Tuesday 31 August 2010
Sunday 29 August 2010
I'm wearing out the flooring in a cheap motel
Well not that cheap really.
Oh, its like a film noir. Check into a motel then go out to a diner and have steak and eggs with a cherry coke (thats coke with cherry syrup not the insipid stuff that you get in a can - and real maraschino cherries floating in it) for dinner. Can you get any more B-movie than that? Hopefully no as I'm hoping that there is no midnight visitation by the cops.
Oh, its like a film noir. Check into a motel then go out to a diner and have steak and eggs with a cherry coke (thats coke with cherry syrup not the insipid stuff that you get in a can - and real maraschino cherries floating in it) for dinner. Can you get any more B-movie than that? Hopefully no as I'm hoping that there is no midnight visitation by the cops.
Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
We went for a walk this afternoon to Mine Falls Park which is about five minutes from the apartment. It goes along the Nashua river and has miles of beautiful walks through the woods. All very pretty.
There is a word that is very overused in America - awesome. However we saw something whilst in the park that I think could actually truly described as awesome. Sitting on a log, not 6 feet from us, was an enormous hawk. Not being a ornithologist, I couldn't tell you what sort it was (having googled, it could have been a red tailed hawk) but it was something that did truly inspire awe. About five minutes later we saw its likely dinner, a chipmunk.
Certainly beats pigeons and grey squirrels on an afternoons walk.
There is a word that is very overused in America - awesome. However we saw something whilst in the park that I think could actually truly described as awesome. Sitting on a log, not 6 feet from us, was an enormous hawk. Not being a ornithologist, I couldn't tell you what sort it was (having googled, it could have been a red tailed hawk) but it was something that did truly inspire awe. About five minutes later we saw its likely dinner, a chipmunk.
Certainly beats pigeons and grey squirrels on an afternoons walk.
Friday 27 August 2010
The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
And I'm not surprised. Driving, Americans - you would think in a land where the automobile is king they would know how to drive them. Er, no.
I don't think that I have ever seen such inept driving, ever. Even driving in India is better - at least they know how to get on and off at interchanges. Americans seem to have no idea of how to enter a freeway/highway/interstate/turnpike (delete as applicable). I would have thought that idea of, lets call it a motorway, is to keep traffic flowing freely and the idea when getting on is for the traffic already on the road to speed up or slow down (or even change lane) to let the car entering on. That way everyone is able to keep rolling and the traffic keeps flowing.
Not here. Billy Bob in his F150 just keeps on truckin' which means that Jolene has no way of joining the freeway. This is fine in the normal course of things, you just slow down and wait for them to go by and then join. But rush hours? Its metaphorical carnage out there. I have never seen lines of cars queueing on the slip road (I will not call it the on ramp, I will not call it the on ramp....) to get onto a motorway before. And not one or two but dozens of them. I have had the misfortune to be in the car when we have had to join the I95 from Route 3 (our way into central Boston from home) in the rush hour
View Larger Map
This is a bit of road that it should take 2 or 3 minutes to drive down. In the rush hour, it can 15 or 20 minutes. All due to the way people won't let those coming on, on. So lets get out of car and take the train. A fine idea but......
When we were staying in the hotel, we thought "there is a railway station five minutes drive away with a car park, lets get the train into Boston and then get around Boston on the T". So we did. First problem, the trains only run every two hours. Yes, once every two hours. Admittedly this was a Saturday and they are more plentiful on a weekday rush hour but still. So you miss your train, buggered for two hours.
So after making sure we got there in plenty of time for the train, I go to the ticket office.
"Two returns into Boston and with tickets so we can travel on the subway all day please"
"Certainly Sir, that will be $38 please"
We had already paid $4 for the parking. How do you persuade people to use public transport for those sort of prices when they can drive into Boston on a Saturday and spend 9 bucks for all day parking?
Nice train ride though.
I don't think that I have ever seen such inept driving, ever. Even driving in India is better - at least they know how to get on and off at interchanges. Americans seem to have no idea of how to enter a freeway/highway/interstate/turnpike (delete as applicable). I would have thought that idea of, lets call it a motorway, is to keep traffic flowing freely and the idea when getting on is for the traffic already on the road to speed up or slow down (or even change lane) to let the car entering on. That way everyone is able to keep rolling and the traffic keeps flowing.
Not here. Billy Bob in his F150 just keeps on truckin' which means that Jolene has no way of joining the freeway. This is fine in the normal course of things, you just slow down and wait for them to go by and then join. But rush hours? Its metaphorical carnage out there. I have never seen lines of cars queueing on the slip road (I will not call it the on ramp, I will not call it the on ramp....) to get onto a motorway before. And not one or two but dozens of them. I have had the misfortune to be in the car when we have had to join the I95 from Route 3 (our way into central Boston from home) in the rush hour
View Larger Map
This is a bit of road that it should take 2 or 3 minutes to drive down. In the rush hour, it can 15 or 20 minutes. All due to the way people won't let those coming on, on. So lets get out of car and take the train. A fine idea but......
When we were staying in the hotel, we thought "there is a railway station five minutes drive away with a car park, lets get the train into Boston and then get around Boston on the T". So we did. First problem, the trains only run every two hours. Yes, once every two hours. Admittedly this was a Saturday and they are more plentiful on a weekday rush hour but still. So you miss your train, buggered for two hours.
So after making sure we got there in plenty of time for the train, I go to the ticket office.
"Two returns into Boston and with tickets so we can travel on the subway all day please"
"Certainly Sir, that will be $38 please"
We had already paid $4 for the parking. How do you persuade people to use public transport for those sort of prices when they can drive into Boston on a Saturday and spend 9 bucks for all day parking?
Nice train ride though.
Thursday 26 August 2010
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
So having been here for nearly a month and a half, I think I am now in a position to make sweeping generalizations about America.
The first is that I am shocked by the people who I have met and spoken to at length. I had always had the impression of Americans being positive and believing whole heartedly and unquestioningly in their country. Almost to a man (and woman) the people who we have spoken to have have all said "I love my country but...." and there then follows a litany of things that they think are wrong with America. And its not the things that you would expect (taxes, weather etc etc) but things like "why can't we have a health service like yours?" or "why does all our food have to be so full of shit/be supplied by huge corporations/be so processed?" This isn't what I expected at all. It may be because we are living in the liberal north west of the country and that the residents Boise, Idaho are different but it has rather wrong footed me.
The most interesting example of this was a guy who was talking to whilst watching a game of junior baseball in a park near our hotel. We were discussing the relative merits of US/UK sports. He completely from nowhere stated with complete irony "Ah thats the problem with us in America - we look at the rest of the world as a third world country" . I was taken aback (not only by his command of irony) as I never expected to hear an American be so candid as to "failings" of their own country. And he wasn't some screaming radical or conspiracy theorist, just what they would describe here as an ordinary Joe. Have the events of the last decade make Americans re-asses their self image?
The other odd thing is that America projects itself (certainly from what I have seen and read - remember this is generalization) as the world's cutting edge country, bringing the world innovation. So why can't we pay our rent online and have to do it with a cheque? And before someone says, no thats just where you live, other people have said the same thing about where they live. The concept of direct debit seems to be something unknown here.
But enough of the negativity. What is fantastic is the attitude of people when you deal with them in business. Two examples - when we came to get our apartment we had to pay the deposit by cheque, no other way was possible and we didn't have any as we had no bank account. Not a problem, the person we were dealing with took cash from us and wrote a cheque from her own bank account at her instigation.
Yesterday I had to phone our cable company to get a router. Its free but when I tried to order it via their website it wanted to charge me $150 to install it. As I can do it myself, I didn't want to pay this but there was no way to get rid of it from the order. The person I spoke to just took the payment off and let me know when it would be here. There was no "computer says no" or stroking of chin and intaking of breath at all. Just an attitude of getting things done with a minimum of fuss.
Coming soon - impressions of food, media, sport, transport and politics (not necessarily in that order).
The first is that I am shocked by the people who I have met and spoken to at length. I had always had the impression of Americans being positive and believing whole heartedly and unquestioningly in their country. Almost to a man (and woman) the people who we have spoken to have have all said "I love my country but...." and there then follows a litany of things that they think are wrong with America. And its not the things that you would expect (taxes, weather etc etc) but things like "why can't we have a health service like yours?" or "why does all our food have to be so full of shit/be supplied by huge corporations/be so processed?" This isn't what I expected at all. It may be because we are living in the liberal north west of the country and that the residents Boise, Idaho are different but it has rather wrong footed me.
The most interesting example of this was a guy who was talking to whilst watching a game of junior baseball in a park near our hotel. We were discussing the relative merits of US/UK sports. He completely from nowhere stated with complete irony "Ah thats the problem with us in America - we look at the rest of the world as a third world country" . I was taken aback (not only by his command of irony) as I never expected to hear an American be so candid as to "failings" of their own country. And he wasn't some screaming radical or conspiracy theorist, just what they would describe here as an ordinary Joe. Have the events of the last decade make Americans re-asses their self image?
The other odd thing is that America projects itself (certainly from what I have seen and read - remember this is generalization) as the world's cutting edge country, bringing the world innovation. So why can't we pay our rent online and have to do it with a cheque? And before someone says, no thats just where you live, other people have said the same thing about where they live. The concept of direct debit seems to be something unknown here.
But enough of the negativity. What is fantastic is the attitude of people when you deal with them in business. Two examples - when we came to get our apartment we had to pay the deposit by cheque, no other way was possible and we didn't have any as we had no bank account. Not a problem, the person we were dealing with took cash from us and wrote a cheque from her own bank account at her instigation.
Yesterday I had to phone our cable company to get a router. Its free but when I tried to order it via their website it wanted to charge me $150 to install it. As I can do it myself, I didn't want to pay this but there was no way to get rid of it from the order. The person I spoke to just took the payment off and let me know when it would be here. There was no "computer says no" or stroking of chin and intaking of breath at all. Just an attitude of getting things done with a minimum of fuss.
Coming soon - impressions of food, media, sport, transport and politics (not necessarily in that order).
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Smokestack, fatback, many miles of railroad track
After nearly six weeks of being here and due to unprecendented demand (well three people) here, eventually is the promised blog.
We have finally moved to our apartment. For those of you interested, it is in this building and very nice it is too. And what everyone seems to want to see, what it looks like. First a couple of photos from when we had been in about an hour:
The unfeasibley large living area. Note the suicidal loft ladder on the left, there is a bed up there for anyone interested in trying it when they come.
The said living area looking the other way towards the view outside (with the handle of the truck as a handy reference from the last photo).
The one everyone wants to see - where you will be staying when you come, the spare room.
And now the after - just of the living area at the moment as that the only sort of finished room. These were taken the evening of the day we moved in so its still a bit bare:
As you will see, there is no ceiling lights, I have never had so many lamps in my life.I suppose changing bulbs in ceilings does pose problems.
And finally for now - the thing that really makes the apartment - the view. Sadly its not quite as sunny as that at the moment, in fact its pissing down and has been for two days, who says Britain has exclusivity to shit summers?
We have finally moved to our apartment. For those of you interested, it is in this building and very nice it is too. And what everyone seems to want to see, what it looks like. First a couple of photos from when we had been in about an hour:
The unfeasibley large living area. Note the suicidal loft ladder on the left, there is a bed up there for anyone interested in trying it when they come.
The said living area looking the other way towards the view outside (with the handle of the truck as a handy reference from the last photo).
The one everyone wants to see - where you will be staying when you come, the spare room.
And now the after - just of the living area at the moment as that the only sort of finished room. These were taken the evening of the day we moved in so its still a bit bare:
As you will see, there is no ceiling lights, I have never had so many lamps in my life.I suppose changing bulbs in ceilings does pose problems.
And finally for now - the thing that really makes the apartment - the view. Sadly its not quite as sunny as that at the moment, in fact its pissing down and has been for two days, who says Britain has exclusivity to shit summers?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
