Fire(works) and ice

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Thankfully the day dawned slightly less arctic and wet than previous and we felt confident that the New Year’s celebrations would go ahead. Geoff headed to Samuel Adams for his morning mash beer tasting and the girls and I took it easy at home.

After yet another turkey meal (sadly not the last), we braved the weather and wandered to the Common. It seems that word had spread from Central Park and we were greeted by many squirrels. Thankfully they had also heard of my love of a boneyard, so hung in there to keep the younger participants occupied while I meandered through the headstones. A quick visit to Copley Square revealed that yesterday’s weather had delayed the ice sculptures so we retreated to a cafe for some warming snacks.

Some more squirrel time, this time with Crazy Squirrel Lady, who called them all by name and fed them walnuts - Beeb’s life aspiration has been found! Listened to some more music at Copley Square and watched the progress of sculptures before lining the streets for the parade.

They call it the People’s Parade...this is apparently not too subtle code for ‘any random can turn up and join in’. And so it was. There was old mate who’d apparently lost his way to the ski fields, yer man who was taking his old Christmas tree to the tip, and oh, what’s that, an old dish cloth?! Well, I’ll tie it to a stick and parade down the Main Street of Boston, shall I?! Geoff and I were slightly bemused by the spectacle. The girls thought it was great...as did the Chinese tourists who came and stood directly in front of them to video the whole thing...there’s some footage for the folks back home! Hopefully they also got me telling them to move!!

We secured prime position across the pond from the fireworks and enjoyed what we’d all been standing around in the cold all these hours waiting for. Even reminiscent of home, with the fireworks reflecting off the water...except it was frozen...and so was I! Happy new year!

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