It's the end of yet another beautiful sunny day here in Boston. I can't say it's been wall to wall sunshine as we have had a few rainy days (eg yesterday - rained all day so we all got very soggy) but the majority of the time the weather is sunny and hot and it seems to be on average 5 - 10C hotter than back home in the UK.
We have had a low key week this week, settling down into our new life. The girls and I had a lovely day shopping on Tuesday, in Macy's no less! It made us feel very American. We discovered that Macy's has a fantastic children's wear department which is enormous, full of sale offers on designer clothing and has clothes in sizes up to age 16, which Isabel can still just about get into. We came away with several bags full of Ralph Lauren denim shorts and DKNY t-shirts for an absolute steal. Good job Barry wasn't there to confiscate the credit card!
On Thursday morning we were invited round to visit our new friends. Yes - we have made some friends!! We met Peggy, Dion, Megan and Jacob whilst out dog walking last Sunday. They stopped us to make a fuss of Dougal, explaining that they had had a border terrier when they lived in the UK. They have been living in Boston for four years following 17 years in the UK and a year in Hong Kong. Peggy and Dion are from South Africa originally, so a truly international family. Megan is an extremely friendly 11-year-old so great for the girls. Their house is a 10-minute walk from where we live and is rather nicer than our apartment! The girls and I had a thoroughly enjoyable few hours with Peggy, Megan and toddler Jacob (eldest sister Taylor kept out of the way) and the girls went back on Friday afternoon to finish off a game of Monopoly started on Thursday. The girls are so happy to have made a friend (as am I!). We've been invited to a barbecue at their house tomorrow and we gather that Dion is very much looking forward to continuing with the brief cricket chat he had with Barry when we first met. Peggy says he suffers greatly as he has no-one to talk cricket with here in Boston. Bearing in mind Barry has spent many of his lectures so far using his computer to keep an eye on the Ashes then I suspect the two of them will have plenty to talk about.
We all went into Boston today (including Dougal, who is becoming addicted to the T - he pulls every time we pass a T station on dog walks, which is frequently, and looks very doleful when he gets dragged away) with the plan of walking most of the Freedom Trail, a walk which takes in many of Boston's historic sights, and finishing with lunch in the Italian North End. We managed about a quarter of the Freedom Trail before getting fed up with the crowds and instead took our own route to the North End and had a truly delicious lunch sitting outside an otherwise deserted restaurant. We had no idea why it was deserted as the food was excellent and the setting was nice enough but we were reassured whilst wandering around afterwards to see that most of the restaurants were very quiet. Maybe the Bostonians do dinner rather than lunch.
On the way back Izzy and I diverted to get Isabel a new mobile phone. It's galling to have to do it as she has a perfectly functional phone already but as it would have cost us $70 to have it unlocked so we could get it onto a US network and would then cost us another $30 to buy a SIM card we've gone the reluctant route of a new phone. If anyone is reading this with a smart phone please download the Viber app so Isabel and I can text and call you for free. I will try to e-mail as many people as I can with our new US numbers but if in the meantime you get onto Viber it should come up on our contacts and we can text you.
That's it for now. I'll try to update again soon and put some photos on.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Today's Duck Tour was great fun! Our vessel was bright pink with purple spots and was named Dorchester Dottie (Dorchester is a Boston suburb) and our driver was Captain Blackeye Mac the pirate (otherwise known as Mac the fisherman with lots of black eye make-up!). Our tour took in Boston's waterfront, downtown area, the North End (the Italian enclave) and Charlestown amongst others and we enjoyed a trip along the Charles River too, partly driven by Isabel (who almost took out a passing canoeist).
Below are some photos of our aquarium visit yesterday and today's Duck Tour including some general shots of Boston. Enjoy!
Below are some photos of our aquarium visit yesterday and today's Duck Tour including some general shots of Boston. Enjoy!
Sunday morning and we've had a busy few days.
Firstly, Thursday and the Red Sox game. The girls and I visited the Red Sox Team Store on Thursday afternoon to get kitted out for the game. It was a cavern of a shop with a dizzying array of t-shirts and other souvenirs and we had a great time selecting our supporters gear. Rachel chose a t-shirt sporting the name of her new favourite player Dustin Pedroia (he's her favourite because she's seen his face on a few advertising posters so now recognises him), Izzy chose a glitzy orange t-shirt with sparkly socks on it and I was brow beaten by the girls to choose t-shirts for Barry and I which involved equal measures of amusement and humiliation, as you will see from the photos below.
The game itself was AWESOME!! Fenway Park stadium is an impressive building and is beautiful inside (at least as far as sports grounds go). It looks like a Playmobil model of a sports stadium it's so perfect. It is in fact the oldest major league baseball stadium in the US, built in 1912. There were proposals some years ago to demolish it and replace it with a more modern stadium but there was uproar and the plans were abandoned. We were with a group from the IHI and had a roof box area perched on the top of the stadium with a bird's eye view of the action which was great for getting a good overview of the game. The Red Sox were playing the Seattle Mariners and the two teams are apparently fiercely competitive. Matches tend to be played as part of a series over a few days, presumably to minimise travelling, and Wednesday night's match against the Mariners had by all accounts been an epic encounter with the usual nine innings, three hour match turning into a 15 innings, five hour marathon which the Red Sox managed to win eventually. Therefore, expectations were high amongst the 40,000 capacity crowd but it looked like it was going to be a disastrous result for the Red Sox. At the end of the 8th innings it was 7 runs to 2 to the Mariners and many people in the crowd started to leave. We had heard from other supporters who were long standing fans that the Mariners' pitcher was one of the best in the league and the Red Sox were without their best pitcher which seemed to be the primary reason for the one-sided game. So far as we could see it would have helped if the batsmen could have a) hit the ball b) hit it in the correct part of the field and c) not then get caught out. It surprised us how few balls are hit with scoring runs.
We ended up being the last family standing of the IHI group as we were still enjoying the game whatever the result and the girls didn't want to leave. We were so glad we stayed as we witnessed one of the most amazing comebacks we've ever seen, worthy of a novel or film climax! The Mariners batted first in the final innings and failed to score any further runs so the Red Sox had to score 5 runs in their final innings to draw level and therefore force another innings or score 6 or more to win. It seems that the Mariners may have one of the best major league pitchers but judging by the performance on Thursday night the rest of their pitchers must rank amongst the worst. It's physically impossible for the same pitcher to pitch throughout a baseball game so it reaches a point where the pitcher has to be changed and when the Mariners reached that point it turned the match. They tried three different pitchers through the final innings and they were all as bad as each other enabling Red Sox batsmen to walk to first base on two occasions because of too many foul pitches and allowing the Red Sox to stack all the bases with players on a couple of occasions with the result that a couple of good/lucky hits allowed all the players on the bases to get home. The crowd (and us!) got more and more hysterical as the home runs started to pile up until by some miracle the sixth batsman got to fourth base to secure the required six home runs for a remarkable win. It was apparently a record breaking comeback for the Red Sox and half the crowd missed it - ha ha!!
We are now all hooked and the girls are begging to go to another match as soon as possible. I suppose we have to have some excuse to wear the t-shirts again so I'm sure we'll make another a few games.
Barry and I have discovered that our basic cable TV package includes a channel called NESN which we assume stands for New England Sports News which seems to show live Red Sox matches every night so the last few nights after we've cleared up after tea we've been found in front of the TV with the baseball on. Trouble is the girls won't go to bed until the match is finished which is usually after 10pm! Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.
Anyway, moving on...
Friday evening Barry and I went to a wine tasting at our local liquor and wine store. We had seen it advertised on a hand-written note on the door to the store so we weren't sure what to expect but thought we could pop in for half an hour. It turned out to be a lady from a wine suppliers company offering tastings of six wines, four of which were Californian, so we enjoyed that and worked her hard to offer other recommendations around the store which she duly did and we duly bought! However, despite Sarah, the wine representative, being lovely and helpful we found it very difficult to take her seriously as her voice was so high pitched she wasn't far off chipmunk level. High pitched voices seem to be a feature of Boston women - we have met many others with alarmingly high pitched voices but Sarah is definitely the most extreme so far. Message to our wine group in Porthcawl - we'll write down some of the recommendations and e-mail them to you!
On Saturday (yesterday) we went to the New England Aquarium at Boston's waterfront. It's a major tourist attraction with a huge central tall glass tank full of sharks, turtles and rays amongst others and surrounded by a spiral walkway. There are touch tanks, seals, penguins and a host of other exhibits as well as an IMAX cinema and whale watching trips. We've taken annual membership as we suspect we will make many visits through the year. We were glad we did as it was very very busy and I'm sure we'll get more out of it when we're out of the tourist season. We went to the IMAX cinema to watch a film about great white sharks which was very educational with Bill Nighy trying to persuade us that sharks are very misunderstood and are actually lovely and friendly as long as you keep eye contact with them. We weren't convinced! Funnily enough, Bill Nighy himself didn't seem to take to the water to test out this theory!
It's been shark week on our Xfinity cable TV so the girls have been watching lots of programmes which seem to feature numerous shark attacks rather than friendly sharks. They insisted on watching Jaws last night after we got back from the aquarium so of course Rachel had nightmares last night!!
We've booked a Duck Tour this afternoon which we're all looking forward to. I'll let you know how we get on.
Observations:
It's really expensive to have a mobile phone in the USA. We were sorting out US mobile phones for the girls and me a few days ago and I shall never again complain about the cost of phone contracts in the UK again. The only contracts available are for two years and even then you have to pay for a phone, albeit at a discounted price. As we're not here for two years we've had to go for a pay monthly option. Our predecessor in the apartment had left a basic mobile phone which we thought we could use for Rachel but as a sim card would cost $30 it was cheaper to buy a basic phone for $20 which came with a sim card. UK companies seem to hand out free sim cards willy nilly. A basic monthly contract for Rachel for unlimited texts and talk time and a small amount of internet use is $40, ie about £28 - it's the equivalent contract that we had for Isabel in the UK for £10 a month!
Firstly, Thursday and the Red Sox game. The girls and I visited the Red Sox Team Store on Thursday afternoon to get kitted out for the game. It was a cavern of a shop with a dizzying array of t-shirts and other souvenirs and we had a great time selecting our supporters gear. Rachel chose a t-shirt sporting the name of her new favourite player Dustin Pedroia (he's her favourite because she's seen his face on a few advertising posters so now recognises him), Izzy chose a glitzy orange t-shirt with sparkly socks on it and I was brow beaten by the girls to choose t-shirts for Barry and I which involved equal measures of amusement and humiliation, as you will see from the photos below.
The game itself was AWESOME!! Fenway Park stadium is an impressive building and is beautiful inside (at least as far as sports grounds go). It looks like a Playmobil model of a sports stadium it's so perfect. It is in fact the oldest major league baseball stadium in the US, built in 1912. There were proposals some years ago to demolish it and replace it with a more modern stadium but there was uproar and the plans were abandoned. We were with a group from the IHI and had a roof box area perched on the top of the stadium with a bird's eye view of the action which was great for getting a good overview of the game. The Red Sox were playing the Seattle Mariners and the two teams are apparently fiercely competitive. Matches tend to be played as part of a series over a few days, presumably to minimise travelling, and Wednesday night's match against the Mariners had by all accounts been an epic encounter with the usual nine innings, three hour match turning into a 15 innings, five hour marathon which the Red Sox managed to win eventually. Therefore, expectations were high amongst the 40,000 capacity crowd but it looked like it was going to be a disastrous result for the Red Sox. At the end of the 8th innings it was 7 runs to 2 to the Mariners and many people in the crowd started to leave. We had heard from other supporters who were long standing fans that the Mariners' pitcher was one of the best in the league and the Red Sox were without their best pitcher which seemed to be the primary reason for the one-sided game. So far as we could see it would have helped if the batsmen could have a) hit the ball b) hit it in the correct part of the field and c) not then get caught out. It surprised us how few balls are hit with scoring runs.
We ended up being the last family standing of the IHI group as we were still enjoying the game whatever the result and the girls didn't want to leave. We were so glad we stayed as we witnessed one of the most amazing comebacks we've ever seen, worthy of a novel or film climax! The Mariners batted first in the final innings and failed to score any further runs so the Red Sox had to score 5 runs in their final innings to draw level and therefore force another innings or score 6 or more to win. It seems that the Mariners may have one of the best major league pitchers but judging by the performance on Thursday night the rest of their pitchers must rank amongst the worst. It's physically impossible for the same pitcher to pitch throughout a baseball game so it reaches a point where the pitcher has to be changed and when the Mariners reached that point it turned the match. They tried three different pitchers through the final innings and they were all as bad as each other enabling Red Sox batsmen to walk to first base on two occasions because of too many foul pitches and allowing the Red Sox to stack all the bases with players on a couple of occasions with the result that a couple of good/lucky hits allowed all the players on the bases to get home. The crowd (and us!) got more and more hysterical as the home runs started to pile up until by some miracle the sixth batsman got to fourth base to secure the required six home runs for a remarkable win. It was apparently a record breaking comeback for the Red Sox and half the crowd missed it - ha ha!!
We are now all hooked and the girls are begging to go to another match as soon as possible. I suppose we have to have some excuse to wear the t-shirts again so I'm sure we'll make another a few games.
Barry and I have discovered that our basic cable TV package includes a channel called NESN which we assume stands for New England Sports News which seems to show live Red Sox matches every night so the last few nights after we've cleared up after tea we've been found in front of the TV with the baseball on. Trouble is the girls won't go to bed until the match is finished which is usually after 10pm! Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.
Anyway, moving on...
Friday evening Barry and I went to a wine tasting at our local liquor and wine store. We had seen it advertised on a hand-written note on the door to the store so we weren't sure what to expect but thought we could pop in for half an hour. It turned out to be a lady from a wine suppliers company offering tastings of six wines, four of which were Californian, so we enjoyed that and worked her hard to offer other recommendations around the store which she duly did and we duly bought! However, despite Sarah, the wine representative, being lovely and helpful we found it very difficult to take her seriously as her voice was so high pitched she wasn't far off chipmunk level. High pitched voices seem to be a feature of Boston women - we have met many others with alarmingly high pitched voices but Sarah is definitely the most extreme so far. Message to our wine group in Porthcawl - we'll write down some of the recommendations and e-mail them to you!
On Saturday (yesterday) we went to the New England Aquarium at Boston's waterfront. It's a major tourist attraction with a huge central tall glass tank full of sharks, turtles and rays amongst others and surrounded by a spiral walkway. There are touch tanks, seals, penguins and a host of other exhibits as well as an IMAX cinema and whale watching trips. We've taken annual membership as we suspect we will make many visits through the year. We were glad we did as it was very very busy and I'm sure we'll get more out of it when we're out of the tourist season. We went to the IMAX cinema to watch a film about great white sharks which was very educational with Bill Nighy trying to persuade us that sharks are very misunderstood and are actually lovely and friendly as long as you keep eye contact with them. We weren't convinced! Funnily enough, Bill Nighy himself didn't seem to take to the water to test out this theory!
It's been shark week on our Xfinity cable TV so the girls have been watching lots of programmes which seem to feature numerous shark attacks rather than friendly sharks. They insisted on watching Jaws last night after we got back from the aquarium so of course Rachel had nightmares last night!!
We've booked a Duck Tour this afternoon which we're all looking forward to. I'll let you know how we get on.
Observations:
It's really expensive to have a mobile phone in the USA. We were sorting out US mobile phones for the girls and me a few days ago and I shall never again complain about the cost of phone contracts in the UK again. The only contracts available are for two years and even then you have to pay for a phone, albeit at a discounted price. As we're not here for two years we've had to go for a pay monthly option. Our predecessor in the apartment had left a basic mobile phone which we thought we could use for Rachel but as a sim card would cost $30 it was cheaper to buy a basic phone for $20 which came with a sim card. UK companies seem to hand out free sim cards willy nilly. A basic monthly contract for Rachel for unlimited texts and talk time and a small amount of internet use is $40, ie about £28 - it's the equivalent contract that we had for Isabel in the UK for £10 a month!
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Had a great weekend. Despicable Me 2 on Friday night in our local cinema followed by a lovely day spent with our neighbours from Porthcawl Nigel, Shelley, Skylar and Roddy Evans who were spending a few days in Boston before heading for Florida for a few weeks. We spent most of the day in the harbourside area where they were staying which was bustling and attractive in the summer sunshine. The girls finished the day by all cooling off under a fountain which led to a somewhat damp and chilly ride home on the T (the subway) for Isabel and Rachel! Many thanks to the Evanses for a thoroughly enjoyable day and the girls particularly enjoyed having some other young company other than each other.
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.
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.
Thursday, 25 July 2013
Posted by Ruth/Mum
Finally, I've found some time to sit down and write. Predictably, it's been a busy few days since our arrival. Here is a brief diary of our first few days in the USA:
Saturday: Finally arrived at Terminal 3 at Heathrow after an eventful approach which included driving through the tunnel via the cycle lane and pulling into a building site instead of the entrance to the short stay car park. Somehow, remarkably in the circumstances, we managed to check in. The flight was fine, despite Isabel's TV screen being on strike for the first hour or so which she found immensely frustrating and Rachel and I found rather amusing. After what seemed like an interminable queue at the US passport and border control (why do we always get the urge to make jokes about toy guns?) we eventually found our way to the arrivals area and to Barry, who was almost flattened by Isabel and Rachel in their excitement at seeing him after a month's absence. We arrived at our apartment to be greeted by Dougal who seemed delighted to have the whole pack together again. After a short walk up the road to the girls' soon-to-be school, which looked very impressive, we retired to bed, exhausted by the day's travels!
Sunday: We had an arrangement to meet Barry's friend Dave and family in Boston centre for coffee. They were coming to the end of a grand tour of east coast USA and were finishing with a few days in Boston, now staying in a hotel after spending a couple of days keeping Barry company in the apartment. We took Dougal on his first subway train trip into Boston (the subway is known as the "T" in Boston, short for the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority or MBTA) which he seemed to enjoy and met Dave and co in front of Government House. It was yet another baking hot, sticky, sweaty day but being Brits we all insisted on sitting outdoors in the full sunshine to enjoy our coffee. The girls spotted an Abercrombie + Fitch store nearby so after saying our goodbyes I took the girls shopping whilst the boys (ie Barry and Dougal) watched an outdoor concert. The clearance floor was a big hit!! In the evening we went out for dinner at a restaurant just around the corner called the Village Smokehouse. It's a Texan Barbecue-style restaurant which has a good reputation and we had a very tasty meal but with enormous portions. If you've ever seen Man versus Food it's that sort of place! Suffice to say, Dougal has been benefitting from the doggie bag ever since.
Monday: Barry was back in work and there were lots of dull admin jobs which needed doing. The girls and I walked Dougal and found a fully enclosed playing field which is part of Brookline's "Green Dog" scheme which means that it allows registered dogs to be let off the lead at certain times of the day (it's a scheme which makes Porthcawl's summer beach ban appear positively liberal). We had arranged to meet Barry at lunchtime near the Harvard School of Public Health where he is studying currently to visit the nearby branch of the Bank of America to put my name on the bank account so I can access money (yay!!!) but the bank was too busy so we had to make an appointment to back on Tuesday. The girls and I went to the Stop and Shop supermarket next door (think Somerfield) and topped up with some food and drink essentials before heading home on the bus. After lunch the girls and I headed for Brookline Town Hall where we handed over $70 to license Dougal and enrol him in the Green Dog scheme (I dread to think how much the decision to bring him with us is going to cost us) so he now has a huge blue metal tag to add to the other tags on his collar. No longer can he creep up on us - he really does jingle all the way. Then we went to the public library next door with the intention of registering but thanks to draconian measures requiring a stack of ID and proof of residence (our passports, lease agreement and electricity bill with Barry's name on it were not deemed to be sufficient!) we didn't manage to register on this occasion. However, the library looks amazing with a huge children's library, a large teen room and a small, rather rustic café as well as the cavernous main library. We've had to address a library postcard to ourselves with the instruction to bring it back to the library with us when it arrives in our mailbox as proof that we are who we say we are and we live where we say we live. It's easier to get a bank account than to register at the library!
Tuesday: We met up with Barry again at lunchtime and this time managed to get the bank account sorted. Whilst Barry and I were closeted away in a cubicle with a bank worker we could hear the girls giggling in the foyer. When we managed to peer around the edge of the cubicle we could see what was causing such amusement - it was raining the likes of which Barry and I had not seen since we were in Mexico in 1998 in the middle of Hurricane Mitch. The road outside the bank was already flooding and huddles of dripping pedestrians were sheltering in the entrance to the bank. Everyone's mobile phones were bleeping with texts coming through warning of flash flooding. When we emerged eventually from the cubicle and looked outside we could see the roads were inches deep in flood water and a couple of T line trains were stranded mid-junction. The girls and I left Barry to wade back to work whilst we dashed into Stop and Shop to buy three umbrellas as we had big plans for the afternoon which we didn't want to miss - shopping in Hollister (I'll amend that - the girls had big plans and I went along with them because I couldn't be bothered to argue). By the time we made our way to the T stop via the bits of road and pavement in between the flooding and puddles the trains were working again so we headed for the shopping mall in East Cambridge which housed Boston's only Hollister store. It took us a while to find the central area of the shopping mall after negotiating our way through Best Buy (an electrical store) and TJ Maxx (yes, the US version of TK Maxx) but we got there in the end and the rewards were worth the effort. Two very happy girls emerged bearing full carrier bags and one happy mum as it was their pocket money they were spending, not mine.
Wednesday: The rain had stopped and it was back to hot and muggy. Rachel and I walked Dougal around the pond at the edge of Olmstead Park. Olmstead Park is part of what is known as the Emerald Necklace of parks encircling much of Boston - you can supposedly walk for several miles through parkland, moving from one park to the next. We met two lovely middle-aged ladies with dogs who were no more energetic than Dougal. All they wanted to talk about was the new Royal baby and how disappointed we must have been not to be in the UK for the birth. They knew more about it than Rachel and I, which was mildly embarrassing! Later in the morning the girls and I went on yet another shopping spree, this time to the Converse shop which is said to be one of the best in the US. The girls were certainly impressed and were very pleased to come out with a new pair each (maroon for Izzy and neon yellow for Rachel!) along with socks and extra laces. Like all the other shops mentioned, the prices were substantially less than in the UK so that somehow makes it ok to buy lots of things. (I'm not sure Barry shares that view!) In the afternoon we took a bus to Coolidge Corner, the commercial centre of Brookline, and explored the streets. The girls were excited to find several frozen yoghurt stores which makes a change from Dunkin Donuts - they are EVERYWHERE!
Thursday: Much cooler (a blessed relief) and rain in the afternoon (less of a relief). I finally completed the 11-page form for each of the girls necessary for school registration and we walked in the rain to the school registration office, which was not at the girls' school but a school much further away. We passed yet another Dunkin Donuts en route. Thankfully, I seemed to have all the correct documentation so the girls are now registered for Pierce School. All we have to do now is contact the school after August 20th to make an appointment to meet the principal or whoever is dealing with the new registrations. Hopefully that won't be the point that they discover the girls haven't had a particular vaccination or need to be tested for lead poisoning before they can start school. The Brookline Music School was opposite the school registration office so we went in to find out what they could offer in terms of instrumental lessons. Plenty seemed to be the answer. The school's director seemed to be particularly excited about Rachel playing the oboe - obviously oboe players are as rare a breed in the US as they are in the UK.
So here we are. It's now Thursday evening and I'm pleased to have brought this blog up to date after encouraging everyone to look at it! We're hoping to see Despicable Me 2 in the local multiplex tomorrow night and to catch up with Nigel, Shelley, Skylar and Roddy Evans on Saturday (there's something surreal about the thought of meeting up with neighbours from home in an entirely different continent). Barry has booked for us all to go to see the Broadway production of Wicked next month during its run in Boston and we're hoping to book for Potted Potter in September. The girls and I are hoping to start visiting some of Boston's tourist attractions next week now that most of the dull, setting up jobs are done and they've done so much shopping that they've run out of pocket money. We'll keep you up to date and try to post some photos soon.
Finally, I've found some time to sit down and write. Predictably, it's been a busy few days since our arrival. Here is a brief diary of our first few days in the USA:
Saturday: Finally arrived at Terminal 3 at Heathrow after an eventful approach which included driving through the tunnel via the cycle lane and pulling into a building site instead of the entrance to the short stay car park. Somehow, remarkably in the circumstances, we managed to check in. The flight was fine, despite Isabel's TV screen being on strike for the first hour or so which she found immensely frustrating and Rachel and I found rather amusing. After what seemed like an interminable queue at the US passport and border control (why do we always get the urge to make jokes about toy guns?) we eventually found our way to the arrivals area and to Barry, who was almost flattened by Isabel and Rachel in their excitement at seeing him after a month's absence. We arrived at our apartment to be greeted by Dougal who seemed delighted to have the whole pack together again. After a short walk up the road to the girls' soon-to-be school, which looked very impressive, we retired to bed, exhausted by the day's travels!
Sunday: We had an arrangement to meet Barry's friend Dave and family in Boston centre for coffee. They were coming to the end of a grand tour of east coast USA and were finishing with a few days in Boston, now staying in a hotel after spending a couple of days keeping Barry company in the apartment. We took Dougal on his first subway train trip into Boston (the subway is known as the "T" in Boston, short for the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority or MBTA) which he seemed to enjoy and met Dave and co in front of Government House. It was yet another baking hot, sticky, sweaty day but being Brits we all insisted on sitting outdoors in the full sunshine to enjoy our coffee. The girls spotted an Abercrombie + Fitch store nearby so after saying our goodbyes I took the girls shopping whilst the boys (ie Barry and Dougal) watched an outdoor concert. The clearance floor was a big hit!! In the evening we went out for dinner at a restaurant just around the corner called the Village Smokehouse. It's a Texan Barbecue-style restaurant which has a good reputation and we had a very tasty meal but with enormous portions. If you've ever seen Man versus Food it's that sort of place! Suffice to say, Dougal has been benefitting from the doggie bag ever since.
Monday: Barry was back in work and there were lots of dull admin jobs which needed doing. The girls and I walked Dougal and found a fully enclosed playing field which is part of Brookline's "Green Dog" scheme which means that it allows registered dogs to be let off the lead at certain times of the day (it's a scheme which makes Porthcawl's summer beach ban appear positively liberal). We had arranged to meet Barry at lunchtime near the Harvard School of Public Health where he is studying currently to visit the nearby branch of the Bank of America to put my name on the bank account so I can access money (yay!!!) but the bank was too busy so we had to make an appointment to back on Tuesday. The girls and I went to the Stop and Shop supermarket next door (think Somerfield) and topped up with some food and drink essentials before heading home on the bus. After lunch the girls and I headed for Brookline Town Hall where we handed over $70 to license Dougal and enrol him in the Green Dog scheme (I dread to think how much the decision to bring him with us is going to cost us) so he now has a huge blue metal tag to add to the other tags on his collar. No longer can he creep up on us - he really does jingle all the way. Then we went to the public library next door with the intention of registering but thanks to draconian measures requiring a stack of ID and proof of residence (our passports, lease agreement and electricity bill with Barry's name on it were not deemed to be sufficient!) we didn't manage to register on this occasion. However, the library looks amazing with a huge children's library, a large teen room and a small, rather rustic café as well as the cavernous main library. We've had to address a library postcard to ourselves with the instruction to bring it back to the library with us when it arrives in our mailbox as proof that we are who we say we are and we live where we say we live. It's easier to get a bank account than to register at the library!
Tuesday: We met up with Barry again at lunchtime and this time managed to get the bank account sorted. Whilst Barry and I were closeted away in a cubicle with a bank worker we could hear the girls giggling in the foyer. When we managed to peer around the edge of the cubicle we could see what was causing such amusement - it was raining the likes of which Barry and I had not seen since we were in Mexico in 1998 in the middle of Hurricane Mitch. The road outside the bank was already flooding and huddles of dripping pedestrians were sheltering in the entrance to the bank. Everyone's mobile phones were bleeping with texts coming through warning of flash flooding. When we emerged eventually from the cubicle and looked outside we could see the roads were inches deep in flood water and a couple of T line trains were stranded mid-junction. The girls and I left Barry to wade back to work whilst we dashed into Stop and Shop to buy three umbrellas as we had big plans for the afternoon which we didn't want to miss - shopping in Hollister (I'll amend that - the girls had big plans and I went along with them because I couldn't be bothered to argue). By the time we made our way to the T stop via the bits of road and pavement in between the flooding and puddles the trains were working again so we headed for the shopping mall in East Cambridge which housed Boston's only Hollister store. It took us a while to find the central area of the shopping mall after negotiating our way through Best Buy (an electrical store) and TJ Maxx (yes, the US version of TK Maxx) but we got there in the end and the rewards were worth the effort. Two very happy girls emerged bearing full carrier bags and one happy mum as it was their pocket money they were spending, not mine.
Wednesday: The rain had stopped and it was back to hot and muggy. Rachel and I walked Dougal around the pond at the edge of Olmstead Park. Olmstead Park is part of what is known as the Emerald Necklace of parks encircling much of Boston - you can supposedly walk for several miles through parkland, moving from one park to the next. We met two lovely middle-aged ladies with dogs who were no more energetic than Dougal. All they wanted to talk about was the new Royal baby and how disappointed we must have been not to be in the UK for the birth. They knew more about it than Rachel and I, which was mildly embarrassing! Later in the morning the girls and I went on yet another shopping spree, this time to the Converse shop which is said to be one of the best in the US. The girls were certainly impressed and were very pleased to come out with a new pair each (maroon for Izzy and neon yellow for Rachel!) along with socks and extra laces. Like all the other shops mentioned, the prices were substantially less than in the UK so that somehow makes it ok to buy lots of things. (I'm not sure Barry shares that view!) In the afternoon we took a bus to Coolidge Corner, the commercial centre of Brookline, and explored the streets. The girls were excited to find several frozen yoghurt stores which makes a change from Dunkin Donuts - they are EVERYWHERE!
Thursday: Much cooler (a blessed relief) and rain in the afternoon (less of a relief). I finally completed the 11-page form for each of the girls necessary for school registration and we walked in the rain to the school registration office, which was not at the girls' school but a school much further away. We passed yet another Dunkin Donuts en route. Thankfully, I seemed to have all the correct documentation so the girls are now registered for Pierce School. All we have to do now is contact the school after August 20th to make an appointment to meet the principal or whoever is dealing with the new registrations. Hopefully that won't be the point that they discover the girls haven't had a particular vaccination or need to be tested for lead poisoning before they can start school. The Brookline Music School was opposite the school registration office so we went in to find out what they could offer in terms of instrumental lessons. Plenty seemed to be the answer. The school's director seemed to be particularly excited about Rachel playing the oboe - obviously oboe players are as rare a breed in the US as they are in the UK.
So here we are. It's now Thursday evening and I'm pleased to have brought this blog up to date after encouraging everyone to look at it! We're hoping to see Despicable Me 2 in the local multiplex tomorrow night and to catch up with Nigel, Shelley, Skylar and Roddy Evans on Saturday (there's something surreal about the thought of meeting up with neighbours from home in an entirely different continent). Barry has booked for us all to go to see the Broadway production of Wicked next month during its run in Boston and we're hoping to book for Potted Potter in September. The girls and I are hoping to start visiting some of Boston's tourist attractions next week now that most of the dull, setting up jobs are done and they've done so much shopping that they've run out of pocket money. We'll keep you up to date and try to post some photos soon.
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Moving out: By Rachel
Rachel
Hi Rachel here. It is SO close now! Just 3 weeks and we'll be on the plane! It is over exciting! These few weeks are going to be very chaotic. Sorting things here, throwing this out there, when will it stop? It has sunk in a little now, but I still can't believe our luck. It will be a thrilling experience that will never get boring. I am very tired today, and most days because of our early wakes to get up to Porthcawl for school. I'm so perplexed to this day mostly because I just cannot believe how extraordinarily lucky we are to be in this position. We have been skyping Dad daily to find out exactly what's going on. He says Brookline is great but our apartment is apparently 'unattractive', which is disappointing although our latest update said differently. He said it's not luxuriously lovely, but it is average. One thing I am happy about is I get my own double bed! Woohoo! But...our apartment block doesn't have a garden! Boohoo! Dougal right now is a miserable doggy. He is moping around, frowning all day long! We just can't seem to cheer him up! We think it is because Daddy isn't here, and we're not home. Dougal likes having the whole family together. Well this is all I have to say for now but I'm sure I'll have more to say very soon! But for now, toodaloo!
Hi Rachel here. It is SO close now! Just 3 weeks and we'll be on the plane! It is over exciting! These few weeks are going to be very chaotic. Sorting things here, throwing this out there, when will it stop? It has sunk in a little now, but I still can't believe our luck. It will be a thrilling experience that will never get boring. I am very tired today, and most days because of our early wakes to get up to Porthcawl for school. I'm so perplexed to this day mostly because I just cannot believe how extraordinarily lucky we are to be in this position. We have been skyping Dad daily to find out exactly what's going on. He says Brookline is great but our apartment is apparently 'unattractive', which is disappointing although our latest update said differently. He said it's not luxuriously lovely, but it is average. One thing I am happy about is I get my own double bed! Woohoo! But...our apartment block doesn't have a garden! Boohoo! Dougal right now is a miserable doggy. He is moping around, frowning all day long! We just can't seem to cheer him up! We think it is because Daddy isn't here, and we're not home. Dougal likes having the whole family together. Well this is all I have to say for now but I'm sure I'll have more to say very soon! But for now, toodaloo!
Moving Out
Izzy
Wow! It feels so close to the time when we will be stepping on that plane- well, it is actually quite close. Under 3 weeks!!!! Currently, we are staying with our grandparents in Pennard, just beyond Swansea. It is a real hassle getting to and fro school, as the timings both ways just HAPPEN to be rush hour! We still manage to get to school in good time though.
Dad is already in Boston, in the apartment, (apparently there is a chocolate shop just around the corner ;)!) so we Skype all the time to keep in touch. He is really enjoying his time so far, and started his job yesterday! (1/07/13).
Yesterday, my mum and I went to drop off a throw for the armchair, so we met Julie at the door, the mother of the family who we are renting the house to. She was VERY nice, and I hope she has a good time in our house, along with her husband, Andrew, and her 3 children, Ella, Charlie and Sam. They are from our area originally, but the kids were raised in Australia.
On Thursday and Friday, my year are going on an over-night trip to Atlantic Collage, Llantwit Major. I hope that my time here will give me enough time to spend with my friends before I go to Boston. I am really looking forward to it, and I am buzzing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking about feelings, you have no idea about how fast these butterflies are flying around in my Stomach! OMG I feel soooooooooooooooooooo excited about the move!!! I hope it all goes well. And the marathon doesn't blow up :'( so sad.
I will write into this blog again when I arrive in Boston.(When I have time!)
Wow! It feels so close to the time when we will be stepping on that plane- well, it is actually quite close. Under 3 weeks!!!! Currently, we are staying with our grandparents in Pennard, just beyond Swansea. It is a real hassle getting to and fro school, as the timings both ways just HAPPEN to be rush hour! We still manage to get to school in good time though.
Dad is already in Boston, in the apartment, (apparently there is a chocolate shop just around the corner ;)!) so we Skype all the time to keep in touch. He is really enjoying his time so far, and started his job yesterday! (1/07/13).
Yesterday, my mum and I went to drop off a throw for the armchair, so we met Julie at the door, the mother of the family who we are renting the house to. She was VERY nice, and I hope she has a good time in our house, along with her husband, Andrew, and her 3 children, Ella, Charlie and Sam. They are from our area originally, but the kids were raised in Australia.
On Thursday and Friday, my year are going on an over-night trip to Atlantic Collage, Llantwit Major. I hope that my time here will give me enough time to spend with my friends before I go to Boston. I am really looking forward to it, and I am buzzing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking about feelings, you have no idea about how fast these butterflies are flying around in my Stomach! OMG I feel soooooooooooooooooooo excited about the move!!! I hope it all goes well. And the marathon doesn't blow up :'( so sad.
I will write into this blog again when I arrive in Boston.(When I have time!)
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