Chronicles of Bostonia 2008: part II - Scarnose

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Wednesday 2nd Jan - Well happy new year and welcome to blog two of 2008. Hope you all had a good one. I stayed in for the first time in probably 12 or so years, but it was enjoyable all the same. As U2 say, nothing changes on New Year’s Day. Well except the date and the year, but we’ll forgive them that small error. Today I got a lift with laura to her work in Sheila’s car, whose TomTom has John Cleese’ voice - scary! - as I needed to return some thermal bottoms and an adidas (oops, it was a Laura xmas prezzie!) Top at Marshall’s which believe it or not is more of a bargain than TK Maxx. Have to go back in there sometime - king of the bargain hunters that I am. Anyway after looking around Laura’s work and meeting her co-workers, I had an hour in the store before the next bus left, so I calculated all my money and finally settled on 3 items for $35, after trying on about ten. Got a quick drying Columbia T-Shirt (good for travel), and matching thermal leggings for the cold Andean nights, and a fleece top by Snozu (so what if its ‘SO last season. It was reduced from $149 to $12. Yes please. It does contain 100% polyester though so I better make sure I do not set myself alight, and the static off the thing is unbvelievable. Anyway caught the bus home. Unfortunately it does not stop by the pond as it’s a 15 minute walk home from there, but it went around the houses to Oak Grove (end of the Orange T-Line) and I had printed off a google map, walking the 2 miles home in a half hour. Not bad going, probably would get lost at night however. I got home and started a pen and ink drawing as a thank you to Clare, who should be back on the 20th January. It’s a scene from Sin City as I am just not imaginative enough with my drawings yet, but I got a similar likeness, so was quite chuffed. I should sign it for her for when I become all famous and that. Then I did a couple of crosswords (my Xmas pressie) and waited for Laura to come home. I made her an awesome veggie pasta dinner and we played Who wants to be a Millionaire (another present) and I won a virtual Million dollars without cheating - whoop whoop! Then I hit the hay, ready for work the next day.

Thurs 3rd Jan - Work consisted, and will consist for the next week at least, of gutting a basement flat in North Cambridge. Again owned by the CHA. It was like minus fifteen today and it was not funny. Thankfully we were inside most of the day, except muggins was the one who had to carry all the appliances to a basement about 200 yards away with dodgy stairs that kev tripped up. They were comedy stairs...all different sizes, which isn’t the most helpful when it comes to carrying an oven down them or whatever. The foreman Joe is an Italian mobster type who talks to loud and like Ned Ryerson in groundhog Day says Am I Right? Far too many times. He is also a compulsive liar, saying he will get me an aerial for my TV and then mysteriously no tenants have thrown any out in the 8 days since. He talked of working for very little money during the late 80s and early 90s recession and how he got done by a black fella who sold him tickets to a Patriots game, and it turned out the belonged to a copper and his mates, who found them in their seats and were not best pleased. It transpired that the black fella had swiped them while working at the copper’s house and sold them on. Anyway lie after lie and you just have to laugh along and make him feel special as he controls the whole operation. Before he left he had time for one more - about this guy who couldn’t pay after two weeks of work, so he went back when the bloke was at work and undid everything before he got home...hmmm, two weeks work in an afternoon, anyway...he is amusing and dyes his hair jet black, so what are ya gonna do/ Am I right?

Got home and made a flask of tea then went straight out to Boylston Library for 6.30pm, to a creative writing class that turned out to be not what I expected at all but I felt I should stay as I was the only one there. It filled out later, but for 5 minutes it was me and the skeletal alopetia’d Ann, who must have been 70 if she was a day. A staunch catholic I thought she was gonna bible bash me when she told me a poem she had written to her old pastor, now a big TV personality for the Seasons Greetings. The name of the game was to write a word on a piece of paper and fold it in half and chuck it in the middle. Then we undid one and wrote without taking the pen off the page for five minutes on that word. It was actually quite good and got the creative juices flowing, even though I was ruddy knacked from work and it wasn’t what I signed up for. Alistair’s words were very black and righteous sounding but he overused so many different words that it convoluted the essence of what he was trying to say. Very poetical mind. Then there was Karen, a dense Mel from Flight of the Conchords type who handed out photos of her little 3 year old daughter and bless her wrote like one herself - one about dropping the turkey and having to make do with grilled Cheese sandwiches on Xmas day. Then Fran wrote about her ex-husband and her Polish mother, but who when reading, read so quickly that she slurred everything into one. Then Yang showed up - a Korean medical student - who mistook all the words but tried his best - using it more as an English lesson if truth be told. And finally Ann was a gem. A really good writer, from having done this unchanged little exercise for years. She was very stoic and unchanging in her approach to how the lesson should go, especially when she found the difficulty of what Yang was saying. Left at 8.30 and by the time I got to Wellington it was 9pm and I had a half hour to wait for the bus. Well at minus twenty celsius now I was waiting for no man, so I walked halfway home, before legging it for the bus up the Fellsway. Jaysis, not warm! Glad to get into my bed and get warm.

Friday 4th - After work, happy its Frrriday despite a two day week, I found my 15 book shipment from lulu on the doorstep, got showered and waited for Laura to pick us up with Kevin and Aidan, who drove us out to Ashland, where as you may remember the own a haunted pub by the railtracks called Stones. I had calamari and clam chowder and three pints, while they had a meeting and Laura had a salmon BLT, sausage rolls and fries. Aidan drove us home by one am and was happy to crawl into bed after a 19 hour day. Tired much!

Sat 5th - Got to Kev’s at 9.45am all decked out in me Rangers colours only to find out that the bastards at Fox changed the game at the last minute to Ipswich 0-1 Porstmouth. I mean really who gives a crap about that? Anyway listened online and have to say it went a lot better than I hoped and we were unlucky not to get a replay, the jammy wankers! Oh well, at least we can sit back in the knowledge that we appear to be considerably richer than yiouw! Then we drove out to Kelly’s Diner for an awesome brekkie and then on to Davis Square cinema to watch Charlie Wilson’s war - a great film and you can get a $4 pint in there too if you so desire. After we were heading straight to Reading to see Aidan’s son (and other School of Rock type youngsters) jam in a church hall. Small matter of a dodgy battery first though and Tom got a bit of an electric shock jump starting the car from a nice Spanish family - oops - so that me left cheek was numb for two hours. Well the gig was great some real talented 7 years olds etc which made me feel useless, and then Gavin was last on and he blew them all away with his drumming to Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2. I was even proud of him and I am not even related. Then Aidan dropped us home as Laura not wanna test the car again (which has a check engine lit up on dash) and we got a Chinese takeout which was just what the doctor ordered, Sesame chicken, boneless ribs and pork fried rice, yum! So big it doubled as Sunday lunch.
Sun 6th - Did a couple hours of Spanish talking and reading (as it was one of my resolutions) with Laura and then we spent a couple of hours planning our South America trip (basically of course, and it rarely...as any travellers among you know,...goes to plan. But it was exciting nonetheless.
Then we ate meatballs and pasta with Kev’s kids, who we were babysitting, and Reilly the dog and I watched on, ensconced on the couch, as four Burkes did some hip-hop dancing (Laura, Emma, keva, and Cullen). When the kids had gone to bed we watched Boogie Nights on HBO and had a beer until Sheila and Kev returned. We were home and in bed by eleven, which was good as 6am starts are harder after that time.

Mon 7th Jan - This week has been a lot warmer already and it is starting to thaw out the snow finally which has been here forever. It wouldn’t totally subside until Friday though. Spent the day at work literally filling a skip (18 foot by 5 foot) with pieces of wall, ceiling and whatever else came out of the flat we were gutting, including shitloads of dead mice, whilst entertaining the chain-smoking nightgowned, delusional Cruella De Ville three doors down between trips. After work stopped at Davis Square bookshop, where I handed over 3 of my books, for sale in the front window for $10, nice. Only problem is I had to take one back with me as when I opened it, it had someone else’s words inside...a little scary, eh? I emailed them after I checked the others and one replacement is on its way. At least it was only one. Ran into the Goodwill, but could not find an aerial for the TV, as we want to have some people over for the Patriots Play-off game on Saturday night, but the reception is shocking. Saw some good signs today - Chad o’Keefe Funeral directors, Milky Way (like our Mars Bar) - Who said ‘Bummed’ and ‘Caramel’ didn’t go together? Huh?
Tues 8th Jan - More of the same at work today. Before I got home, right at the end of the day and closing up the flat, I went to pull the window down, eight fingers on the ledge, when it dislodged and the middle fell right down onto the bridge of my nose. Ouch! Well two days later, probably should have gone to get stitches but didn’t wanna sell my soul to pay for it, but luckily no black eye, just a deep cut I have to keep dust-free and I will have a scar for keeps. Skip almost full.
Went back to Kev’s and called my sister Rosie and my mum on an awesome 1cent phone card, for a bit and then wanted to write this, but had to stay in for our first food delivery (5-7pm - always 7, but if you not there sod’s law says 5, right? Am I right?) So got back at five so unbeleivably dusty and waited. Yep, 7 o’clock before I could get cooking. Because of the early starts I am finding myself eating and sleeping earleier than usual, which is okay I suppose, good way of not spending money anyway. Nailed a whole jumbo size bag of Lay’s.
Wed 9th - New skip arrived today and the deaf guy who delivered it last week was shouting at me agin about something I was not quite so. No ride in his truck this time though. After work I showered and made a sandwich and a flask of tea, which I consumed on the train to the library, for a creative workshop Ann had suggested. It was a lot better, and the lady Nancy promised to workshop my book in two weeks time. Another motley crue, headed by Italian Motormouth Jan, two quiet, weird dudes called Dave, a Rosie O’Donnell-like sci-fi lesbian library worker and this week talking about a stylish black woman (Irene Smalls)’s brainchild, Hairmath, which uses hair and its styling to explain fractal geometry for kids. Awesome, but still a bit over my head. Better than the other one mind, sorry Ann. To boot, Yang showed up with ten minutes to go so that was a surprise. I think he wants to try to get some of his medical papers from his PhD printed or something? Caught the train home exhausted and read my book, a piece called Back to the Miracle Factory 1990's rock, Etc by paul Williams, about music criticism from a more human perspective, less jargon, waiting 20 mins for the bus. Home by ten, ate an omelette and asleep by midnight.
Thurs 10th Jan - a month today we fly to Quito, Ecuador...yipee. Cannot wait. Might have to head straight to Playa Escondida for some beach action when we arrive. Feel like I am starting to need a holiday, and once we get there our hectic schedule will probably keep us on our toes.
After work, which just needs hoovering, disinfecting, and re-insulation, went to Kev’s to write this blog and then going home to Laura and a nice dinner I hope. Cheers, until next time...don’t forget to tip your waitress! All the best for 2008. It’s gonna be a good’un!
Sorry - more photos to come soon!

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