On Sunday we headed for Copley Square for an outdoor music and arts festival which was organised by Brian, one of the couple who Barry stayed with on his arrival in Boston before he could move into our apartment. We sat on the grass and watched some musical theatre students from the Boston Conservatory perform a selection of Broadway songs which we all enjoyed, including Dougal. Copley Square is within metres of where the Boston Marathon bombings occurred and it was reassuring to see there was no visible evidence of the bombings although there is now a shop front for Boston Strong which, as we understand it, is a fundraising effort for people affected by the tragedy. We've seen lots of people walking around wearing Boston Strong t-shirts and there are Boston Strong stickers and banners all over the city. The slogan does seem to symbolise the feeling of community and pulling together experienced by the city's residents following the bombings.
On Monday finally we managed to infiltrate the Brookline Public Library's security system. After being fobbed off the previous week for having insufficient evidence of our address (a signed lease agreement and an electricity bill in Barry's name was not thought to be enough) a letter addressed to me from the Bank of America seemed to do the job. It's more exciting than it sounds - the Brookline library is several steps up from Porthcawl Library, much as we all love it!
The girls and I went to see Monsters University on Tuesday which we thoroughly enjoyed and followed it with a monster shop in Bath, Bed and Beyond - like Ikea only not quite so Swedish and not nearly so far away from where we live. I am now the proud owner of such useful items as a washing up bowl, colander, sieve and laundry basket, all of which and many other items seem to have been overlooked by the previous tenant.
Wednesday was cello shopping day. We caught the bus to the music shop recommended by the Brookline Music School and rented Isabel a lovely cello for the year. The girls have some new instrumental music too - Rachel will soon be an expert at playing Disney songs on the violin and Isabel will be able to play several Harry Potter themes on the cello.
Thursday is RED SOX DAY!!! We're going to watch the Red Sox tomorrow evening with some of the other IHI staff and Fellows and their families. For those of you who don't know, the Red Sox are like a religion in Boston. They are to baseball what Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool are to football. In fact, they are owned by the same family who own Liverpool FC. They are playing a team from Seattle who are not expected to provide a major challenge but we're more interested in sampling the atmosphere and enjoying an all-American night out. We'll let you know how we get on and how the Red Sox got on next time.
Meanwhile, here are a few thoughts and observations from our first week and a half in Boston/Brookline:
Brookline is a lovely leafy, civilised suburb. Lots of parks, lots of attractive large clapper board houses (is that the correct description for them?), lots of interesting shops, cafes and restaurants and excellent schools (I've been told by several people that many people who live outside of Brookline will rent an apartment within the town's boundaries just so they have proof of residence to send their children to a Brookline public school). Most of the buildings along the commercial streets are constructed of red brick (so our apartment block blends in well!) making the streets somewhat reminiscent of a northern industrial town. There do seem to be a lot of emergency services sirens going off in our area. We find it hard to believe there is a major problem with crime as everywhere is seemingly quite genteel so we've come to the conclusion that the police force and fire service are bored and go for a spin in their vehicles with the sirens wailing just for something to do.
There are lots of dogs around, lots of dog parks and yet very little dog mess, despite dog poo bags being expensive to buy and the supermarkets and pharmacies failing to stock anything resembling a good old British nappy sack (I've always loved the Sainsburys value nappy sacks - 100 for 20p!). Responsibility must be hard wired into the brain of Boston dog owners. If only that was the case in Porthcawl.
There are lots of American flags around. I'm not sure yet whether they are a hang over from Independence Day or whether they are always there. I suspect the latter!
The Americans don't seem to do squash. In the Ribena sense as opposed to the butternut sense. The first time I visited Stop and Shop (our local supermarket - very much akin to the late not very lamented Somerfield) I walked the aisles trying to find some blackcurrant squash for the girls but there was nothing. The only equivalent I could find was powdered (so this is what Kool Aid is) or a very very very very concentrated syrup in a tiny container unless I was prepared to buy a 4 litre container of ready to drink juice. Also, it was extremely difficult to find anything with no added sugar.
No buses come along for ages and then two come at once. Oh sorry - that happens in the UK too.
Most people are very friendly and they think Dougal is the cats whiskers. We get stopped so many times while we're walking him. Most people seem to think he looks like an Ewok. Not sure if that's good or bad.
We've drunk a few bottles of nice Californian wine which have been reasonably priced and we're looking forward to exploring the fine wine store just up the road (can't really do it with the girls in tow!). Tonight though was a red letter night - Barry discovered for me the perfect red wine and I suspect I shall be drinking it a lot this year. "Mommy's Time Out" is an Italian Primitivo which has presumably been re-branded for the US market and the blurb on the back reads as follows: "We all know that being a Mommy is a difficult job. A Mommy's Time Out is a well deserved break." I say cheers to that!!
Anyway, here are some photos of our first week and a bit in Boston.
