Momma, Momma,

Come on, come on. Come here, look at this, look at that. I want this, I want a donut. Momma, Momma, come on come on.
We want to make sure kids are sat nowhere near us. Benadryl is Emma's suggestion.

Airports are always fun, currently we are sat at gate C29 waiting for the flight to Seattle (or we were when we wrote this). A good view of the runway to our left. Two irritating kids to our right. You have to feel for the mother, she has to live with them. Our prnultimate night in Boston was spent firstly on the banks of the Charles river. Sorry to interrupt but the kids have got donuts now, looking forward to when the sugar kicks in! Anyway back to last night. After our lovely picnic, why we haven't done that before we don't know. We thought it would be rude not to have a drink at Woody's, make that three, which is a heavy night for us two. Good conversation with our friends behind the bar. Sadly watching the Yankees beating the Mets. The Red Sox won earlier so they haven't gained any ground which is good. So a good night was had and we managed to get rid of our TV. Great.

The sugar's kicking in now! Looking forward to Seattle, it's going to be a long flight. The ipods in for a heavy shift. Hope there's a good movie on or we can get absorbed in our books.

We'll get back to you later.

Montreal

What can we say about Montréal apart from you are one crazy city, and very French. Which I'm not saying is a bad thing. It's more a reflection on ourselves and the feeling that I personally wish I had paid more attention at school to learn the language. The second largest French speaking city in the western world after Paris. In fact I thought we were in France, not a two hour drive north of the American border. We we're staying in a nice little hotel in the gay district of the city. Not too far from the places you need to see, just off Saint Catherine, one of the main downtown streets. To say the area was a bit of a culture shock would be an understatement. Surrounded by the neon lights, graffiti and numerous sex shops, it took us a while to climatize and feel comfortable. We did take one left turn from the busy streets to find ourselves in the middle of a run down residential area which jangled the nerves slightly but we took it in our stride.

Old Montréal was a much cleaner and comfortable area to walk round, sure it was the main tourist area but for good reason. Streets of old architecture and old shop fronts, outdoor café bars, street performers and portrait artists. Also within Old Montréal stands Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica which from the outside I found nothing too spectacular to look at. However step inside and the place is a complete masterpiece. Possibly the highlight of the weekend.

We took the trip with Carrie a native Canadian and a nurse who helped Emma settle at the hospital in Boston. Carrie's step sister also lives in Montréal and met up with us on Saturday evening for a trip to Mount Royal which provides views looking over the city and the local raccoons. We certainly saw more of the city with our two excellent guides, introducing us to other neighbourhoods and a good restaurant for some Persian food.

I would say Montréal didn't meet my expectations when we first arrived but grew on me and Emma over the following day. It's certainly an interesting vibrant city with an acquired taste in certain areas. The only thing missing from the trip for Emma was to see a Canadian Mountie. We did see a young Moose on the journey up, jogging casually across the highway. Not a common sight we're told, so we felt pretty fortunate. Unlike the various bits of road kill lying on the side of the road.

We're into our final 2 weeks living in Boston, we fly to Seattle on the 18th June to start our journey down the west coast by train, plane and automobile. Well a bus actually. So there will no doubt be more to follow.

Cheers for reading.

North Bridge

The North Bridge situated in the Minuteman National Park just north of Concord is an absolutely beautiful, scenic place. There's a true sense of history in the surroundings. The park being one of the sites from the beginning of the American revolution and “the shot heard ‘round the world.” A standoff between advancing British troops and American militia, with the militia standing firm and pushing the British back to Boston. It was a little strange being there, felt a little like the enemy.

After our walk round the Park we took in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery which lies just to the east of the centre of Concord. Not to be confused with the old Dutch burial ground, famous for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman of upstate New York. Within this Sleepy Hollow Cemetery lies Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, We dropped a couple of pennies on her gravestone which seemed to be the thing to do. Em believes it's because she died very poor, so people drop money on her grave for her to take into the afterlife.

We're heading to Montreal this weekend, our first trip there and into Canada, which is a little exciting. Will post some pictures and stuff when we return.

Cheers.

Fourteen boxes should be enough

This packing lark has been pretty tough this week, we're up to fourteen boxes. We only came over with seven. Granted those boxes were bigger than the ones we have bought this time for the return journey back to England. It's quite funny if a little frustrating to be packing up the odd thing that has not been moved or touched since we unpacked it 22 months ago. Back then of course we didn't know if we would be coming back, staying a little longer or for good. The apartments been in a mess all week which has been a constant irritation. We had a good tidy up yesterday, my art desk is no more and has been replaced by a nice tidy pile of boxes. The trusty desk which has served me well over the past year and a half was placed next to the recycling bins waiting for a new owner to take it home. It wasn't there this morning.

After the disappointment of last Saturdays FA Cup final we had high hopes that the Champions League Final would deliver some quality sports entertainment. To get a better atmosphere we planned to watch the game in a local Irish bar, but to our disappointment they had a $20 door charge, each. With food and a drink or two we would easily have spent $80 or more. So it was back to the apartment with a slice of pizza and a coke to watch the game for free. Thought Liverpool should have won but I guess it was sweet revenge for Milan and another final that failed to live up to expectations. I guess a repeat of the 2005 final was never on the cards, and will probably never be repeated. Maybe next year.

Friday night we went to the Pavilion to watch Keane, the last band we would be seeing out here. Well actually that's a lie because it was Earthfest on Saturday with KT Tunstall performing among others, but that doesn't really count because we were stood to the side and couldn't really see. Plus the sound was pretty terrible. Earthfest's an annual free concert and gathering taking place on the esplanade. Lots of eco conscious promotions and things for you to take in, however it was just too busy to actually get close and take anything in. So back to Keane on a lovely Friday night, the temperature had been in the 90's all day and steadied around the 70's for the evenings entertainment. They we're pretty good, the crowd loved them and sang along, but did they make our top 5. Last week it was films, this week bands.

Emma's

Much like the film she stared in Emma has put Madonna in 'a league of her own' and beyond comparison with any other artist she's witnessed. Em waited 20 years to see her, and to then get seats 10 feet from the stage puts her beyond the following list.

1. Coldplay (Verizon Arena, Manchester NH)
2. Snow Patrol (Bank of America Pavilion, Boston)
3. Gomez (Avalon, Boston)
4. Keane (Bank of America Pavilion, Boston)
5. Illinois (supporting The Kooks. Paradise Rock Club, Boston)

Mark's
1. Coldplay (Verizon Arena, Manchester NH)
2. Madonna (TD Banknorth Garden, Boston)
3. Pearl Jam (TD Banknorth Garden, Boston)
4. The Black Keys (Avalon, Boston)
5. Supergrass (Paradise Rock Club)

Cheers.

3,124 hours later.

Em's completed her hours and is unemployed. Yah.

We're currently surrounded by boxes, boxes everywhere. Sorting through all our things, deciding which things we want to send home and which things we can live without and take to the charity shop. The apartments a bit of a mess, piles of things cluttering the floor. It's a bit of a nightmare for somebody who like to keep things a little tidy. Soon have everything packed up and sent home. We leave for Seattle four weeks today and will be back in England in Six.

I was gutted at missing last years FA Cup final because I was too tight to pay the $25 pay per view fee. Of course it turned out be one of the best finals in years and made $25 seem cheap for 2 hours plus of quality entertainment. Wasn't going to miss this years. But wouldn't you know it, this year it was pretty much a waste of money and time, wouldn't have been as bad if United had won I guess. You win some and lose some, I feel like we lost twice. Gutted again.

A poll released last week put Boston at number 3, behind New York and Miami for road rage. We haven't driven while we have been here so they can't blame us. We've witnessed some shocking driving in our time here, I'm still confused by the turn on red sign, allowing drivers to turn right even if the lights red. That's got nothing to do with road rage though but you need to keep your wits about you as a pedestrian. Especially if your still not used to them driving on the other side of the road.

With us entering our final weeks we thought it would be good to do a few lists of our favourite things experiences while we have lived in Boston and the big U.S. of A. First up, fav five films.

Emma's
1, The Departed.
2, Blood Diamond.
3, United 93.
4, Blades of Glory,
5, Devil Wears Prada.

Mark's
1, The Departed.
2, Munich,
3, United 93
4, Wallace & Gromit Curse of the Were Rabbit
5, Stranger Than Fiction

Cheers.

Bumper stickers

They do of course like to share their opinions over here and bumper stickers is one way of doing just that. Saw this car when we went to Harvard the other week which took it to the extreme.

Well it's nearly the end, Emma has one week left at work. 5 weeks later we'll set off on our west coast trip, 2 weeks after that we'll be returning from New England to the old England, with a new Prime Minister to greet us. The closer we get to coming home the more sad we are to be leaving. We've filled out and sent off our re-entry permits, so if Gordon Brown doesn't look after us we'll hopefully be allowed back into the U.S. of A.

Colour has made a welcome return, spring has definitely sprung. In fact it's been more like summer this week and allowed us to get out for a few walks and enjoy the sun. Although I've come down with some kind of hay-fever/cold thing which has knocked me off my stride for the past couple of weeks. Never suffered from hay-fever back in England and didn't get as many colds because I rode my bike once or twice a week, kept me a bit fitter. Looking forward to getting back on the bike when I return. Will need to buy one first though.

We're not the only ones planning to leave over the next month or so. All the local universities and colleges are rapping up for the summer and graduating students returning home. Should be allot quieter round here when they've moved on, until the next lot arrive in August. We of course wont be here by then, if we were staying. I doubt we would be staying in the apartment building. It's become more like a halls of residence while we've been here, watching the families move out and the students move in, musical instruments and small dogs in tow. There's still 'Smoky Joe' that's not his real name but one Em gave him. He's still around, resuscitating himself each morning after his walk. He's just one of the many characters we've come across out here. Going to miss them all. Going to miss Boston.

Cheerio.

My Head Hurts

That's what happens when you go to the IRS website, trying to learn about things we need to do before we return home.
Apologies for not writing anything last week. The Virginia Tech shootings/Massacre consumed everything last week and I just didn't feel like writing about that or anything else. So took a week off. Not really too much to talk about this week either regarding life in the wild west. Or should I say east of the wild west. So sorry if this turns into some pointless waffle about pancakes and french toast or something. Mmmmmm French Toast.

So should we extend our green cards is the question? I know we're coming home in a couple of months but surely it's wise to keep our options open. Applying for 'Reentry Permits' would no doubt save loads of time and money if we a year or so down the road decided the wild west was really for us and a sausage dog. Personally I think we both want to settle down again, buy a house, lay down some roots, be around and closer to family and friends, sit in a garden.

We're not too happy about the £ vs $ at the moment either, good if your coming over here this summer, bad if your moving back east across the atlantic. Cut our (When I say our I mean Em's) savings in half. Damn you incredibly strong pound and puny dollar. Hopefully things will balance out a little better for us by July.

Emma will have 10 shifts left to work after today, which is great news. 10 more to go then she'll be free. Not that it's been a prison sentence. I guess it's like a really long day at work. It's nearly 5.30 and time for home.

Bye until next Friday.

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.