that it starts to rain in the corridor, but that's what happened a few doors down last Sunday. A burst water pipe was to blame and not somebody in the apartment above leaving a tap running or something far more sinister. We're not just talking about a trickle of water either here. It was like a cloud burst that lasted for an hour or so. It was more entertaining than watching tv anyway.

Start a figure drawing class tomorrow which should be cool, looking forward to it. Hopefully it will get the ball rolling and inspire some new work. Em's working a couple of nights this week, she bought a map of America the other day to plan our summer holiday, tour, trip. Whatever you want to call it. Seattle, Chicago and San Fransisco are top of the list of cities with the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Joshua Tree Park other places we would like to visit before returning home. Better earn some money then. So enough from me, time for a brew, a cough drop or two and to crack on with some work.

Cheers.

P.S. Have a look at this. Takes a minute to load but worth the wait.

New Website

I spent the last 3 months or so of 2006 re-designing my website for the New Year and launched it the other day. The grey background is gone and frankly I'm pleased to see the back of it. A fresh start for the New Year. There's a couple of new pieces of work on there too. So please click here to have a look. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Cheers.

Happy New Year

So how was 2006 for you? I guess it had it's moments like every other year. For us it was a full calendar year living on the other side of the pond, so will no doubt always be remembered for that. We did take a couple of trips back home to Blighty to celebrate Emma's 30th and Richard & Ian's civil ceremony. Which stand tall as a couple of highlights to the year. I spent the first of what I hope to be many working for myself, I did manage to do some work for other people too, and finished the year with a few freelance jobs under my belt. Em's worked her socks off, ticking off the number of shifts left to work as she goes. Sure it's not quite worked out as she expected but she's gained a whole new family of friends and seen an aggressive patient pinned to the wall by hospital police with guns at the ready. I'd never seen her so excited after a shift.

Em also fulfilled an ambition to see Madonna in concert, which I'm sure Richard & Ian wont mind me saying was the gayest thing I've seen this year next to a trip to P-Town. Another highlight was going whale watching in August which was just something else. Breakfast down by the Charles river was the best way to chill and start our days through the summer months. Picking up loads of copies of Boston's Weekly Dig, which published one of my illustrations was a huge buzz. Parents visiting, drinking and eating pizza in Woody's. The July 4th celebrations. We certainly had some of the best days of our lives last year, and some low ones too. Hey your going to have a couple no matter what.

Anyway it's 2007 a new year and there's loads to look forward to. The first things Emma said when the clock struck 12 on Monday was "We're going home this year". Which surely is one, but we've got loads more to do before then.

Cheers.

P.S. I have to give Em credit for the fireworks picture at the top, I spent most of New Years Eve sleeping and coughing at the toilet. So was concentrating on other things than taking pictures. I never really had drinking legs. I think my dad kept them for himself, Ha ha.

Happy Boxing Day

Boston's a bit of a ghost town over Christmas, everybody appears to leave the city to visit family and friends in the suburbs and across the country. Plenty of space on the park benches for an artist and a nurse.

Cheers.

Fruit/Flowers

Time has flown by as we reached our 4th anniversary the other day, and what better way to celebrate it by looking at some real human bodies minus their skin. Romantic we know. As mentioned before Em was interested from a medical stand point and me for the anatomical. To say Dr. Gunther von Hagens, Body Worlds exhibition is a little freaky would be an understatement, but interesting and compelling none the less. Sure some of the bodies looked like they had been modelled out of beef jerky, which I will not be eating again for the foreseeable future. Each of the donated bodies has it’s bodily fluids replaced with the doctors patented reactive fluid plastic which slowly hardens and preserves the bodies for exhibition. Beef jerky it isn’t. Also on exhibition was loads of individual organs highlighting how the body works and allowing you to compare between the healthy and disease riddled. The smokers lung was very pleasant, but I’m sure it wouldn’t stop my dad from smoking. We looked around for an hour or so and would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for those pesky kids on school trips. We’re getting old I know. We did manage to hold onto our appetites for a pub lunch, which was then walked off.

Evening entertainment began with cocktails at the Marriot. Well a Cosmopolitan for Em and a pint of Guinness for myself. It was then onto Boston's finest eating establishment in our opinion, Woody’s for a pizza washed down with a bottle of red wine (asked for white). All for a reasonable $40 plus change. Nice.


Christmas is of course upon us next week so it was time to put the tree up and some lights round the windows. Our tree was looking rather happy with itself with Emma’s hand made star at the top. That’s until we decided to hang some rather weighty baubles to some of his spindly arms. He’s coping with them for now but they may be on the floor one morning.

The Ipswich serial killer is topping the headlines this side of the pond. NBC News felt it necessary to add subtitles to the interview of an Ipswich local, which was slightly amusing. Maybe I need subtitles cause they don’t understand what I’m saying most of the time. I mean I asked for white they brought us red. We still drunk it though.

Cheers.

For more on the Body Worlds exhibition visit the website by clicking here.

Party.

Party nurses from the left: Em, Lindsey, Sarah and Carrie.

Last Saturday night was the BIDMC Cardiology Cardiac & Vascular Surgery Christmas Party at the Marriot hotel over the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge. We wanted to see if Christmas parties were any different this side of the pond. Such as food, drink and music. So there we were, surrounded by some of the worlds finest cardiologists, cardiac and vascular surgeons. The main thing we noticed was the lack of free booze, no open bar, no wine on the tables. The lack of free booze aside a good time was had by all. The food was okay, Roast beef and mashed potatoes with an unusually sweet tomato flavoured gravy. A few one hit wonders that we had never heard of got most people dancing. Abba surprisingly cleared the floor apart from a couple of dancing queens. By the end of the night there was just our little gang of CCU nurses, myself, Sarah, Lindsey, Kamelia left on the dance floor. Even Mark joined in for a boogie.

Sunset through the apartment window

Bought the new camera just after Thanksgiving but not really had chance to go out and take any pictures. We're both just too busy working at the moment. Managed to take a break from my illustrations to capture tonights sunset.

Coldest day since mid March today. I guess it's only going to get colder over the next few months. Time to get those thermals back out we think.

Cheers.