2010
That's a Wrap Then
29 Apr 2010 09:21
We’re home. Well, home in the sense that we’re in the UK, and as I type we’re rattling up the M40 properly homeward.
Time to report on the flight, not that there’s a lot to say, and wrap things up.
As far as the flight goes, we boarded at 19:00 and pushed back just before the scheduled time of 19:45. Then there was a bang and the plane shook a bit and we stopped. To be fair it wasn’t much more of a bang than a cargo door being closed heavily. The Captain came on PA shortly after to reassure us that nothing serious had happened, just the tow-bar the push-back tug was using had sheered! They soon found another and we pushed-back for real shortly after the scheduled time.
It took half an hour to taxi out to the end of Runway 33, mainly because we had to cross to active runways being used for landing. When we turned onto the runway ready for the off, those of us on the left side had the most beautiful view of Boston. It was raining heavily but the sky had cleared in the distant western sky. This resulted in a sunset of the deepest purple hue, forming the background to the lights of the city centre skyscrapers. Absolutely stunning - and I didn’t have my camera to hand. I hope someone, somewhere captured it.
I quickly reached the conclusion that seat 44A (the same as I occupied on the way out) was a lot more comfortable when 44C is vacant (there are no B seats in this part of a A340-300). My neighbour was a tall, middle-aged American who mostly kept himself to himself. He did have a nasty habit of letting his left leg spread over onto my side, consciously or otherwise. He got the hint after a nudge.
To no-one’s real surprise, the full economy cabin was subjected to the braying of discontented babies for much of the flight. I plugged my earphones in and turned the music up on my iPhone and tried to tune it all out - moderately successfully.
The flight time was scheduled to be 5hrs 57min and within the first hour the crew got the meal served - cottage pie, allegedly. After that I did my best to sleep, and on the grounds that I don’t recall every minute of the period up to the cabin lights coming back on, must have managed to drift off a bit. Can;t say I was particularly refreshed by it. Nor did the three-quarters full paper cup of lukewarm coffee, served with a small Otis Spunkmeyer muffin do much for me by way of breakfast.
We were buckled-up and the cabin secured for landing well over half an hour before we were due on the ground, and the Captain’s prediction that we’d have a few circuits to do came true. When we did finally turn onto final approach, the aircraft banked sharply to the left giving me a superb view of central London in the misty early morning light. Two spectacular city views inside six hours.
Landing, long walk to passport control, baggage reclaim and customs were all unremarkable. We split up as Nick went to Revivals and I went to the former Starbucks on T3 Departures, which is now a Costa. The coffee and muffin from there were a lot better than those served on the plane, but that’s only because the bar was set so low. Still not brilliant.
After half an hour I met Nick outside and the wait for his car to appear from Purple Parking’s “Meet & Greet” was spent watching some unfortunate motorist being dealt with - firstly by a brace of PCSOs, then by a pair of traffic cops with guns. It wasn’t clear what it was all about but it ended with smiles all round and the Met tow truck that turned up was sent away unladen.
That’s it. We’re still on the M40 and I’m hoping nothing eventful happens between here and home.
Some final thoughts...
We’ve just been discussing what this trip will be remembered for the most. Inevitably has to be the room upgrade in Toronto. Close runners-up will be the snow, the game itself in Toronto (34 hits and 25 runs is almost unheard of - the next two games between the Red Sox and the Blue Jays were much more subdued affairs, so we did really well there), the fact it was my first ever visit to Canada, and of course meeting Eileen.
Seven days is a good duration for a holiday: neither too long nor too short. To echo something Kay said in a phone call the other night, I missed her a lot, not in a I-can’t-live-without-you soppy way, but more that so many of the sights and experiences of the last week I’d have loved to have shared with her and got her unique take on things. Nothing against Nick’s company, of course, just a completely different dynamic.
One other thing I’ve been meaning to talk about, but it never really fitted in to the narrative is the hire car we had. The Chrysler Sebring was basic but plenty big enough and more than functional. It certainly looked after us in the snow. The specific point I wanted to make was about the radio: It was a satellite radio, a subscription service provided by Sirius. The commercial free content is themed. For example almost the very first station we found was East Street Radio - playing nothing but Springsteen. We spent most of the time listening to various classic rock themed stations - a staple of US radio, of course, and all the usual suspects were there. We tried various FM stations, especially in Canada and yesterday in the snow, but their limited reach and incessant commercials made the satellite an easy winner.
Another cracking trip, with no major dramas and many, many highlights. Glad to be (nearly) home though.
Time to report on the flight, not that there’s a lot to say, and wrap things up.
As far as the flight goes, we boarded at 19:00 and pushed back just before the scheduled time of 19:45. Then there was a bang and the plane shook a bit and we stopped. To be fair it wasn’t much more of a bang than a cargo door being closed heavily. The Captain came on PA shortly after to reassure us that nothing serious had happened, just the tow-bar the push-back tug was using had sheered! They soon found another and we pushed-back for real shortly after the scheduled time.
It took half an hour to taxi out to the end of Runway 33, mainly because we had to cross to active runways being used for landing. When we turned onto the runway ready for the off, those of us on the left side had the most beautiful view of Boston. It was raining heavily but the sky had cleared in the distant western sky. This resulted in a sunset of the deepest purple hue, forming the background to the lights of the city centre skyscrapers. Absolutely stunning - and I didn’t have my camera to hand. I hope someone, somewhere captured it.
I quickly reached the conclusion that seat 44A (the same as I occupied on the way out) was a lot more comfortable when 44C is vacant (there are no B seats in this part of a A340-300). My neighbour was a tall, middle-aged American who mostly kept himself to himself. He did have a nasty habit of letting his left leg spread over onto my side, consciously or otherwise. He got the hint after a nudge.
To no-one’s real surprise, the full economy cabin was subjected to the braying of discontented babies for much of the flight. I plugged my earphones in and turned the music up on my iPhone and tried to tune it all out - moderately successfully.
The flight time was scheduled to be 5hrs 57min and within the first hour the crew got the meal served - cottage pie, allegedly. After that I did my best to sleep, and on the grounds that I don’t recall every minute of the period up to the cabin lights coming back on, must have managed to drift off a bit. Can;t say I was particularly refreshed by it. Nor did the three-quarters full paper cup of lukewarm coffee, served with a small Otis Spunkmeyer muffin do much for me by way of breakfast.
We were buckled-up and the cabin secured for landing well over half an hour before we were due on the ground, and the Captain’s prediction that we’d have a few circuits to do came true. When we did finally turn onto final approach, the aircraft banked sharply to the left giving me a superb view of central London in the misty early morning light. Two spectacular city views inside six hours.
Landing, long walk to passport control, baggage reclaim and customs were all unremarkable. We split up as Nick went to Revivals and I went to the former Starbucks on T3 Departures, which is now a Costa. The coffee and muffin from there were a lot better than those served on the plane, but that’s only because the bar was set so low. Still not brilliant.
After half an hour I met Nick outside and the wait for his car to appear from Purple Parking’s “Meet & Greet” was spent watching some unfortunate motorist being dealt with - firstly by a brace of PCSOs, then by a pair of traffic cops with guns. It wasn’t clear what it was all about but it ended with smiles all round and the Met tow truck that turned up was sent away unladen.
That’s it. We’re still on the M40 and I’m hoping nothing eventful happens between here and home.
Some final thoughts...
We’ve just been discussing what this trip will be remembered for the most. Inevitably has to be the room upgrade in Toronto. Close runners-up will be the snow, the game itself in Toronto (34 hits and 25 runs is almost unheard of - the next two games between the Red Sox and the Blue Jays were much more subdued affairs, so we did really well there), the fact it was my first ever visit to Canada, and of course meeting Eileen.
Seven days is a good duration for a holiday: neither too long nor too short. To echo something Kay said in a phone call the other night, I missed her a lot, not in a I-can’t-live-without-you soppy way, but more that so many of the sights and experiences of the last week I’d have loved to have shared with her and got her unique take on things. Nothing against Nick’s company, of course, just a completely different dynamic.
One other thing I’ve been meaning to talk about, but it never really fitted in to the narrative is the hire car we had. The Chrysler Sebring was basic but plenty big enough and more than functional. It certainly looked after us in the snow. The specific point I wanted to make was about the radio: It was a satellite radio, a subscription service provided by Sirius. The commercial free content is themed. For example almost the very first station we found was East Street Radio - playing nothing but Springsteen. We spent most of the time listening to various classic rock themed stations - a staple of US radio, of course, and all the usual suspects were there. We tried various FM stations, especially in Canada and yesterday in the snow, but their limited reach and incessant commercials made the satellite an easy winner.
Another cracking trip, with no major dramas and many, many highlights. Glad to be (nearly) home though.
Going Home
28 Apr 2010 23:03
We’re checked-in at Logan and are due to board in a little under an hour. Virgin are looking after us well in the Clubhouse, but this is how we’ve spent the day so far...
We arrived in the Nashua area but thanks to a moment’s indecision about which particular Target store we were going to visit, we came off the Interstate a little early. Rather than turn around, we let the SatNav guide us, which meant we found a picturesque corner of suburban New Hampshire I doubt many Brit tourists have visited.
Sure enough we found ourselves on Daniel Webster Highway, a mile-or-so strip of retail heaven (or hell, depending on your perspective). The various plazas and the Pheasant Lane Mall have just about every brand of chain store you’ve ever heard of.
Target entertained us first with Nick buying ink cartridges, and him happily reporting they are still cheaper here. He also got a $4 off voucher for his next purchase so decided to redeem that. However, when we returned he read the small print and saw it was for combo-packs only... and there weren’t any for his printer. There were for mine, so he handed over the voucher, but I decided I really didn’t need a combo pack but did want a single black cartridge. At the checkout I played dumb (not hard!) and asked the cashier if the voucher was valid. She scanned it and got a “computer says no” answer. However, she looked at it and scratched her head. “It should be valid” she said, and duly over-rode the computer. A small victory for the consumer which I can hear Carl applauding.
Next, to the Apple store. I decided to play it cool, uploading the diary first and listening to what was happening around me, rather than asking if they had any iPads in stock and suffer the humiliation of a “no”. The first clue was a phone call in which an assistant told the caller they had “none in stock and we don’t know when we will. Can I reserve you one?”. Next, I listened in to a silver-tounged demo of the device to a silver-surfer which resulted in the inevitable question. The answer here was “the situation changes by the day... by the hour or even by the minute”. “Do you have one in stock”, the lady pressed.... “er, no. Can I reserve one for you” was the answer.
It was clearly not meant to be.
Lunch was provided by Chick-Fil-A in the food court. This franchise must have a seniors-friendly hiring policy as most of the employees were in their late 60s. The charming little old lady who served me asked if I was Australian. No, I told her, English. “Oh, that’s good. We’re going to New Zealand next month”. OK.
The lunch was pleasant. Nick had something Chinese from the Texan BBQ - go figure.
Next was over the road (we drove, of course) to Borders. I had a Seattle’s Best Coffee while Nick bucked tradition and walked to a nearby Newbury Comics. I bought some bits in Borders and was asked by the cashier (another senior gentleman) if I wanted to join the Border’s Rewards Program. I told him I wasn’t a US Resident so probably wouldn’t qualify. When he established where I was from he proudly reminded me that “We have branches in England”. Er, no you don’t. Not any more. He was crushed; “Huh, corporate don't tell us anything”.
And that was it. Back onto Route 3 then I95 and into Boston. The traffic got heavier and heavier as we approached Boston and we decided to exit a little earlier and go and find gas to fill tank prior to returning the car. The SatNav assisted a little but we found ourselves in a highly industrialised area of Everett. To be fair, we would probably have gone a very long way round trying to find our way back had it not been for our electronic friend.
Into the Airport and the car rental return (only one wrong turn) for a final mileage of the trip of 1311.7. Airport formalities were unremarkable and here we are.
We arrived in the Nashua area but thanks to a moment’s indecision about which particular Target store we were going to visit, we came off the Interstate a little early. Rather than turn around, we let the SatNav guide us, which meant we found a picturesque corner of suburban New Hampshire I doubt many Brit tourists have visited.
Sure enough we found ourselves on Daniel Webster Highway, a mile-or-so strip of retail heaven (or hell, depending on your perspective). The various plazas and the Pheasant Lane Mall have just about every brand of chain store you’ve ever heard of.
Target entertained us first with Nick buying ink cartridges, and him happily reporting they are still cheaper here. He also got a $4 off voucher for his next purchase so decided to redeem that. However, when we returned he read the small print and saw it was for combo-packs only... and there weren’t any for his printer. There were for mine, so he handed over the voucher, but I decided I really didn’t need a combo pack but did want a single black cartridge. At the checkout I played dumb (not hard!) and asked the cashier if the voucher was valid. She scanned it and got a “computer says no” answer. However, she looked at it and scratched her head. “It should be valid” she said, and duly over-rode the computer. A small victory for the consumer which I can hear Carl applauding.
Next, to the Apple store. I decided to play it cool, uploading the diary first and listening to what was happening around me, rather than asking if they had any iPads in stock and suffer the humiliation of a “no”. The first clue was a phone call in which an assistant told the caller they had “none in stock and we don’t know when we will. Can I reserve you one?”. Next, I listened in to a silver-tounged demo of the device to a silver-surfer which resulted in the inevitable question. The answer here was “the situation changes by the day... by the hour or even by the minute”. “Do you have one in stock”, the lady pressed.... “er, no. Can I reserve one for you” was the answer.
It was clearly not meant to be.
Lunch was provided by Chick-Fil-A in the food court. This franchise must have a seniors-friendly hiring policy as most of the employees were in their late 60s. The charming little old lady who served me asked if I was Australian. No, I told her, English. “Oh, that’s good. We’re going to New Zealand next month”. OK.
The lunch was pleasant. Nick had something Chinese from the Texan BBQ - go figure.
Next was over the road (we drove, of course) to Borders. I had a Seattle’s Best Coffee while Nick bucked tradition and walked to a nearby Newbury Comics. I bought some bits in Borders and was asked by the cashier (another senior gentleman) if I wanted to join the Border’s Rewards Program. I told him I wasn’t a US Resident so probably wouldn’t qualify. When he established where I was from he proudly reminded me that “We have branches in England”. Er, no you don’t. Not any more. He was crushed; “Huh, corporate don't tell us anything”.
And that was it. Back onto Route 3 then I95 and into Boston. The traffic got heavier and heavier as we approached Boston and we decided to exit a little earlier and go and find gas to fill tank prior to returning the car. The SatNav assisted a little but we found ourselves in a highly industrialised area of Everett. To be fair, we would probably have gone a very long way round trying to find our way back had it not been for our electronic friend.
Into the Airport and the car rental return (only one wrong turn) for a final mileage of the trip of 1311.7. Airport formalities were unremarkable and here we are.
Montreal and the Snow
28 Apr 2010 15:03
Like yesterday, today’s diary is being typed on the move while Nick does the second stint behind the wheel from Lebanon, NH.
The journey, both yesterday evening and this morning has been dominated by snow - and lots of it.
The drive to Montreal was long and uneventful really. We were heading due east on Highway 401 - an interstate by any other name - for almost the whole route. As we got toward the eastern side of Ontario we started to notice two things, not necessarily related to one another: The weather got worse and worse, the sunshine and blue skies of Toronto became grey and wet. The other thing was more and more bi-lingual signs as we approached French speaking Quebec.
Once we crossed into Quebec and toward Montreal, any tokenism of bi-lingual signs had disappeared - they were ALL in French! It struck me as rather hypocritical - where French is a minority language it is catered for; where English is the minority it is a case of Getez Vous Stuffed.
The traffic getting into Montreal was quite heavy, combined with the poor weather and there being no simple route into the Center De Ville, all made it a challenge for Nick’s driving, which he rose admirably to.
When we arrived in Montreal city centre, or at least the part of it the SatNav took us to, it was snowing and bitterly cold. At this time it was the sort of snow which is barely more than hail, very small flakes which sting as they’re blown into your face. I was still in my T shirt from the sunshine of Toronto so made a mad dash into the boot of the car for my coat before going and feeding the meter.
The first shop we looked in, as it was next to where we parked, was a combined bookshop and video store, though it may have been a short-term lease affair as the fixtures all looked temporary. It was striking that even though this was a high street shop in the truest sense, it had a well stocked porn section which was centrally situated. As we went back out onto Rue Sainte Catherine we noticed that strip clubs and adult book stores were a popular business enterprise round here - this being the central shopping area.
We followed our noses a couple of blocks and found ourselves in the city centre campus of a university. This didn’t seem like a sensible use of our limited time in Montreal (but at least it was under cover!), so we found a WiFi signal and consulted Google maps to guide us to the Apple store. This turned out to be only two blocks away and, again, was warm and dry! Here, like every other shop we looked in, everything was French language - though I did hear quite a few folk speaking English.
Nick posted on BookFace that he was in Montreal Apple Store and instantly got several “likes” from his friends. There was also some mention of Fengurola or someplace!?
Other than a few souvenirs and knick-knacks helping to use up Canadian Dollars, that was the sum total of our visit to Montreal. Having looked at the map since, we only brushed the edge of the city centre and, above all else, the weather was abysmal. On that basis, any impression I got of the place was unfair, but I have to confess it wasn’t very positive.
I drove, and Nick navigated, us out of the city centre, just as the rush hour was in full swing. The driving wasn’t pretty and I may have been on the receiving end of a few French curse words, but we didn’t hit owt!
The traffic was nose-to-tail on Highway 15 as it took us over the huge bridge to the south (over the St. Lawrence River?) but gradually thinned out - as did the road until we were in rural Canada heading toward the USA. Even as we left Montreal, presumably as we were heading toward the USA, the road signs suddenly all included English again.
We changed over drivers at Sabrevois and headed for the border. The weather continued to deteriorate and we were travelling along white-over country roads. There was no queue at all at the frontier with just one booth open. The formalities consisted on a border guard, who was out-of-sight to me in his booth, glancing at our passports and asking how long we’d been in Canada. Nick’s answer satisfied him as we were on our way in a few seconds with a cheery’ “have a good day guys”.
For a few miles the weather improved, almost as though Nature knew and respected international borders, but it was a false dawn. The route south from the border is Interstate 89 skirting the unseen Lake Champlain off to our right. We were about the only vehicle on the road and conditions got challenging. One thing we did learn quickly was the significance of the many signs reading “Bridge Freezes First”. This applied to bridges over rivers and waterways, where on the approach the road surface would be just slushy, but on the bridge deck itself several inches of snow would be lying in wait for the unwary.
We arrived at the Residence Inn just as it was getting dark and there was already a lot of snow lying. As we checked in the Manager’s Buffet was just winding up in the lobby, so we grabbed some small nibbles and drinks, then went to the room. Like the Residence in Cambridge, this was a small studio apartment with one bed and a roll-away. Nick generously reminded me it was his turn for the roll-away so I got the comfy bed.
The baseball was just starting on NESN as we settled in. It is the second of three games in Toronto and Boston were one down already in the First. After catching up on emails and downloading photos, we went in search of dinner. Nick took me to Chilli’s, a chain he assured me I had been to with him before and that the name didn’t mean it was all Mexican or such. As it was, he has chicken fajhitas while I stuck with a reliable burger washed down with Sam Adams.
In the short journey to the restaurant the Red Sox had got a run back to tie the game one each and so it remained while we were eating, the big screen at the bar showing the game. As we left the place the greeter gave us the very sage advice to “stay warm guys”. We returned to the room via a gas station for me to buy a six pack of a local Vermont brewery (the name of which escapes me now and the evidence is in my bag in the boot). It was still snowing but gave us no great problems at that stage.
Back in the room we watched the end of the game which the Sox won in the most bizarre circumstances. It was till tied and one in the eight but the Red Sox had managed to load the bases. The Blue Jay’s star closer came on and last night he’d done a good job. Tonight he proceeded to miss the plate on four straight balls and walked-in the winning run. I bet his manager had the same choice words I’d not heard in Montreal in mind.
This morning...
I awoke to the sound of Nick getting ready to go for breakfast. My first thought was what’s the now like? Not much more he replied and went out. I got sorted and looked out - there was eight inches of snow covering our car! Even so, I could hear traffic running by on the Interstate as I walked along the cleared path to the lobby (the hotel is formed of a series of detached blocks). In other words, the good people of Vermont are geared up for such weather and totally unfazed by it - even in late April. I did notice the local news reporting various closed schools though.
We were out on the road by 0800 and although we didn’t have to dig the car out, exactly, there was quite a performance in clearing the windscreen etc. The first time I applied the brakes the entire accumulation on the roof shot forward and buried the screen all over again!
On the Interstate it was quite hairy at times as we climbed up into the Vermont hills heading south. Snow ploughs were out and busy, but for long stretches, the outside lane was unusable and even the one lane left was white over. To be fair, the Sebring was very sure-footed and traction was never a problem. There were plenty of time that braking wouldn’t really have been desirable.
Other than one car spun out from the other carriageway with State Trooper parked behind it, and a broken down truck on’a hill, we didn’t encounter any problems, not anything that really held us up. Our progress south was therefore very good. We made the New Hampshire border where we swapped drivers by 10:00.
The further south we got into New Hampshire the less snow there was. Within half an hour all the snow had disappeared and ten minutes later Nick was asking for his sunglasses!
We’re currently heading south on I293 toward Nashua where we intend to finish our shopping needs and take luncheon.
The journey, both yesterday evening and this morning has been dominated by snow - and lots of it.
The drive to Montreal was long and uneventful really. We were heading due east on Highway 401 - an interstate by any other name - for almost the whole route. As we got toward the eastern side of Ontario we started to notice two things, not necessarily related to one another: The weather got worse and worse, the sunshine and blue skies of Toronto became grey and wet. The other thing was more and more bi-lingual signs as we approached French speaking Quebec.
Once we crossed into Quebec and toward Montreal, any tokenism of bi-lingual signs had disappeared - they were ALL in French! It struck me as rather hypocritical - where French is a minority language it is catered for; where English is the minority it is a case of Getez Vous Stuffed.
The traffic getting into Montreal was quite heavy, combined with the poor weather and there being no simple route into the Center De Ville, all made it a challenge for Nick’s driving, which he rose admirably to.
When we arrived in Montreal city centre, or at least the part of it the SatNav took us to, it was snowing and bitterly cold. At this time it was the sort of snow which is barely more than hail, very small flakes which sting as they’re blown into your face. I was still in my T shirt from the sunshine of Toronto so made a mad dash into the boot of the car for my coat before going and feeding the meter.
The first shop we looked in, as it was next to where we parked, was a combined bookshop and video store, though it may have been a short-term lease affair as the fixtures all looked temporary. It was striking that even though this was a high street shop in the truest sense, it had a well stocked porn section which was centrally situated. As we went back out onto Rue Sainte Catherine we noticed that strip clubs and adult book stores were a popular business enterprise round here - this being the central shopping area.
We followed our noses a couple of blocks and found ourselves in the city centre campus of a university. This didn’t seem like a sensible use of our limited time in Montreal (but at least it was under cover!), so we found a WiFi signal and consulted Google maps to guide us to the Apple store. This turned out to be only two blocks away and, again, was warm and dry! Here, like every other shop we looked in, everything was French language - though I did hear quite a few folk speaking English.
Nick posted on BookFace that he was in Montreal Apple Store and instantly got several “likes” from his friends. There was also some mention of Fengurola or someplace!?
Other than a few souvenirs and knick-knacks helping to use up Canadian Dollars, that was the sum total of our visit to Montreal. Having looked at the map since, we only brushed the edge of the city centre and, above all else, the weather was abysmal. On that basis, any impression I got of the place was unfair, but I have to confess it wasn’t very positive.
I drove, and Nick navigated, us out of the city centre, just as the rush hour was in full swing. The driving wasn’t pretty and I may have been on the receiving end of a few French curse words, but we didn’t hit owt!
The traffic was nose-to-tail on Highway 15 as it took us over the huge bridge to the south (over the St. Lawrence River?) but gradually thinned out - as did the road until we were in rural Canada heading toward the USA. Even as we left Montreal, presumably as we were heading toward the USA, the road signs suddenly all included English again.
We changed over drivers at Sabrevois and headed for the border. The weather continued to deteriorate and we were travelling along white-over country roads. There was no queue at all at the frontier with just one booth open. The formalities consisted on a border guard, who was out-of-sight to me in his booth, glancing at our passports and asking how long we’d been in Canada. Nick’s answer satisfied him as we were on our way in a few seconds with a cheery’ “have a good day guys”.
For a few miles the weather improved, almost as though Nature knew and respected international borders, but it was a false dawn. The route south from the border is Interstate 89 skirting the unseen Lake Champlain off to our right. We were about the only vehicle on the road and conditions got challenging. One thing we did learn quickly was the significance of the many signs reading “Bridge Freezes First”. This applied to bridges over rivers and waterways, where on the approach the road surface would be just slushy, but on the bridge deck itself several inches of snow would be lying in wait for the unwary.
We arrived at the Residence Inn just as it was getting dark and there was already a lot of snow lying. As we checked in the Manager’s Buffet was just winding up in the lobby, so we grabbed some small nibbles and drinks, then went to the room. Like the Residence in Cambridge, this was a small studio apartment with one bed and a roll-away. Nick generously reminded me it was his turn for the roll-away so I got the comfy bed.
The baseball was just starting on NESN as we settled in. It is the second of three games in Toronto and Boston were one down already in the First. After catching up on emails and downloading photos, we went in search of dinner. Nick took me to Chilli’s, a chain he assured me I had been to with him before and that the name didn’t mean it was all Mexican or such. As it was, he has chicken fajhitas while I stuck with a reliable burger washed down with Sam Adams.
In the short journey to the restaurant the Red Sox had got a run back to tie the game one each and so it remained while we were eating, the big screen at the bar showing the game. As we left the place the greeter gave us the very sage advice to “stay warm guys”. We returned to the room via a gas station for me to buy a six pack of a local Vermont brewery (the name of which escapes me now and the evidence is in my bag in the boot). It was still snowing but gave us no great problems at that stage.
Back in the room we watched the end of the game which the Sox won in the most bizarre circumstances. It was till tied and one in the eight but the Red Sox had managed to load the bases. The Blue Jay’s star closer came on and last night he’d done a good job. Tonight he proceeded to miss the plate on four straight balls and walked-in the winning run. I bet his manager had the same choice words I’d not heard in Montreal in mind.
This morning...
I awoke to the sound of Nick getting ready to go for breakfast. My first thought was what’s the now like? Not much more he replied and went out. I got sorted and looked out - there was eight inches of snow covering our car! Even so, I could hear traffic running by on the Interstate as I walked along the cleared path to the lobby (the hotel is formed of a series of detached blocks). In other words, the good people of Vermont are geared up for such weather and totally unfazed by it - even in late April. I did notice the local news reporting various closed schools though.
We were out on the road by 0800 and although we didn’t have to dig the car out, exactly, there was quite a performance in clearing the windscreen etc. The first time I applied the brakes the entire accumulation on the roof shot forward and buried the screen all over again!
On the Interstate it was quite hairy at times as we climbed up into the Vermont hills heading south. Snow ploughs were out and busy, but for long stretches, the outside lane was unusable and even the one lane left was white over. To be fair, the Sebring was very sure-footed and traction was never a problem. There were plenty of time that braking wouldn’t really have been desirable.
Other than one car spun out from the other carriageway with State Trooper parked behind it, and a broken down truck on’a hill, we didn’t encounter any problems, not anything that really held us up. Our progress south was therefore very good. We made the New Hampshire border where we swapped drivers by 10:00.
The further south we got into New Hampshire the less snow there was. Within half an hour all the snow had disappeared and ten minutes later Nick was asking for his sunglasses!
We’re currently heading south on I293 toward Nashua where we intend to finish our shopping needs and take luncheon.
A Yesterday Retrospective
27 Apr 2010 15:16
This is being typed on the move on Canadian Highway 401 Eastbound, under clear(ish) blue skies and bright sunshine. A thermometer at the service area at Port Hope we’ve left read 11˚C. Now is a good time for me to cast my mind back to yesterday in more detail as Nick guides us over the 300km toward Montreal through the countryside.
We were on the road before 0800 as we knew we had a considerable distance to cover. Plan for the day was head west to Buffalo along I90, stopping for lunch at Nick’s friend Eileen’s at Hamburg, a suburb of Buffalo.
It was a grotty day as we left Syracus, with the SatNav guiding us through commuter land of Liverpool, NY onto the Interstate. Nick took first stint at the wheel and I didn’t envy him tackling the dual pains of heavy rain and heavy traffic. About the only highlight, such as it was, on the journey was stopping for Tim Hortons coffee and fuel at a ‘plaza’ on I90.
The SatNav did its job and took us to the entrance to the gated community where Eileen lives, though as the turn into the street didn’t look like a turn, we ended up doing a circuit of a veterinarian’s car park. The entrance to the “olde thyme village” were open, so we drove in and found Eileen’s block.
I won’t bore you too much with the story of Nick’s friendship with Eileen and her late husband John, except to say John was a cop in Buffalo in 1987 when Nick & Sue visited the city on their honeymoon. Thanks to John, they blagged their way into a Bruce Springsteen concert - and a long term friendship developed.
Eileen made us extremely welcome and fed us handsomely with hot beef cobs. We spent best part of a couple of hours with Eileen, chatting and catching up, before pressing on. Our route from Hamburg took us north back toward Buffalo toward the Peace Bridge border with Canada. Buffalo gives the impression of a blue-collar industrial city which has hit hard times. Demolition seems to be the predominant industry now.
I was driving as the passed over the city centre on the aptly named Sky Bridge and then over the Peace Bridge which forms the border. The queue for Canadian immigration control was only two or three cars deep and the official asked us the usual cursory questions. He seemed satisfied the a one night stay to watch baseball posed no threat to the Canadian national interest and allowed us in. A new stamp in my passport.
Once through the toll booths for the bridge we had just passed over, Interstate driving in Ontario seemed predictably identical to in the US. The speed limit is 100km/h (65ish mph) but seems universally ignored. I pinched 10km/h on the cruise control and was constantly passed. Trucks are banned from the outside lane and the road signs are blue instead of green. Other than that, it’s still North America.
The advantage of road signs in kilometres is that big numbers for distances reduce much quicker! In no time at all we could see the CN Tower in the distance and the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way - what had been I90 from the border) took us right into the city centre.
Our hotel was literally two turns off the main highway, though we discovered we had to go round the houses a little to enter the parking garage. Considering the hotel is integral to the Rogers Center stadium, parking is not surprising expensive. We’re paying a discounted $20 (Canadian dollars, of course, which are slightly more expensive than US Dollars).
We checked in and Nick was greeted with the News that we were being upgraded to Stadium View rooms. As we were checking in, a couple next to us were being told that the hotel was almost full and there were no double rooms left - if they wished to stay they would have to pay for king size rooms. Again, the undeniably power of the Gold Card.
We went up to the room on the fourth floor and as we opened the door we were both blown away! You’ll have read my views on the subject in yesterday’s brief diary entry and I hope seen the photographs, as words can’t do it justice.
Although it was three hours before game time, players were out on the field and we spotted Boston’s Dustin Pedrioa wandering about. Someone else (a Blue Jay?) was being interviewed for television and closer to our position, the expensive dining area overlooking the pitch was being set up. Taking a little time out to send emails and make phone calls to share our good fortune with friends and loved-ones, we set off to explore Toronto.
Nick has obtained a map from the concierge and some tips of where to see in a whistle-stop walking tour of downtown. Suitably equipped we walked over a footbridge spanning the railway lines (the Rogers Center appears to be built on former railway marshalling yards etc.) and past the foot of the CN Tower. Toronto seems to be an area of contrasts, with distinct areas; grungy, bohemian, cutting-edge fashion shops and cafes merging into an entertainment district with lots of bars, followed by a mainstream shopping district, merging into the banking and business area. All this with a sprinkling of old and historic buildings rubbing shoulders with countless new, towering, glass and steel offices.
I was particularly taken by the red street cars plying their trade on many of the streets. These are like the Green Line trollies of Boston except that their rails run along the centre of the city street. The streets are wide enough to accommodate the trollies and the road traffic. It is interesting to see that when they stop to pick up and set down passengers, road traffic is prohibited from passing - a sensible precaution against skittling pedestrians. The interaction with the street cars and the road traffic at intersections, especially where there are junctions with the tracks was interesting to watch.
We found ourselves in the Eaton Center - the inevitable large shopping mall. We decided to split up and regroup at the room, so my first stop was the Indigo bookstore (very Borders-like). I’d got some Canadian dollars from an ATM so made my first purchase in the form of a coffee from the Starbucks in there. There’s an Apple store but I visited only briefly to hook up to their wifi. No iPads here as they are int he same “international” boat as the UK in it not being released in Canada yet.
My walk back to the room took me through the central business district, just as the offices were disgorging their employees onto the streets for their journeys home. As I got closer to the Roger Center, the proliferation of both Red Sox shirts and scalpers increased. So too did the amount of pan-handlers, an apparently very prevalent phenomenon in Toronto?
Back at the hotel we went up to the Concierge level to check out the complimentary nibbles. The fare on offer worked better for Nick than it did for me, but I tried a cold potato concoction - because I could!
With about half an hour to game time we walked out to find our entrance. The concourses outside the stadium were busy with food vendors, program sellers and, again, lots and lots of scalpers. Nick commented he was tempted to sell his ticket and go back to the room, but I think he was joking.
Inside the stadium the Canadian national anthem was being sung as part of the pre-game traditions. If the pattern we witnessed at Boston when the Blue Jays played there, the US national anthem will have been played too, but we must’ve missed that. As Nick went to find our seats I went to find some stadium food. I plumped for burger and fries and noticed that the guy in front of me was paying by card. As my Canadian money was limited, I was going to do the same, but was scared-off when the youth who served the customer ahead (who happened to be a Brit, as well) disappeared out of sight for half a minute with his credit card. Hmmm, no, the last thing I need is my card being cloned, thank you. Incidentally, unlike in the US, the Canadians use the chip & pin with debit cards.
I found Nick with my food just as the first innings began. We were in the first block behind home plate, though in the last-but-one row. Expensive seats in most stadia, prohibitively so in Fenway Park and especially Yankee Stadium. There were quite a few empty seats around us, so we were’t crushed in. Most of the fans around us were wearing Red Sox shirts - perhaps something to do with the way Ticketmaster sell the tickets? As I looked around, however, I’d say the proportion of Boston fans was at least 40%. We later read that the attendance was just over 13,000 - so the sea of empty blue seats was unsurprising.
We stayed in our allotted seats for about five innings before wandering in search of beer (and food for Nick). After doing a circuit of the stadium, checking out standing room views from a variety of positions, we returned to the area of our seats for the seventh innings but moved quite a bit further forward into the vacant seats.
I won’t go over the intricacies of the game again as I think I covered that part last night. It was enough that the Red Sox won, but how they did it was far from conventional.
After the seventh innings we went back to the room and took advantage of our birds-eye panoramic viewpoint. The crowd had thinned considerably and it was quite striking that it was mostly the home crowd who had remained. The noise they made when the Blue Jays got a hit or an out carried up into the dome and reverberated into our vantage point.
That is pretty much that for yesterday. Today we were up and sorted for 0900. I drove first with Nick and the SatNav guiding us out onto Highway 401 east via a slightly circuitous tour of the harbour area - the usual trouble of the GPS signal bouncing around tall buildings. The traffic wasn’t too bad, though we did have a 20 minute crawl along the Don Valley Parkway before traffic thinned out as we left the city. A stop of coffee at a Tim Horton’s and now as I type this we’re pulling into another plaza to swap over again.
We were on the road before 0800 as we knew we had a considerable distance to cover. Plan for the day was head west to Buffalo along I90, stopping for lunch at Nick’s friend Eileen’s at Hamburg, a suburb of Buffalo.
It was a grotty day as we left Syracus, with the SatNav guiding us through commuter land of Liverpool, NY onto the Interstate. Nick took first stint at the wheel and I didn’t envy him tackling the dual pains of heavy rain and heavy traffic. About the only highlight, such as it was, on the journey was stopping for Tim Hortons coffee and fuel at a ‘plaza’ on I90.
The SatNav did its job and took us to the entrance to the gated community where Eileen lives, though as the turn into the street didn’t look like a turn, we ended up doing a circuit of a veterinarian’s car park. The entrance to the “olde thyme village” were open, so we drove in and found Eileen’s block.
I won’t bore you too much with the story of Nick’s friendship with Eileen and her late husband John, except to say John was a cop in Buffalo in 1987 when Nick & Sue visited the city on their honeymoon. Thanks to John, they blagged their way into a Bruce Springsteen concert - and a long term friendship developed.
Eileen made us extremely welcome and fed us handsomely with hot beef cobs. We spent best part of a couple of hours with Eileen, chatting and catching up, before pressing on. Our route from Hamburg took us north back toward Buffalo toward the Peace Bridge border with Canada. Buffalo gives the impression of a blue-collar industrial city which has hit hard times. Demolition seems to be the predominant industry now.
I was driving as the passed over the city centre on the aptly named Sky Bridge and then over the Peace Bridge which forms the border. The queue for Canadian immigration control was only two or three cars deep and the official asked us the usual cursory questions. He seemed satisfied the a one night stay to watch baseball posed no threat to the Canadian national interest and allowed us in. A new stamp in my passport.
Once through the toll booths for the bridge we had just passed over, Interstate driving in Ontario seemed predictably identical to in the US. The speed limit is 100km/h (65ish mph) but seems universally ignored. I pinched 10km/h on the cruise control and was constantly passed. Trucks are banned from the outside lane and the road signs are blue instead of green. Other than that, it’s still North America.
The advantage of road signs in kilometres is that big numbers for distances reduce much quicker! In no time at all we could see the CN Tower in the distance and the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way - what had been I90 from the border) took us right into the city centre.
Our hotel was literally two turns off the main highway, though we discovered we had to go round the houses a little to enter the parking garage. Considering the hotel is integral to the Rogers Center stadium, parking is not surprising expensive. We’re paying a discounted $20 (Canadian dollars, of course, which are slightly more expensive than US Dollars).
We checked in and Nick was greeted with the News that we were being upgraded to Stadium View rooms. As we were checking in, a couple next to us were being told that the hotel was almost full and there were no double rooms left - if they wished to stay they would have to pay for king size rooms. Again, the undeniably power of the Gold Card.
We went up to the room on the fourth floor and as we opened the door we were both blown away! You’ll have read my views on the subject in yesterday’s brief diary entry and I hope seen the photographs, as words can’t do it justice.
Although it was three hours before game time, players were out on the field and we spotted Boston’s Dustin Pedrioa wandering about. Someone else (a Blue Jay?) was being interviewed for television and closer to our position, the expensive dining area overlooking the pitch was being set up. Taking a little time out to send emails and make phone calls to share our good fortune with friends and loved-ones, we set off to explore Toronto.
Nick has obtained a map from the concierge and some tips of where to see in a whistle-stop walking tour of downtown. Suitably equipped we walked over a footbridge spanning the railway lines (the Rogers Center appears to be built on former railway marshalling yards etc.) and past the foot of the CN Tower. Toronto seems to be an area of contrasts, with distinct areas; grungy, bohemian, cutting-edge fashion shops and cafes merging into an entertainment district with lots of bars, followed by a mainstream shopping district, merging into the banking and business area. All this with a sprinkling of old and historic buildings rubbing shoulders with countless new, towering, glass and steel offices.
I was particularly taken by the red street cars plying their trade on many of the streets. These are like the Green Line trollies of Boston except that their rails run along the centre of the city street. The streets are wide enough to accommodate the trollies and the road traffic. It is interesting to see that when they stop to pick up and set down passengers, road traffic is prohibited from passing - a sensible precaution against skittling pedestrians. The interaction with the street cars and the road traffic at intersections, especially where there are junctions with the tracks was interesting to watch.
We found ourselves in the Eaton Center - the inevitable large shopping mall. We decided to split up and regroup at the room, so my first stop was the Indigo bookstore (very Borders-like). I’d got some Canadian dollars from an ATM so made my first purchase in the form of a coffee from the Starbucks in there. There’s an Apple store but I visited only briefly to hook up to their wifi. No iPads here as they are int he same “international” boat as the UK in it not being released in Canada yet.
My walk back to the room took me through the central business district, just as the offices were disgorging their employees onto the streets for their journeys home. As I got closer to the Roger Center, the proliferation of both Red Sox shirts and scalpers increased. So too did the amount of pan-handlers, an apparently very prevalent phenomenon in Toronto?
Back at the hotel we went up to the Concierge level to check out the complimentary nibbles. The fare on offer worked better for Nick than it did for me, but I tried a cold potato concoction - because I could!
With about half an hour to game time we walked out to find our entrance. The concourses outside the stadium were busy with food vendors, program sellers and, again, lots and lots of scalpers. Nick commented he was tempted to sell his ticket and go back to the room, but I think he was joking.
Inside the stadium the Canadian national anthem was being sung as part of the pre-game traditions. If the pattern we witnessed at Boston when the Blue Jays played there, the US national anthem will have been played too, but we must’ve missed that. As Nick went to find our seats I went to find some stadium food. I plumped for burger and fries and noticed that the guy in front of me was paying by card. As my Canadian money was limited, I was going to do the same, but was scared-off when the youth who served the customer ahead (who happened to be a Brit, as well) disappeared out of sight for half a minute with his credit card. Hmmm, no, the last thing I need is my card being cloned, thank you. Incidentally, unlike in the US, the Canadians use the chip & pin with debit cards.
I found Nick with my food just as the first innings began. We were in the first block behind home plate, though in the last-but-one row. Expensive seats in most stadia, prohibitively so in Fenway Park and especially Yankee Stadium. There were quite a few empty seats around us, so we were’t crushed in. Most of the fans around us were wearing Red Sox shirts - perhaps something to do with the way Ticketmaster sell the tickets? As I looked around, however, I’d say the proportion of Boston fans was at least 40%. We later read that the attendance was just over 13,000 - so the sea of empty blue seats was unsurprising.
We stayed in our allotted seats for about five innings before wandering in search of beer (and food for Nick). After doing a circuit of the stadium, checking out standing room views from a variety of positions, we returned to the area of our seats for the seventh innings but moved quite a bit further forward into the vacant seats.
I won’t go over the intricacies of the game again as I think I covered that part last night. It was enough that the Red Sox won, but how they did it was far from conventional.
After the seventh innings we went back to the room and took advantage of our birds-eye panoramic viewpoint. The crowd had thinned considerably and it was quite striking that it was mostly the home crowd who had remained. The noise they made when the Blue Jays got a hit or an out carried up into the dome and reverberated into our vantage point.
That is pretty much that for yesterday. Today we were up and sorted for 0900. I drove first with Nick and the SatNav guiding us out onto Highway 401 east via a slightly circuitous tour of the harbour area - the usual trouble of the GPS signal bouncing around tall buildings. The traffic wasn’t too bad, though we did have a 20 minute crawl along the Don Valley Parkway before traffic thinned out as we left the city. A stop of coffee at a Tim Horton’s and now as I type this we’re pulling into another plaza to swap over again.
This will be brief...
27 Apr 2010 04:58
... and I will expand on it at length tomorrow.
“Wow!” is the word of the day. We are staying in an incredible room. We’ve seen an incredible game of baseball (which the Red Sox won - maintaining my 100% record), and we are in an incredible city.
In summary, we drove to Hamburg on the outskirts of Buffalo to see Eileen, a long time friend of Nicks. From there we entered Canada and drove to Toronto and checked into the Renaissance. Thanks to Nick’s points obsession and his Marriott gold card we were upgraded to a stadium view room (cost to you, my friend, $650+ dollars a night!)
After checking in (and a chat with Kay which was lovely) we went to look round downtown Toronto. Whereas it was wet and miserable when we left New York State, it was blue skied and 18 degrees of sunshine in Toronto. We barely scratched the surface, but what I’ve seen I’ve liked and it it definitely on my list of cities I’d like to come back to. Just enough that is North American but entirely different to the USA.
Back at the room we watched the Red Sox batting practice from our window (incredible!) then went down to the ground. The stadium is very good, with plenty of room even had it been a capacity crowd (there were 13,847 as it turned out, which isn’t even close - and many, many, many of the crowd were Red Sox fans).
The game was a slug-fest, with an unheard of 34 hits and 25 runs - yet the Red Sox didn’t hit a single Home Run. Again, it was nail biting stuff but the good guys won in the end. With so many hits, the game took an age to play, finishing at 2315. Good job we didn’t have more than a two or thee feet to travel back home for the night!
I’ll say it again - Wow! Read more tomorrow on the road via Montreal to Vermont. Good Night.
“Wow!” is the word of the day. We are staying in an incredible room. We’ve seen an incredible game of baseball (which the Red Sox won - maintaining my 100% record), and we are in an incredible city.
In summary, we drove to Hamburg on the outskirts of Buffalo to see Eileen, a long time friend of Nicks. From there we entered Canada and drove to Toronto and checked into the Renaissance. Thanks to Nick’s points obsession and his Marriott gold card we were upgraded to a stadium view room (cost to you, my friend, $650+ dollars a night!)
After checking in (and a chat with Kay which was lovely) we went to look round downtown Toronto. Whereas it was wet and miserable when we left New York State, it was blue skied and 18 degrees of sunshine in Toronto. We barely scratched the surface, but what I’ve seen I’ve liked and it it definitely on my list of cities I’d like to come back to. Just enough that is North American but entirely different to the USA.
Back at the room we watched the Red Sox batting practice from our window (incredible!) then went down to the ground. The stadium is very good, with plenty of room even had it been a capacity crowd (there were 13,847 as it turned out, which isn’t even close - and many, many, many of the crowd were Red Sox fans).
The game was a slug-fest, with an unheard of 34 hits and 25 runs - yet the Red Sox didn’t hit a single Home Run. Again, it was nail biting stuff but the good guys won in the end. With so many hits, the game took an age to play, finishing at 2315. Good job we didn’t have more than a two or thee feet to travel back home for the night!
I’ll say it again - Wow! Read more tomorrow on the road via Montreal to Vermont. Good Night.
A New York State of Mind
26 Apr 2010 01:58
Sundays in the USA have always been a conundrum to me. Nothing opens before Noon yet everybody seems to be up and about at normal sort of times, so where do they go? Anyway, enough of such mysteries, you’re reading this to found out what we did today, right?
After I finished typing last night’s diary we were out and onto the T for the first stage in our journey westwards. We discovered that the MBTA follow the same pattern of using Sunday mornings to maintain their track as thier UK counterparts. Although we didn’t have to wait long for our train it performed some sort of pilotman swap with an outbound service that had been waiting in the station, then crawled most of the way to Park Street.
At South Station we made the very simple transfer to the Silver Line bus. This is a hybrid trolleybus/diesel vehicle which uses overhead catenary in tunnels under the city, but switches to conventional power on streets out to the Airport. Surprisingly effective and integrates very well with the subway trains - and is included in the T pass.
At the Airport we switched to the shuttle to Budget car rental and before very long we were hitting the road in our Chrysler Sebring. I drove while Nick navigated, but even though his SatNav was on the case, this wasn’t a hard route to plot - at least not in the early stages... Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) west across the state until it became the New York Thruway.
The toll booths seemed to come thick and fast until we were outside the Greater Boston area, after which a ticket is issued and tolls paid appropriate to where you exit - or in our case at the state line. I set the cruise control to only a few mph over the speed limit and pointed the car. Especially once the traffic thinned out, the miles ticked over fast and furiously. Such is Interstate driving.
Our route took us up and over the Berkshire Hills, a sign proclaiming that we were at the highest point on a Turnpike in the United States, the next highest being in South Dakota. This puzzled me as I’d assume interstates over the Rockies would be higher but Nick suggested there must be an arcane difference between a “turnpike” and an Interstate? The former being a toll road?
The threatened torrential rain didn’t really materialise, though there were periods that were quite wet. No problems to our progress, however.
West of Albany our electronic guide routed us onto Interstate 88 and we saw a sign suggesting two different exits for Cooperstown. The route on the SatNav took us past the first one and we spotted a sign suggesting Cooperstown was 51 miles. Our guide said 58, so we assumed its route involved more Interstate miles as a pay-back for a quicker route. On we pressed.
At Worcester we were guided off the Interstate onto Rt 7. So far so good. Bear in mind however, we were on our way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame - arguably the Wembley of Baseball - so we expected a fairly smooth journey. Imagine my hesitation, therefore, when we were guided along country lanes without so much as a centre line. County Road 35 was one of the better roads in this interesting leg of the journey. I bet the VIPs coming to Cooperstown to be inducted to the Hall of Fame don’t arrive from this direction!
Even as we entered Cooperstown we were guided along a fairly odd route, though a closed road and a missed turn on my part probably explained this. It was only as we turned onto the Main Street with its plethora of baseball souvenir shops that I was convinced there wasn’t some other Cooperstown, NY and we’d come to the wrong one!
I’m still not clear on how or why Cooperstown has become what it has - I must read up on it - but it has its own small baseball stadium (Doubleday Field) and lots, and lots of baseball shops. Most were open, though being Sunday afternoon, not all and there was a feeling that the whole town was only partially open for business. We pottered in and out of many of them, gave the stadium a good looking at, and turned our noses up at the $16.50/each admission to the Hall of Fame Museum. To be fair, I don't think either of us had come with any intention of going in to the place itself, simply to come and have a look at the place.
Nick staved off hunger pangs with a pizza but I was still full of breakfast so didn’t bother. All-in-all, Cooperstown occupied us for best part of an hour before we threw ourselves at the mercy of the SatNav once more. A quick hook-up to someone’s open wifi allowed me to have a look at Google maps to convince me the route in was at least plausible if not exactly conventional. At the same time I learned the Red Sox were losing to the Orioles, the score being 1-0 in the fourth innings at this stage.
We followed a route to the northwest along Rt28, past what seemed to be a huge body of water called Lake Canadarago, and through charming rural America - farms, small villages with clapperboard churches, and lots & lots of undeveloped land. The spring foliage was almost as spectacular as the fall in some places.
Once back on the Interstate at a place called Herlimer we continued to make good progress but stopped for a comfort break within 20 miles of our destination at a rest stop on I90. This had the unexpected bonus of an unadvertised and apparently temporary (while a permanent one was being installed) Starbucks. A tall Pike Place certainly hit the spot. The bad news was the baseball was tied at 4-4 and had gone to extra innings. As I sipped my coffee and watched Game Day on the free wifi at the services, the Orioles went 7-4 ahead.
We pressed on for the short distance remaining, leaving I90 onto I481 which became Route 481. The SatNav took us off onto Rt.81 and announced we were at our destination - a typical conglomeration of fast food joints, gas stations, supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls and hotels... all with huge car parks. What the SatNav didn’t tell us was where in this jungle the Fairfield Inn was, but Nick spotted it as I passed the turn. Luckily, the complex is so large it has three access points off the main road so I was able to turn at the next lights and drive back through the parking lot!
Despite the description I have just painted, the hotel stands quite well in its own modest landscaped grounds and has an Applebees restaurant next door. Over the road is a Barnes & Noble bookstore with Outback Steakhouse behind. The other neighbours of the hotel are Best Buy, a very big Wegmans supermarket, an even bigger WalMart and a Target of unknown size but probably bigger than the lot.
We checked in and caught up with our electronic needs (BookFace for Nick, while I emailed Kay and found out the Red Sox should have won but didn’t ... having clawed back to 7-6, they had two batters on base as Marco Scutero holed out to end the game - from last night’s hero to tonight’s villain!)
It was still daylight so we explored the stores close by on foot. Best Buy has notices on the door saying they have no iPads in stock (Best Buy are one of the few stores Apple are allowing to sell it other than their own). Next I found myself in the beer aisle of Wegmans and a Adirondack Trail Mix of Saranac beers from nearby Uitica, NY had to be bought. This six pack has; Black & Tan (stout and lager, which I’ve just sampled and wasn’t nearly as bad as that description suggests), Brown Ale (which I’m part way through), Pale Ale, Black Forest (Bavarian style black beer), Adirondack Lager and India Pale Ale.
After that we regrouped and darkened the door of the Outback Steakhouse. We both had 16oz Prime Rib - which is a lot of meat - and both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.
A feature of today has been the number of “gee, I love your accent” moments. A lady who served us in Cooperstown was a variation on this in that she was from London, so commented on the English accents for obvious reasons. The checkout lady at Wegman’s simply couldn’t believe we’d “come all this way” to watch baseball, and the waiter in the Outback Steakhouse said our accents reminded him of the characters in Shaun of the Dead. Huh, non taken!
After I finished typing last night’s diary we were out and onto the T for the first stage in our journey westwards. We discovered that the MBTA follow the same pattern of using Sunday mornings to maintain their track as thier UK counterparts. Although we didn’t have to wait long for our train it performed some sort of pilotman swap with an outbound service that had been waiting in the station, then crawled most of the way to Park Street.
At South Station we made the very simple transfer to the Silver Line bus. This is a hybrid trolleybus/diesel vehicle which uses overhead catenary in tunnels under the city, but switches to conventional power on streets out to the Airport. Surprisingly effective and integrates very well with the subway trains - and is included in the T pass.
At the Airport we switched to the shuttle to Budget car rental and before very long we were hitting the road in our Chrysler Sebring. I drove while Nick navigated, but even though his SatNav was on the case, this wasn’t a hard route to plot - at least not in the early stages... Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) west across the state until it became the New York Thruway.
The toll booths seemed to come thick and fast until we were outside the Greater Boston area, after which a ticket is issued and tolls paid appropriate to where you exit - or in our case at the state line. I set the cruise control to only a few mph over the speed limit and pointed the car. Especially once the traffic thinned out, the miles ticked over fast and furiously. Such is Interstate driving.
Our route took us up and over the Berkshire Hills, a sign proclaiming that we were at the highest point on a Turnpike in the United States, the next highest being in South Dakota. This puzzled me as I’d assume interstates over the Rockies would be higher but Nick suggested there must be an arcane difference between a “turnpike” and an Interstate? The former being a toll road?
The threatened torrential rain didn’t really materialise, though there were periods that were quite wet. No problems to our progress, however.
West of Albany our electronic guide routed us onto Interstate 88 and we saw a sign suggesting two different exits for Cooperstown. The route on the SatNav took us past the first one and we spotted a sign suggesting Cooperstown was 51 miles. Our guide said 58, so we assumed its route involved more Interstate miles as a pay-back for a quicker route. On we pressed.
At Worcester we were guided off the Interstate onto Rt 7. So far so good. Bear in mind however, we were on our way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame - arguably the Wembley of Baseball - so we expected a fairly smooth journey. Imagine my hesitation, therefore, when we were guided along country lanes without so much as a centre line. County Road 35 was one of the better roads in this interesting leg of the journey. I bet the VIPs coming to Cooperstown to be inducted to the Hall of Fame don’t arrive from this direction!
Even as we entered Cooperstown we were guided along a fairly odd route, though a closed road and a missed turn on my part probably explained this. It was only as we turned onto the Main Street with its plethora of baseball souvenir shops that I was convinced there wasn’t some other Cooperstown, NY and we’d come to the wrong one!
I’m still not clear on how or why Cooperstown has become what it has - I must read up on it - but it has its own small baseball stadium (Doubleday Field) and lots, and lots of baseball shops. Most were open, though being Sunday afternoon, not all and there was a feeling that the whole town was only partially open for business. We pottered in and out of many of them, gave the stadium a good looking at, and turned our noses up at the $16.50/each admission to the Hall of Fame Museum. To be fair, I don't think either of us had come with any intention of going in to the place itself, simply to come and have a look at the place.
Nick staved off hunger pangs with a pizza but I was still full of breakfast so didn’t bother. All-in-all, Cooperstown occupied us for best part of an hour before we threw ourselves at the mercy of the SatNav once more. A quick hook-up to someone’s open wifi allowed me to have a look at Google maps to convince me the route in was at least plausible if not exactly conventional. At the same time I learned the Red Sox were losing to the Orioles, the score being 1-0 in the fourth innings at this stage.
We followed a route to the northwest along Rt28, past what seemed to be a huge body of water called Lake Canadarago, and through charming rural America - farms, small villages with clapperboard churches, and lots & lots of undeveloped land. The spring foliage was almost as spectacular as the fall in some places.
Once back on the Interstate at a place called Herlimer we continued to make good progress but stopped for a comfort break within 20 miles of our destination at a rest stop on I90. This had the unexpected bonus of an unadvertised and apparently temporary (while a permanent one was being installed) Starbucks. A tall Pike Place certainly hit the spot. The bad news was the baseball was tied at 4-4 and had gone to extra innings. As I sipped my coffee and watched Game Day on the free wifi at the services, the Orioles went 7-4 ahead.
We pressed on for the short distance remaining, leaving I90 onto I481 which became Route 481. The SatNav took us off onto Rt.81 and announced we were at our destination - a typical conglomeration of fast food joints, gas stations, supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls and hotels... all with huge car parks. What the SatNav didn’t tell us was where in this jungle the Fairfield Inn was, but Nick spotted it as I passed the turn. Luckily, the complex is so large it has three access points off the main road so I was able to turn at the next lights and drive back through the parking lot!
Despite the description I have just painted, the hotel stands quite well in its own modest landscaped grounds and has an Applebees restaurant next door. Over the road is a Barnes & Noble bookstore with Outback Steakhouse behind. The other neighbours of the hotel are Best Buy, a very big Wegmans supermarket, an even bigger WalMart and a Target of unknown size but probably bigger than the lot.
We checked in and caught up with our electronic needs (BookFace for Nick, while I emailed Kay and found out the Red Sox should have won but didn’t ... having clawed back to 7-6, they had two batters on base as Marco Scutero holed out to end the game - from last night’s hero to tonight’s villain!)
It was still daylight so we explored the stores close by on foot. Best Buy has notices on the door saying they have no iPads in stock (Best Buy are one of the few stores Apple are allowing to sell it other than their own). Next I found myself in the beer aisle of Wegmans and a Adirondack Trail Mix of Saranac beers from nearby Uitica, NY had to be bought. This six pack has; Black & Tan (stout and lager, which I’ve just sampled and wasn’t nearly as bad as that description suggests), Brown Ale (which I’m part way through), Pale Ale, Black Forest (Bavarian style black beer), Adirondack Lager and India Pale Ale.
After that we regrouped and darkened the door of the Outback Steakhouse. We both had 16oz Prime Rib - which is a lot of meat - and both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.
A feature of today has been the number of “gee, I love your accent” moments. A lady who served us in Cooperstown was a variation on this in that she was from London, so commented on the English accents for obvious reasons. The checkout lady at Wegman’s simply couldn’t believe we’d “come all this way” to watch baseball, and the waiter in the Outback Steakhouse said our accents reminded him of the characters in Shaun of the Dead. Huh, non taken!
And That Was Last Night
25 Apr 2010 13:23
It was later when we got in last night. I made a point of getting my photos onto the MacBook and uploaded what I think are the best of the crop. Other than that, sleep was more important than blogging. This morning, after a sound sleep and a hearty breakfast, I’m ready to share my memories of last night.
After re-grouping at the room and me changing into my snazzy new Red Sox T shirt, we went down to the lobby to await the V-Flyers.James arrived first, having spent the day doing the sights of Boston - including the obligatory ascent of the Prudential Tower for the views. Then Ben arrived. Unlike James who is a fellow Brit, Ben is American but resident in Washington DC. He has lots of Boston connections from his “School” days (by which he means University). As he joined us he had just left a Chilli cook-out at Harvard Business School organised by friends.
We walked the block to the Cambridge Brewing Company. The outside patio was quite busy with diners but inside was much less busy. Between us we sampled all four of their regular own brews. Ben was particularly taken when a party nearby took one of CBC’s 8 pint self-dispense towers to their table. This gave him an excuse to try out his newly purchased Nikon dSLR camera on the unsuspecting group who happily accommodated him!
As James doesn’t have a game ticket he left us as we went out to find a cab to Fenway Park. After $12 cab ride the words least talkative cab driver dropped us as close to the ball park as the traffic reasonably allowed and we followed the crowds onto Lansdowne Street. The gates had just opened so the throngs were diminishing. We passed the House of Blues which Ben pointed out as he has some VIP codes or something to get entrance, but we decided the baseball held a stronger lure.
Inside the park we went to the seats behind home plate to pose for photographs just as the Orioles’ batting practice was concluding (Oh, by the way, Jim has very kindly identified the bird I photographed on Boston Common earlier as.... an oriole! Oh, the irony!).
Next we moved out onto Yawkey Way, pausing briefly to obtain beer. Here the pre-game crowd pleasing routines were in full swing: A guy on stilts throwing balls to the kids (and some big kids) and catching the return - most of the time. A jazz band was in full swing, and whilst their must was hot, their sense of sartorial elegance was hugely questionable.
We went back into the ground as the pre-game formalities were beginning and ensconced ourselves in the standing room directly behind home plate as the National Anthem was sung by some girl scouts. Then its was “Play Ball......”.
The first several innings of the game were best described as “flat” - especially from a Boston perspective as Baltimore took a 2-0 lead. This was reflected in the crowd’s quiet, almost sullen mood. I sense of fearing the worst was palpable. After five innings behind home plate we moved to a different part of the ground, ending up behind the nose-bleed seats high in right field. It was dark by now and the wind was whipping in from behind us, so Nick was regretting his choice of three-quarter length trousers.
By the seventh inning stretch the game still hadn’t come alive, and even though it was his first visit to Fenway Park, and as an Amercian fan of baseball the significance of this was not lost on him, Ben decided to call it a night. Citing a 0400 rise, he bade us goodnight.
Immediately after Ben left the Red Sox ignited. First Marco Scutaro hit a three run homer, then in the same innings, local hero Kevin Youklis repeated the feat. 7-3 Red Sox. The crowd (which the Globe reported this morning as 38,017) were really happy now. A Mexican wave (meh!) was circling and the traditional rendition of Caroline in the middle of the eight innings was rousing.
Things started to fall apart in the Ninth. People had undoubted already left thinking the victory was in the back, but the Orioles batters started to get the measure of Ramon Ramirez and all of a sudden it was close. The guy Boston turn to to close-out the game, pitcher Jonathan Papelbon got an unexpected call to try and stem the flow of runs. As he is such a hero, he gets his own anthem as he runs onto the mound; the Dropkick Murphys singing Shipping Up To Boston - guaranteed to fire the crowd up.
Although Papelbon got the job done, it wasn’t pretty and there was a nerve wracking few minutes of play. Ultimately it was a 7-6 victory and the Sox’ winning song “Tessie” was blaring out as we joined the mass exodus onto Yawley Way.
Carried by the crowds as far as Kenmore Square, fatigue made it easy to forsake the welcome of the multitude of bars doing a roaring trade. Though only 2230, we were still on body clock time and trudged our way out to the Harvard Bridge and into Cambridge. Despite some spectacular views of the city skyline over the Charles River, the call of bed was loud and we were back at the hotel for 2300.
This morning is move day (yesterday was the only day of the trip we’re not checking out of a hotel, as Nick pointed out). We plan to use the T (and Silver Line bus) to get to the airport and pick up the car. From Logan it is out on I90 to New York state. We plan a short diversion to Cooperstown, NY, where the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located then this evening we’re in Syracuse. 334 miles and 6hrs 14 min driving, according to Google Maps.
As I’ve been typing in the breakfast room (suitably full, thank you), Nick has gone up to do his packing and the there has been a steady turnover of folk in and out; mainly families but it is amazing how being absorbed in the events of last night have allowed me to tune-out the noise of braying kids!
After re-grouping at the room and me changing into my snazzy new Red Sox T shirt, we went down to the lobby to await the V-Flyers.James arrived first, having spent the day doing the sights of Boston - including the obligatory ascent of the Prudential Tower for the views. Then Ben arrived. Unlike James who is a fellow Brit, Ben is American but resident in Washington DC. He has lots of Boston connections from his “School” days (by which he means University). As he joined us he had just left a Chilli cook-out at Harvard Business School organised by friends.
We walked the block to the Cambridge Brewing Company. The outside patio was quite busy with diners but inside was much less busy. Between us we sampled all four of their regular own brews. Ben was particularly taken when a party nearby took one of CBC’s 8 pint self-dispense towers to their table. This gave him an excuse to try out his newly purchased Nikon dSLR camera on the unsuspecting group who happily accommodated him!
As James doesn’t have a game ticket he left us as we went out to find a cab to Fenway Park. After $12 cab ride the words least talkative cab driver dropped us as close to the ball park as the traffic reasonably allowed and we followed the crowds onto Lansdowne Street. The gates had just opened so the throngs were diminishing. We passed the House of Blues which Ben pointed out as he has some VIP codes or something to get entrance, but we decided the baseball held a stronger lure.
Inside the park we went to the seats behind home plate to pose for photographs just as the Orioles’ batting practice was concluding (Oh, by the way, Jim has very kindly identified the bird I photographed on Boston Common earlier as.... an oriole! Oh, the irony!).
Next we moved out onto Yawkey Way, pausing briefly to obtain beer. Here the pre-game crowd pleasing routines were in full swing: A guy on stilts throwing balls to the kids (and some big kids) and catching the return - most of the time. A jazz band was in full swing, and whilst their must was hot, their sense of sartorial elegance was hugely questionable.
We went back into the ground as the pre-game formalities were beginning and ensconced ourselves in the standing room directly behind home plate as the National Anthem was sung by some girl scouts. Then its was “Play Ball......”.
The first several innings of the game were best described as “flat” - especially from a Boston perspective as Baltimore took a 2-0 lead. This was reflected in the crowd’s quiet, almost sullen mood. I sense of fearing the worst was palpable. After five innings behind home plate we moved to a different part of the ground, ending up behind the nose-bleed seats high in right field. It was dark by now and the wind was whipping in from behind us, so Nick was regretting his choice of three-quarter length trousers.
By the seventh inning stretch the game still hadn’t come alive, and even though it was his first visit to Fenway Park, and as an Amercian fan of baseball the significance of this was not lost on him, Ben decided to call it a night. Citing a 0400 rise, he bade us goodnight.
Immediately after Ben left the Red Sox ignited. First Marco Scutaro hit a three run homer, then in the same innings, local hero Kevin Youklis repeated the feat. 7-3 Red Sox. The crowd (which the Globe reported this morning as 38,017) were really happy now. A Mexican wave (meh!) was circling and the traditional rendition of Caroline in the middle of the eight innings was rousing.
Things started to fall apart in the Ninth. People had undoubted already left thinking the victory was in the back, but the Orioles batters started to get the measure of Ramon Ramirez and all of a sudden it was close. The guy Boston turn to to close-out the game, pitcher Jonathan Papelbon got an unexpected call to try and stem the flow of runs. As he is such a hero, he gets his own anthem as he runs onto the mound; the Dropkick Murphys singing Shipping Up To Boston - guaranteed to fire the crowd up.
Although Papelbon got the job done, it wasn’t pretty and there was a nerve wracking few minutes of play. Ultimately it was a 7-6 victory and the Sox’ winning song “Tessie” was blaring out as we joined the mass exodus onto Yawley Way.
Carried by the crowds as far as Kenmore Square, fatigue made it easy to forsake the welcome of the multitude of bars doing a roaring trade. Though only 2230, we were still on body clock time and trudged our way out to the Harvard Bridge and into Cambridge. Despite some spectacular views of the city skyline over the Charles River, the call of bed was loud and we were back at the hotel for 2300.
This morning is move day (yesterday was the only day of the trip we’re not checking out of a hotel, as Nick pointed out). We plan to use the T (and Silver Line bus) to get to the airport and pick up the car. From Logan it is out on I90 to New York state. We plan a short diversion to Cooperstown, NY, where the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located then this evening we’re in Syracuse. 334 miles and 6hrs 14 min driving, according to Google Maps.
As I’ve been typing in the breakfast room (suitably full, thank you), Nick has gone up to do his packing and the there has been a steady turnover of folk in and out; mainly families but it is amazing how being absorbed in the events of last night have allowed me to tune-out the noise of braying kids!
So, This is Saturday
24 Apr 2010 19:27
I’m typing this whilst sitting on a bench on Boston Common, in glorious sunshine with the whole world either walking-on by or lazing on the grass taking in the rays. Not a squirrel in sight (they used to inhabit the Common in their hundreds) but I’m being watched by a red-breasted blackbird sized bird which I don’t know the name of.
We were both up at an obscenely early time, though of course Nick was up much, much earlier than me. I wouldn’t say the fold-away bed was uncomfortable, but it didn’t compare well with the memory foam luxury of the night before.
Breakfast is included in the rate so I joined Nick downstairs just as it was starting to get busy (he said he was alone in the room when he first arrived!). Breakfast for me took the form of sausage patties with potato chunks (there’s a better name for that particular dish, I know, but as I type it isn’t coming to me). Washed down with OJ and coffee and followed by a muffin and an apple. Who says I don’t know healthy eating! Close escape, though, I nearly poured myself decaf by mistake.
Not long after 0900 we were out and down onto the Red line heading to the Apple store to meet a mate of Nick’s from V-Flyer. Actually, I know James myself from the Vegas trip some years ago, so it was a renewed acquaintance.
The sun was out, the skies were bright blue and we were early for our meet, so we mooched around the block, Nick pointing out the room where he and Sue stayed in the very posh Mandarin Oriental hotel last year.
In the Apple store the talk was inevitably about the iPad and James has decided he is going to buy one. He was double-sixed however when he was told they are on back-order... such is their popularity. Unless I can pre-order one for Tuesday in Nashua, looks like I’ll be coming home sans iPad after all? Sorry Jim.
[As an aside, the strange bird has been replaced by an even stranger man who is currently having an argument with himself, and it looks like it may come to blows. Welcome to Boston Common.]
Nick, James and I adjourned to Starbucks on Newbury Street to put the world to rights. Nick was busy on Facebook in the meanwhile, and a V-Flyer meet has been arranged for this evening prior to the Game, at the Cambridge Brewhouse.
After a brief interlude in Newbury Comics looking for a very specific belt - of all things - for Chris, we caught the Green line from Prudential to Government Center with the plan of transferring to the Blue line. Our destination is a large Target store in suburban Beachmont. It was our turn to have our plans disrupted, however, as the Blue line is closed for maintenance all weekend as far as the Airport. Today is a good time to find this out as it may have been more of a problem with bags tomorrow when we go and pick up the car.
I thought about wimping out and leaving Nick with it, but decided to stick around for the ride and see where it took us, as we boarded the replacement bus. Where it took us was a tour of East Boston, via Maverick Square to the Airport T station. The outbound trip was a bit of a crush but not unbearable.
At Beachmont our short walk took us past the rows and rows of stables for the Suffolk Downs racecourse which lies between the railway and the shopping centre. Opposite the stables is a Shaws supermarket which was being picketed by a group of disgruntled employees for some reason. (“Honk if you think Shaws suck&rdquo
.
Nick was slightly disappointed by Target as he thought it was going to be one of their super-dooper-really big branches. Turns out it was only a big branch. Only I bought anything, a Red Sox T shirt for tonight as I omitted to pack one for some reason. Despite there being a Starbucks in store (with experimental pay by iPhone system in operation) we retraced our steps back to the station. There, Nick had spotted Beachmont Roast Beef. This is like a roadside diner crossed with Subway. He went for the double-roast beef with everything on, while I had a more modest but no less tasty cheese burger. All very homely and freindly.
The journey back on the T was fine as far as the Airport where we were to change to a replacement bus again. In the throng leaving the station Nick got some distance ahead of me and by the time I reached the bus he had got on, the doors had closed and it set off. My bus was modestly full as we set off, but then we arrived at Maverick station at the mid-way point of the journey into Boston. From there it was packed like the Tokyo subway. I’m not sure it was safe and it definitely wasn’t comfortable, though to be fair I was reasonably ok sitting where I was. There was much complaint from my fellow travellers mainly about the proximity of stranger’s armpits!
Being Saturday afternoon the traffic into Boston was bad, so that added to the duration of the journey. I stuck it to the end of the line at Government Center where I received a text from Nick to the effect he’d got off at the first opportunity at Aquarium. A rendezvous at the room later was duly arranged.
The time spent on the bus journey has put paid to the planned visit to Harvard, at least as far as I’m concerned, so I elected to sit in the sun on the Common and type this - in between bouts of people watching!
[Strange man seems to have agreed to disagree with himself and has been fairly quiet for the last ten minutes, though he is currently staring into the distance and is nodding knowing at something....]
We were both up at an obscenely early time, though of course Nick was up much, much earlier than me. I wouldn’t say the fold-away bed was uncomfortable, but it didn’t compare well with the memory foam luxury of the night before.
Breakfast is included in the rate so I joined Nick downstairs just as it was starting to get busy (he said he was alone in the room when he first arrived!). Breakfast for me took the form of sausage patties with potato chunks (there’s a better name for that particular dish, I know, but as I type it isn’t coming to me). Washed down with OJ and coffee and followed by a muffin and an apple. Who says I don’t know healthy eating! Close escape, though, I nearly poured myself decaf by mistake.
Not long after 0900 we were out and down onto the Red line heading to the Apple store to meet a mate of Nick’s from V-Flyer. Actually, I know James myself from the Vegas trip some years ago, so it was a renewed acquaintance.
The sun was out, the skies were bright blue and we were early for our meet, so we mooched around the block, Nick pointing out the room where he and Sue stayed in the very posh Mandarin Oriental hotel last year.
In the Apple store the talk was inevitably about the iPad and James has decided he is going to buy one. He was double-sixed however when he was told they are on back-order... such is their popularity. Unless I can pre-order one for Tuesday in Nashua, looks like I’ll be coming home sans iPad after all? Sorry Jim.
[As an aside, the strange bird has been replaced by an even stranger man who is currently having an argument with himself, and it looks like it may come to blows. Welcome to Boston Common.]
Nick, James and I adjourned to Starbucks on Newbury Street to put the world to rights. Nick was busy on Facebook in the meanwhile, and a V-Flyer meet has been arranged for this evening prior to the Game, at the Cambridge Brewhouse.
After a brief interlude in Newbury Comics looking for a very specific belt - of all things - for Chris, we caught the Green line from Prudential to Government Center with the plan of transferring to the Blue line. Our destination is a large Target store in suburban Beachmont. It was our turn to have our plans disrupted, however, as the Blue line is closed for maintenance all weekend as far as the Airport. Today is a good time to find this out as it may have been more of a problem with bags tomorrow when we go and pick up the car.
I thought about wimping out and leaving Nick with it, but decided to stick around for the ride and see where it took us, as we boarded the replacement bus. Where it took us was a tour of East Boston, via Maverick Square to the Airport T station. The outbound trip was a bit of a crush but not unbearable.
At Beachmont our short walk took us past the rows and rows of stables for the Suffolk Downs racecourse which lies between the railway and the shopping centre. Opposite the stables is a Shaws supermarket which was being picketed by a group of disgruntled employees for some reason. (“Honk if you think Shaws suck&rdquo
.Nick was slightly disappointed by Target as he thought it was going to be one of their super-dooper-really big branches. Turns out it was only a big branch. Only I bought anything, a Red Sox T shirt for tonight as I omitted to pack one for some reason. Despite there being a Starbucks in store (with experimental pay by iPhone system in operation) we retraced our steps back to the station. There, Nick had spotted Beachmont Roast Beef. This is like a roadside diner crossed with Subway. He went for the double-roast beef with everything on, while I had a more modest but no less tasty cheese burger. All very homely and freindly.
The journey back on the T was fine as far as the Airport where we were to change to a replacement bus again. In the throng leaving the station Nick got some distance ahead of me and by the time I reached the bus he had got on, the doors had closed and it set off. My bus was modestly full as we set off, but then we arrived at Maverick station at the mid-way point of the journey into Boston. From there it was packed like the Tokyo subway. I’m not sure it was safe and it definitely wasn’t comfortable, though to be fair I was reasonably ok sitting where I was. There was much complaint from my fellow travellers mainly about the proximity of stranger’s armpits!
Being Saturday afternoon the traffic into Boston was bad, so that added to the duration of the journey. I stuck it to the end of the line at Government Center where I received a text from Nick to the effect he’d got off at the first opportunity at Aquarium. A rendezvous at the room later was duly arranged.
The time spent on the bus journey has put paid to the planned visit to Harvard, at least as far as I’m concerned, so I elected to sit in the sun on the Common and type this - in between bouts of people watching!
[Strange man seems to have agreed to disagree with himself and has been fairly quiet for the last ten minutes, though he is currently staring into the distance and is nodding knowing at something....]
A Good Evening
24 Apr 2010 02:40
After the minor stresses and strains of the day, the evening was pure relaxation. Web site sorted. Beer. Food, Baseball. Good evening.
Nick discovered Redbones - off Davis Square at Somerville - when he was here with his son Chris last year. It’s a Ribs place which also styles itself as headquarters of Red Sox Nation. Above all else it has a bewildering range of draft beers. Where else to watch tonight’s game?
Its gimmick, if that’s a fair way of describing it, is a beer wheel. If you’re unsure of which of the 18 drafts to go for, ask for a spin of the wheel . While we were there a few customers did, but I preferred the scientific approach... If I haven’t heard of it, I’ll drink it! Nick started out with the safe Bud Light, but got a bit more adventurous. This is our list....
The last one is worthy of special comment as it was served as a cask ale through a UK style beer engine. When I’ve drunk such beers in the US on rare occasions in the past I’ve been disappointed. This was very pleasant, however: It has the taste of a US beer but without the gassiness normally associated with the dispense. Very drinkable.
On the food front, when we eventually got a table, Nick had Texan ribs and Chicken with a very hot source (I tried a few molecules and can confirm its hotness, but even Nick spluttered!). I had a T bone steak which was melt-in-the-mouth. We both agreed our choices hit the spot.
I finished mine before Nick, so at his suggestion, returned to the bar (which is when I tried the Mayflower). I managed to “belly up” to the bar with the baseball on the screen right in front of me. Co-incidentally, both of the other Boston teams are playing tonight in play-offs (Bruins at ice hockey - they lost, and the Celtics at basketball and they won). It was a huge night for Boston sports and I was really in my element. A near-perfect evening.
Nick had left me to it, but I didn’t stop too much longer. I spent ten minutes or so enjoying the evening atmosphere of Davis Square; obviously a place with very a active nightlife. I went down to the Red line for a train back to Kendall which turned up straightaway. The trade-off to that was a 15 minute wait in the tunnel just short of my destination for the vague excuse of “traffic”.
Back to the room to listen to the end of the baseball (because of the other games the tv have relegated the early season game to an obscure channel not carried on the hotel’s cable system).
PS: After a long and hard-fought game, the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. Even better.
Nick discovered Redbones - off Davis Square at Somerville - when he was here with his son Chris last year. It’s a Ribs place which also styles itself as headquarters of Red Sox Nation. Above all else it has a bewildering range of draft beers. Where else to watch tonight’s game?
Its gimmick, if that’s a fair way of describing it, is a beer wheel. If you’re unsure of which of the 18 drafts to go for, ask for a spin of the wheel . While we were there a few customers did, but I preferred the scientific approach... If I haven’t heard of it, I’ll drink it! Nick started out with the safe Bud Light, but got a bit more adventurous. This is our list....
- Victory Donnybrook Stout (me)
- Chester Street Amber (me)
- Brooklyn Summer Ale (Nick)
- Blue Hills Red Barron (me)
- “PBR” (craft brewed lager) (Nick)
- Mayflower Pale Ale (me)
The last one is worthy of special comment as it was served as a cask ale through a UK style beer engine. When I’ve drunk such beers in the US on rare occasions in the past I’ve been disappointed. This was very pleasant, however: It has the taste of a US beer but without the gassiness normally associated with the dispense. Very drinkable.
On the food front, when we eventually got a table, Nick had Texan ribs and Chicken with a very hot source (I tried a few molecules and can confirm its hotness, but even Nick spluttered!). I had a T bone steak which was melt-in-the-mouth. We both agreed our choices hit the spot.
I finished mine before Nick, so at his suggestion, returned to the bar (which is when I tried the Mayflower). I managed to “belly up” to the bar with the baseball on the screen right in front of me. Co-incidentally, both of the other Boston teams are playing tonight in play-offs (Bruins at ice hockey - they lost, and the Celtics at basketball and they won). It was a huge night for Boston sports and I was really in my element. A near-perfect evening.
Nick had left me to it, but I didn’t stop too much longer. I spent ten minutes or so enjoying the evening atmosphere of Davis Square; obviously a place with very a active nightlife. I went down to the Red line for a train back to Kendall which turned up straightaway. The trade-off to that was a 15 minute wait in the tunnel just short of my destination for the vague excuse of “traffic”.
Back to the room to listen to the end of the baseball (because of the other games the tv have relegated the early season game to an obscure channel not carried on the hotel’s cable system).
PS: After a long and hard-fought game, the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. Even better.
A Day of Frustration
23 Apr 2010 21:57
The frustration was borne, not of what was happening around me, but simply spending significant periods of the day trying in vain to get this web site to work. The problem is that the web server on which the site is hosted won’t accept incoming FTP (i.e. upload) connections. The company concerned admit there is a problem in an email but have now bogged off home for the weekend. I’m not impressed.
Enough of my whinging, what about the day so far...
It was an early start for no other reason than body clocks. Nick was up and out of the room at 0600 and I couldn’t settle in bed for much longer so got up and pottered about. For the first half an hour I had the radio on, listening to WROR and the typically American breakfast ‘zoo’ format. The twist was that they “did travel” every five minutes - clearly a big feature of the Boston morning. Today the roads were relatively quiet but for a bad crash on the MAss Pike that the tv later showed. They reported that “an investigation was taking place”.... read into that what you will.
I went down to the concierge level and picked at the complimentary continental breakfast, washed down with a mug of “proudly brewed” Starbucks Breakfast blend (my second, as Nick had kindly brought one up to the room).
By 0900 we were ready to hit the streets so retraced our steps from last night. Surprisingly the Apple store (like most shops) doesn’t open until 1000. Nick had some Walgreen shopping he wanted to do who were open so I adjourned to Barnes and Noble in the Prudential.
Nick met up with me but reported he’s lost a bit off his Bose headphones so went back to the room in search of that. I went for a wander round Boylston & Newbury Streets, snapping anything that caught my eye.
We regrouped at the room and checked out, moving base camp across the Charles River to Cambridge. The journey on the T was uneventful and we checked in to Room 719 of the Residence Inn. This is a different room set up in that it is a small suite. Nick has the bedroom and I’m on the roll-away in the living room. It remains to be seen how comfortable that will be so I may need some sleeping juice tonight!
Having settled in to our new quarters we walked the half mile or so to the Cambridgeside Galleria. Well, we nearly got there when Nick got side-tracked by a Mexican takeaway. In an area with abundant food outlets, this place had a long queue out of the the door, suggesting it was doing something right. I pressed on to the mall food court for less exotic fare and settled for a hot steak and cheese sub from D’Angelos. Just the job.
The “highlights” of this mall are Best Buy, Borders (good to darken their door once more seeing as they no longer have a UK presence) and a medium sized Apple store. The latter gave me the opportunity to play some more with an iPad and I got as far as calculating the cost with 6.25% Massachusetts sales tax in GBP. New Hampshire will save me over £20 (if, of course, I decide to buy one!).
Having exhausted the limited delights of Cambridgeside we walked to the Green Line terminus at Lechmere to head into Boston. On my very first visit to Boston, all those years ago, I recall being struck by a huge billboard here advertising Bass beer of all things. Now that very same site is occupied by an equally large advertisement for Newcastle Brown Ale. Strange.
We got off at Government Centre - where a circus is in town - and went down to Quincy Market. The schools are still on holiday here and it was absolutely rammed packed full with families of tourists. The long narrow food court for which the place is famous was unpleasantly busy. Ostensibly we had split up for the afternoon but to the surprise of neither of us we bumped into each other in an equally bust Newbury Comics.
From there we did part our ways and I walked up to Downtown Crossing. As I did it began to rain. As it had been warm and sunny when we left the hotel I was just in a T shirt, so I took refuge in the only possible place I could - a Starbucks. I troubled them for a Pike Place roast - the blend that is ubiquitous here. By the time I was half way down it the rain stopped so I wandered on a bit further to the Borders at Downtown Crossing (passing the Hub Pub on the way - scene of a happy few hours in the past).
The pleasures of retail therapy were wearing a bit thin on my - and I hadn’t been moved to spend anyway - so I decided to wander my way slowly back toward Cambridge. My route took me past the hole in the ground that was once Boston’s premier store, Filenes, and around the Common into Beacon Hill. This is a very old and posh area largely unspoilt by progress and as such very picturesque. It isn’t an area I’ve spent much time in before, so again I was busy taking snaps.
This brought me to Charles Street and over the Longfellow Bridge toward Cambridge. The Charles River was busy with small sailing dingys and several “Duck tours” picking their way through them. The sun was glinting off the water in the direction of Kenmore with the unmistakeable landmark that is the Citgo Sign standing proud. The bridge itself was busy, not only with the two lanes of road traffic, but the Red line subway, and more-than-a-few joggers pushing their way past the walkers (a bit like the Ducks and the dingys!)
After a brief meander along the main drag at Cambridge Center I went back to the room. Nick had beaten me back, and had taken the wimp route via the T! He was just about to begin a Skype chat with Sue and Chris and I had another futile attempt at uploading the web site.
Enough of my whinging, what about the day so far...
It was an early start for no other reason than body clocks. Nick was up and out of the room at 0600 and I couldn’t settle in bed for much longer so got up and pottered about. For the first half an hour I had the radio on, listening to WROR and the typically American breakfast ‘zoo’ format. The twist was that they “did travel” every five minutes - clearly a big feature of the Boston morning. Today the roads were relatively quiet but for a bad crash on the MAss Pike that the tv later showed. They reported that “an investigation was taking place”.... read into that what you will.
I went down to the concierge level and picked at the complimentary continental breakfast, washed down with a mug of “proudly brewed” Starbucks Breakfast blend (my second, as Nick had kindly brought one up to the room).
By 0900 we were ready to hit the streets so retraced our steps from last night. Surprisingly the Apple store (like most shops) doesn’t open until 1000. Nick had some Walgreen shopping he wanted to do who were open so I adjourned to Barnes and Noble in the Prudential.
Nick met up with me but reported he’s lost a bit off his Bose headphones so went back to the room in search of that. I went for a wander round Boylston & Newbury Streets, snapping anything that caught my eye.
We regrouped at the room and checked out, moving base camp across the Charles River to Cambridge. The journey on the T was uneventful and we checked in to Room 719 of the Residence Inn. This is a different room set up in that it is a small suite. Nick has the bedroom and I’m on the roll-away in the living room. It remains to be seen how comfortable that will be so I may need some sleeping juice tonight!
Having settled in to our new quarters we walked the half mile or so to the Cambridgeside Galleria. Well, we nearly got there when Nick got side-tracked by a Mexican takeaway. In an area with abundant food outlets, this place had a long queue out of the the door, suggesting it was doing something right. I pressed on to the mall food court for less exotic fare and settled for a hot steak and cheese sub from D’Angelos. Just the job.
The “highlights” of this mall are Best Buy, Borders (good to darken their door once more seeing as they no longer have a UK presence) and a medium sized Apple store. The latter gave me the opportunity to play some more with an iPad and I got as far as calculating the cost with 6.25% Massachusetts sales tax in GBP. New Hampshire will save me over £20 (if, of course, I decide to buy one!).
Having exhausted the limited delights of Cambridgeside we walked to the Green Line terminus at Lechmere to head into Boston. On my very first visit to Boston, all those years ago, I recall being struck by a huge billboard here advertising Bass beer of all things. Now that very same site is occupied by an equally large advertisement for Newcastle Brown Ale. Strange.
We got off at Government Centre - where a circus is in town - and went down to Quincy Market. The schools are still on holiday here and it was absolutely rammed packed full with families of tourists. The long narrow food court for which the place is famous was unpleasantly busy. Ostensibly we had split up for the afternoon but to the surprise of neither of us we bumped into each other in an equally bust Newbury Comics.
From there we did part our ways and I walked up to Downtown Crossing. As I did it began to rain. As it had been warm and sunny when we left the hotel I was just in a T shirt, so I took refuge in the only possible place I could - a Starbucks. I troubled them for a Pike Place roast - the blend that is ubiquitous here. By the time I was half way down it the rain stopped so I wandered on a bit further to the Borders at Downtown Crossing (passing the Hub Pub on the way - scene of a happy few hours in the past).
The pleasures of retail therapy were wearing a bit thin on my - and I hadn’t been moved to spend anyway - so I decided to wander my way slowly back toward Cambridge. My route took me past the hole in the ground that was once Boston’s premier store, Filenes, and around the Common into Beacon Hill. This is a very old and posh area largely unspoilt by progress and as such very picturesque. It isn’t an area I’ve spent much time in before, so again I was busy taking snaps.
This brought me to Charles Street and over the Longfellow Bridge toward Cambridge. The Charles River was busy with small sailing dingys and several “Duck tours” picking their way through them. The sun was glinting off the water in the direction of Kenmore with the unmistakeable landmark that is the Citgo Sign standing proud. The bridge itself was busy, not only with the two lanes of road traffic, but the Red line subway, and more-than-a-few joggers pushing their way past the walkers (a bit like the Ducks and the dingys!)
After a brief meander along the main drag at Cambridge Center I went back to the room. Nick had beaten me back, and had taken the wimp route via the T! He was just about to begin a Skype chat with Sue and Chris and I had another futile attempt at uploading the web site.
End of Day One
23 Apr 2010 02:45
Soon be time for some well deserved sleep as it’s 0245 Body Time as I type this. Unfortunately you’re not going to see this post for a while as I’m hitting a technical brick wall since I arrived in the US getting the site updated. Still, you’ll see it eventually so I’ll type on.
The remaining two-thirds of the flight were fairly uneventful. The very attentive cabin crew came round regularly with drinks, ice cream and brownies. In fact, thanks to the missing 50 passengers, the ice cream cart came round twice!
I didn’t bother with a second film, instead I listened to music, played a few iPhone games and read an ebook briefly. Being on my own in the pair of seats gave me plenty of room and it was a totally stress free flight. Neither the crying baby two rows ahead nor the brace of fidgety geriatric American couples front and back could spoil my vibe!
Things got very slightly hairy on the descent through the cloud into Boston as we (unexpectedly?) encountered a thunder storm. The wing outside my window took a lightening strike, which was very bright at such close range and we spent the next ten minutes circling as, apparently, we had to wait for the storm to clear from over the airport. This meant we approached from inland, a direction neither Nick nor I had ever come into BOS from. Nick said later he had a spectacular view of the city on his side of the plane, and I saw a lot of the northern suburbs.
We landed at 1730 local time and found ourselves in a near empty immigration hall - which was a pleasant change. Once through that formality, after a false start with a look-a-like bag, Nick’s luggage arrived quickly and mine wasn’t that far behind. We were kerbside and waiting for the shuttle to the T only 40 minutes after landing.
The T was getting busy with Red Sox fans going to Game 3 against Texas, especially on the Green Line but we got to Prudential soon enough and without drama - savouring the distinctive Green Line smell on the way!
We checked in and made our way up to room 3811 on the top floor, with belting views across South Boston to the Harbor. Pausing only to dump bags we went down to the Concierge level (again thanks to Nick’s point status) and picked at the free nibbles. I tried the chicken wings, despite Nick’s warning they were probably ‘hot’ . I tried the first one cautiously and found it wasn’t too bad at all. Lulled into a false sense of security I bit into a second which was obviously coated in battery acid or some-such. That’ll learn me!
Still in search of an internet connection we returned briefly to the room to change out of travelling clothes and hit the streets. The hotel is big and bustling with a big (and “plasticy&rdquo sports bar in the lobby. The baseball was in full swing and it was doing a roaring trade. The Starbucks on the other side of the second floor lobby wasn’t quite as busy.
We walked through the Prudential Center mall and out onto Boylston Street just as it was getting dark. Straight across the road into the Apple Store. Thanks to a kamikaze manoeuvre across the road, Nick was in before me and can claim to have been first to handle an iPad! As it is getting late I will skip the details about said device until another time. Suffice to say my hands-on didn’t make me want one any less.
We split up as I tried valiantly to bring you the web site update via the Apple store, but cross paths soon after as we both found ourselves in the big Shaws supermarket across the road from the hotel. Unusually for a Massachusetts supermarket, this one sells booze - and a bewildering choice of craft beers. Unfortunately they don't split six packs, so I couldn’t get a variety, settling for Sam Adams Cream Stout - a bottle of which I am quaffing as I type.
Back to the room to watch the end of the game - the Red Sox lost 2-0 thanks principally to a bit of sloppy fielding.
The remaining two-thirds of the flight were fairly uneventful. The very attentive cabin crew came round regularly with drinks, ice cream and brownies. In fact, thanks to the missing 50 passengers, the ice cream cart came round twice!
I didn’t bother with a second film, instead I listened to music, played a few iPhone games and read an ebook briefly. Being on my own in the pair of seats gave me plenty of room and it was a totally stress free flight. Neither the crying baby two rows ahead nor the brace of fidgety geriatric American couples front and back could spoil my vibe!
Things got very slightly hairy on the descent through the cloud into Boston as we (unexpectedly?) encountered a thunder storm. The wing outside my window took a lightening strike, which was very bright at such close range and we spent the next ten minutes circling as, apparently, we had to wait for the storm to clear from over the airport. This meant we approached from inland, a direction neither Nick nor I had ever come into BOS from. Nick said later he had a spectacular view of the city on his side of the plane, and I saw a lot of the northern suburbs.
We landed at 1730 local time and found ourselves in a near empty immigration hall - which was a pleasant change. Once through that formality, after a false start with a look-a-like bag, Nick’s luggage arrived quickly and mine wasn’t that far behind. We were kerbside and waiting for the shuttle to the T only 40 minutes after landing.
The T was getting busy with Red Sox fans going to Game 3 against Texas, especially on the Green Line but we got to Prudential soon enough and without drama - savouring the distinctive Green Line smell on the way!
We checked in and made our way up to room 3811 on the top floor, with belting views across South Boston to the Harbor. Pausing only to dump bags we went down to the Concierge level (again thanks to Nick’s point status) and picked at the free nibbles. I tried the chicken wings, despite Nick’s warning they were probably ‘hot’ . I tried the first one cautiously and found it wasn’t too bad at all. Lulled into a false sense of security I bit into a second which was obviously coated in battery acid or some-such. That’ll learn me!
Still in search of an internet connection we returned briefly to the room to change out of travelling clothes and hit the streets. The hotel is big and bustling with a big (and “plasticy&rdquo
sports bar in the lobby. The baseball was in full swing and it was doing a roaring trade. The Starbucks on the other side of the second floor lobby wasn’t quite as busy.We walked through the Prudential Center mall and out onto Boylston Street just as it was getting dark. Straight across the road into the Apple Store. Thanks to a kamikaze manoeuvre across the road, Nick was in before me and can claim to have been first to handle an iPad! As it is getting late I will skip the details about said device until another time. Suffice to say my hands-on didn’t make me want one any less.
We split up as I tried valiantly to bring you the web site update via the Apple store, but cross paths soon after as we both found ourselves in the big Shaws supermarket across the road from the hotel. Unusually for a Massachusetts supermarket, this one sells booze - and a bewildering choice of craft beers. Unfortunately they don't split six packs, so I couldn’t get a variety, settling for Sam Adams Cream Stout - a bottle of which I am quaffing as I type.
Back to the room to watch the end of the game - the Red Sox lost 2-0 thanks principally to a bit of sloppy fielding.
Up In The Air
22 Apr 2010 17:39
The title of this post is both literal and the film I’ve just watched. We’re something about approaching half-way through the flight and I have to say the film has helped pass the time admirably so far.
Let me say once again what a pleasant place the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse is to pass time! Thanks Nick. I had a flashback to the New York trip and whilst Kay’s company made it entirely bearable, I still shudder at spending a long time in Terminal 3.
After having the traditional haircut we resettled in the former smoking area overlooking the apron, and all the comings and goings of an airport which hardly seemed to have missed a beat. The girl who cut my hair said they were still unsure whether they were going to get paid for several of the last few days, but they had spent some time at Virgin Atlantic’s HQ on a training course, so it sounds like the airline tried to do as much with their staff as they could during the shutdown.
Alistair Darling left at the last moment to get the Washington DC flight and the Tokyo flight was delayed by an hour due to the incoming aircraft being late in. Other than that it was business as usual. As we entered the last hour before our flight was due to be called we partook of luncheon: Nick had a cold beef buffet whilst I went for the delightful Clubhouse Burger and chips! Yee-Haw!
About ten minutes later than we expected VS11 was called and we ambled down to Gate 13 where G-VFAR, an Airbus A340-300 named Diana, was waiting for us. We were straight on as the gate queue had dissipated by the time we got there, but Nick won a random secondary search at the gate which he took almost in his stride. We both “turned right” at the door, but Nick didn’t walk as far as I did as he’s flying “PE”. I was generously offered the chance to upgrade at bag check, for a mere £215 for the one leg of the journey. Er, let me think about that for a nano-second... No thanks.
Despite being told at the bag drop that “economy was full”, as I took my seat the cabin crew announced there were actually 50 spare seats but that we should stick to our allocated seat until up in the air to maintain the balance of the load! By sheer fluke the seat next to me is unoccupied, so the no moving about rule works for me. I’m in 44A, three rows back in the front economy cabin, over the port wing (I know all the lingo, y’know!).
Snap took the form of “steak pie with potato wedges” according though the crew, but the packet was labelled beef cobbler. I suspect on another flight they might call it a casserole with dumpling and still wouldn’t get sued for trades descriptions. It was pleasant enough but probably wouldn’t have filled me without my Clubhouse burger and breakfast!
So, the movie - “In The Air”. I remember a V-Flyer event some years ago where alcohol had flowed somewhat. We were in the SFO Clubhouse, to be anorakish about it. Inevitably, given the protagonists present, an impromptu game of loyalty/credit card poker broke out. My-Amex-Black-Trumps-Your-Hertz-Platinum... you get the picture? If I hadn’t witnessed that, I probably wouldn’t have got the premise of Up In The Air where exactly that scene is played out. As it was, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It’s lightly comedic without being a comedy, nor is it a rom-com, though there is - inevitably - a fair sprinkling of ‘rom’. The plot is hardly Shakespeare nor Dan Brown, but neither is it telegraphed too loudly. One to watch again on a bigger screen with maybe a drizzle of alcohol mixed in (I’ve stuck to the Diet Coke, currently). Oh, and Up In The Air is the ULTIMATE product placement movie but - shock - only one Apple reference that I spotted.
It’s 1805 UK time and 1305 Boston time as I type. We’re scheduled to land at 1725 Local, and as we “pushed back” at 1510 (five minutes late) and were “wheels up” at 1535 (ten minutes late) I reckon we’ll be “on the ground” about on time. Sheesh, with all this aviation speak I could post on V-Flyer
Now all I’ve got to do is find a wi-fi signal at 37,000feet above the mid-Atlantic ridge! Oh, incidentally, because I like to record these things, we took off to the east, turned on a wing-tip over London and went out over the M4 corridor. Last sight of Blighty was the North Cornwall coast as we headed out over the Bristol Channel. It amused me that the Captain’s normally well scripted pre-take off announcement waffled at length about how the crew had studied the position of the volcanic ash cloud closely and were well aware of its precise location and could assure us they had taken it into account and there was nothing that we should be concerned about. At All. Meh.
Let me say once again what a pleasant place the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse is to pass time! Thanks Nick. I had a flashback to the New York trip and whilst Kay’s company made it entirely bearable, I still shudder at spending a long time in Terminal 3.
After having the traditional haircut we resettled in the former smoking area overlooking the apron, and all the comings and goings of an airport which hardly seemed to have missed a beat. The girl who cut my hair said they were still unsure whether they were going to get paid for several of the last few days, but they had spent some time at Virgin Atlantic’s HQ on a training course, so it sounds like the airline tried to do as much with their staff as they could during the shutdown.
Alistair Darling left at the last moment to get the Washington DC flight and the Tokyo flight was delayed by an hour due to the incoming aircraft being late in. Other than that it was business as usual. As we entered the last hour before our flight was due to be called we partook of luncheon: Nick had a cold beef buffet whilst I went for the delightful Clubhouse Burger and chips! Yee-Haw!
About ten minutes later than we expected VS11 was called and we ambled down to Gate 13 where G-VFAR, an Airbus A340-300 named Diana, was waiting for us. We were straight on as the gate queue had dissipated by the time we got there, but Nick won a random secondary search at the gate which he took almost in his stride. We both “turned right” at the door, but Nick didn’t walk as far as I did as he’s flying “PE”. I was generously offered the chance to upgrade at bag check, for a mere £215 for the one leg of the journey. Er, let me think about that for a nano-second... No thanks.
Despite being told at the bag drop that “economy was full”, as I took my seat the cabin crew announced there were actually 50 spare seats but that we should stick to our allocated seat until up in the air to maintain the balance of the load! By sheer fluke the seat next to me is unoccupied, so the no moving about rule works for me. I’m in 44A, three rows back in the front economy cabin, over the port wing (I know all the lingo, y’know!).
Snap took the form of “steak pie with potato wedges” according though the crew, but the packet was labelled beef cobbler. I suspect on another flight they might call it a casserole with dumpling and still wouldn’t get sued for trades descriptions. It was pleasant enough but probably wouldn’t have filled me without my Clubhouse burger and breakfast!
So, the movie - “In The Air”. I remember a V-Flyer event some years ago where alcohol had flowed somewhat. We were in the SFO Clubhouse, to be anorakish about it. Inevitably, given the protagonists present, an impromptu game of loyalty/credit card poker broke out. My-Amex-Black-Trumps-Your-Hertz-Platinum... you get the picture? If I hadn’t witnessed that, I probably wouldn’t have got the premise of Up In The Air where exactly that scene is played out. As it was, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It’s lightly comedic without being a comedy, nor is it a rom-com, though there is - inevitably - a fair sprinkling of ‘rom’. The plot is hardly Shakespeare nor Dan Brown, but neither is it telegraphed too loudly. One to watch again on a bigger screen with maybe a drizzle of alcohol mixed in (I’ve stuck to the Diet Coke, currently). Oh, and Up In The Air is the ULTIMATE product placement movie but - shock - only one Apple reference that I spotted.
It’s 1805 UK time and 1305 Boston time as I type. We’re scheduled to land at 1725 Local, and as we “pushed back” at 1510 (five minutes late) and were “wheels up” at 1535 (ten minutes late) I reckon we’ll be “on the ground” about on time. Sheesh, with all this aviation speak I could post on V-Flyer
Now all I’ve got to do is find a wi-fi signal at 37,000feet above the mid-Atlantic ridge! Oh, incidentally, because I like to record these things, we took off to the east, turned on a wing-tip over London and went out over the M4 corridor. Last sight of Blighty was the North Cornwall coast as we headed out over the Bristol Channel. It amused me that the Captain’s normally well scripted pre-take off announcement waffled at length about how the crew had studied the position of the volcanic ash cloud closely and were well aware of its precise location and could assure us they had taken it into account and there was nothing that we should be concerned about. At All. Meh.
Dateline: Heathrow Clubhouse
22 Apr 2010 11:58
Well, if the CAA or NATS or EuroControl or whoever close UK airspace in the next few hours, at least we’ve made it for some free snap! So shallow, I know...
Nick picked me up not long after 0800 and we had a reasonable run through the West Mids commuter traffic and onto the M40. Passing the burnt-out Cherwell Valley services we eventually stopped for a comfort break at a new “Extra” MSA at Beaconsfield, just 20 minutes short of LHR. All the services on the M40 now have a Starbucks since their deal with Moto services. This particular one has a notice displayed saying it has applied for a 24 hour “Late Night Refreshment House” licence - a 24hr SBs in Britain is something I haven’t previously heard of! It was certainly busy and this Extra services made its brand mate at Willington look pretty poor by comparison (the closed SBs being especially at issue!)
We rang Purple Parking as we returned to the M40 and told them we’d be about half an hour early. As we pulled up at the drop-off bay outside Terminal 3 there were a few Purple Parking staff about but none waiting for us. We kicked our heels for just five minutes before a cheerful chap arrived and Nick handed over the keys.
An unusual change to the routine this time in that to even enter the terminal building we had to show our paperwork to prove we were ticketed passengers for today - a tactic designed to reduce congestion in the terminal apparently. It was certainly very busy, but then it always is. Thanks to Nick’s gold card we were checked in at the Upper Class desk straightaway and were in the Clubhouse within twenty minutes - and 15 of those minutes were spent in security.
Following a well practiced routine we enjoyed a Full English and I went and booked us both haircuts. While we were eating Alistair Darling and his entourage entered and were shepherded to the Garden area of the Clubhouse which was promptly closed off to us mere mortals. As if to reinforce the point, two armed uniformed cops are enjoying their breakfast near the entrance!
I have tried to upload a change to the front page of the site, but despite having complimentary internet access, it seems it isn’t configured for FTP access, so you may not be reading this until we’re in Boston.
Ignore the above - sorted by going through BT Openzone instead of T-Mobile. Strange.
Nick picked me up not long after 0800 and we had a reasonable run through the West Mids commuter traffic and onto the M40. Passing the burnt-out Cherwell Valley services we eventually stopped for a comfort break at a new “Extra” MSA at Beaconsfield, just 20 minutes short of LHR. All the services on the M40 now have a Starbucks since their deal with Moto services. This particular one has a notice displayed saying it has applied for a 24 hour “Late Night Refreshment House” licence - a 24hr SBs in Britain is something I haven’t previously heard of! It was certainly busy and this Extra services made its brand mate at Willington look pretty poor by comparison (the closed SBs being especially at issue!)
We rang Purple Parking as we returned to the M40 and told them we’d be about half an hour early. As we pulled up at the drop-off bay outside Terminal 3 there were a few Purple Parking staff about but none waiting for us. We kicked our heels for just five minutes before a cheerful chap arrived and Nick handed over the keys.
An unusual change to the routine this time in that to even enter the terminal building we had to show our paperwork to prove we were ticketed passengers for today - a tactic designed to reduce congestion in the terminal apparently. It was certainly very busy, but then it always is. Thanks to Nick’s gold card we were checked in at the Upper Class desk straightaway and were in the Clubhouse within twenty minutes - and 15 of those minutes were spent in security.
Following a well practiced routine we enjoyed a Full English and I went and booked us both haircuts. While we were eating Alistair Darling and his entourage entered and were shepherded to the Garden area of the Clubhouse which was promptly closed off to us mere mortals. As if to reinforce the point, two armed uniformed cops are enjoying their breakfast near the entrance!
Ignore the above - sorted by going through BT Openzone instead of T-Mobile. Strange.
Things are looking up
21 Apr 2010 10:29
In the period since I last put finger to keyboard, the situation has changed completely and things are looking more promising than they have been for nearly a week.
Last night the UK Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis announced that the Civil Aviation Authority had worked long and hard with aero engine manufacturers and decided that law densities of volcanic ash didn’t present a significant risk. The UK airspace restrictions were therefore lifted from 2200BST 20APR2010.
Compare and contrast that with what was happening around him: KLM and Lufthansa had been flying over the UK all afternoon, presumably having reached 20,000 feet through the ash layer still lying over northern Europe. More to the point, British Airways had fifteen flights inbound to Heathrow from around the word, and they were evidently intent on completing their journey. In fact the Vancouver flight is reported to have landed a 2145 - before the restriction was officially lifted. Maybe BA knew something long before the rest of us did, but I’m left with a lingering suspicion there was an element of brinksmanship at play.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Red Sox changed their ways and won a game. Albeit they had to come back from a 6-2 deficit and won it with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning, scored by a player called up that day from the minor leagues.
Things are looking up indeed....
Last night the UK Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis announced that the Civil Aviation Authority had worked long and hard with aero engine manufacturers and decided that law densities of volcanic ash didn’t present a significant risk. The UK airspace restrictions were therefore lifted from 2200BST 20APR2010.
Compare and contrast that with what was happening around him: KLM and Lufthansa had been flying over the UK all afternoon, presumably having reached 20,000 feet through the ash layer still lying over northern Europe. More to the point, British Airways had fifteen flights inbound to Heathrow from around the word, and they were evidently intent on completing their journey. In fact the Vancouver flight is reported to have landed a 2145 - before the restriction was officially lifted. Maybe BA knew something long before the rest of us did, but I’m left with a lingering suspicion there was an element of brinksmanship at play.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Red Sox changed their ways and won a game. Albeit they had to come back from a 6-2 deficit and won it with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning, scored by a player called up that day from the minor leagues.
Things are looking up indeed....
48 Hours to go
20 Apr 2010 03:17
With the count-down having just ticked over to under two days to go, it’s time to share some thoughts about the volcanic ash situation. LAst night I was pretty confident that UK restrictions would be lifted and that by Thursday Virgin Atlantic would be aiming for something akin to normality. As I typre this, however, UK airports south of Newcastle have yet to re-open, and the schedule for them doing so has been put back (again).
The truth is we won’t be sure of getting under way right up to the moment of wheels-up, as the restrictions could come back in at moment’s notice. What the situation will be if restrictions are put back after we’ve taken-off is something I’d rather not contemplate.
If - and I count this as worst-case scenario - we have our flight on Thursday cancelled it won’t be the end of the world. Depending on whether we’ve travelled down to Heathrow or not, all we stand to be out-of-pocket over is one of the hotel bookings which is non-refundable. Hardly worth getting stressed over. Of course not going will be a disappointment, but I think it’s important to keep it in perspective.
Another way of looking at it is whether Eyjafjallajoekull is trying to tell us something. The Red Sox have been playing very poorly in the first games of the season with a record of won four and lost nine - positioned fourth in the American League East. They are due to play the Baltimore Orioles while we are there and it is game two of that three game series we will be attending (we hope!). Looking on the bright side, Baltimore’s start to the season is much worst than Boston’s as they are two winds for twelve losses so far. Let’s just hope Boston don’t help them improve that record.
So, it’s a continuing case of “watch this space”. We will have a fairly clear idea of whether we are going or not by tomorrow evening. You’ll hear it here first.
The truth is we won’t be sure of getting under way right up to the moment of wheels-up, as the restrictions could come back in at moment’s notice. What the situation will be if restrictions are put back after we’ve taken-off is something I’d rather not contemplate.
If - and I count this as worst-case scenario - we have our flight on Thursday cancelled it won’t be the end of the world. Depending on whether we’ve travelled down to Heathrow or not, all we stand to be out-of-pocket over is one of the hotel bookings which is non-refundable. Hardly worth getting stressed over. Of course not going will be a disappointment, but I think it’s important to keep it in perspective.
Another way of looking at it is whether Eyjafjallajoekull is trying to tell us something. The Red Sox have been playing very poorly in the first games of the season with a record of won four and lost nine - positioned fourth in the American League East. They are due to play the Baltimore Orioles while we are there and it is game two of that three game series we will be attending (we hope!). Looking on the bright side, Baltimore’s start to the season is much worst than Boston’s as they are two winds for twelve losses so far. Let’s just hope Boston don’t help them improve that record.
So, it’s a continuing case of “watch this space”. We will have a fairly clear idea of whether we are going or not by tomorrow evening. You’ll hear it here first.
Beer 'n Baseball 2010
14 Mar 2010 21:43
More as an experiment than any serious attempt at “blogging” - not least because we’re 38 days away from the trip as I type this. This is where the diary (or ‘blog’ to use the language of the software I’m using) will live.
I have made the change from Apple’s iWeb to RapidWeaver for several reasons. Firstly, I think I’ve outgrown iWeb, and the copy of Dreamweaver I’ve used for other sites in the past is getting a bit long in the tooth now - and with a price tag of £177 to upgrade, will probably remain that way for a while. Though I hate to sound like a blind follower of trends, I know Jim Allen uses RapidWeaver, though we haven’t specifically discussed the subject (yet).
One of the main failings, in my opinion, of iWeb, is its inability to include images within the blog page. Now, that’s probably something to do with RSS standards and the like, but it limits what I like to do with the diary. If something relevant has happened, or perhaps I want to include an iSight image of where I’m typing, then so be it...
I have made the change from Apple’s iWeb to RapidWeaver for several reasons. Firstly, I think I’ve outgrown iWeb, and the copy of Dreamweaver I’ve used for other sites in the past is getting a bit long in the tooth now - and with a price tag of £177 to upgrade, will probably remain that way for a while. Though I hate to sound like a blind follower of trends, I know Jim Allen uses RapidWeaver, though we haven’t specifically discussed the subject (yet).
One of the main failings, in my opinion, of iWeb, is its inability to include images within the blog page. Now, that’s probably something to do with RSS standards and the like, but it limits what I like to do with the diary. If something relevant has happened, or perhaps I want to include an iSight image of where I’m typing, then so be it...
The down side to what I’ve done is that the count-down timer from the iWeb site has gone. There may be a solution to that though, I’ll have a go in a minute.
PS: Sorted. Along with yet another ’theme’ change. I think I’ll stop now