So this morning, despite being fairly well worn out, I headed out to find Revere Beach.
I'd done my reading and was ready for a dreadful beach. What I got was something that I think you could say might require a developed taste.
Revere beach reminded me an awful lot of your typical farm pond, only on a huge scale. This isn't Florida or California; the water's dark and full of seaweed. I was there at low tide, so the whole place was a bit fishy until you got down to the tideline and the stranded seaweed was downwind.
That said, I really enjoyed myself. Tangled in the seaweed were quite a few shells, mostly huge things, big clams and snails. Then once in a while you'd come across some beached sea life, or a crab or something. The water wasn't something I'd really want to dive into because of the silt, but it felt good on my feet. Maybe it's because I like to go creeking and I'm more used to Ohio ponds and the Great Lakes than West Coast beaches, the water and profusion of flora and fauna didn't really bother me, but I can sure understand where some people would hate it.
The best part was just being able to listen to the ocean and feel the breeze off of it. I don't know how often I'll go out there (and I suspect it's crowded despite the seaweed once the water warms up), but I do know that I want to go out there some time in the dead of winter because I've never seen the ocean in the winter time.
And yeah, I came back with a sunburn again and a raw spot from my new flip flops.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Storm in the city
So we finally got weather here other than all day sunny or all day dreary. It does thunderstorm here.
I've never liked storms. They're loud and they're alarming and they can be really dangerous. But I've experienced storms in the city before -- once a nasty one in downtown Pittsburgh that put on an amazing light show -- and I like them there. The Pittsburgh storm was in a hotel, so you couldn't hear much, but here I've found out that the thunder has a much different tone to it. It's got sharp edges, sounds like a load of metal falling down the stairs, not the rounded, rolling sound you get in the Midwest.
I had a doctor's appointment right at the end of the day today. A large number of Harvard doctors are located in Harvard Square, in the large administrative building there. The lower floor is given over to shops and has an inside arcade area.
Anyway, I came down from the appointment to an arcade packed with people and this:
If it's not immediately obvious what's going on there, that isn't water pouring down, it's water blasting up. And no, I've no idea what's normally there or why it was doing that. I assume there's a drain that couldn't handle the water.
This is all about three steps away from the subway, so I figured I'd take advantage of the fact that no one seemed inclined to go out and hopefully catch a train easily.
Turns out that when it rains in the city, everyone packs into the subway -- outside the tolls, of course. There's a weird sort of feeling -- Hawkeye describes war in an episode of M*A*S*H with "A war is like when it rains in New York and everybody crowds into doorways, ya know? And they all get chummy together. Perfect strangers. The only difference, of course, is in a war it's also raining on the other side of the street, and the people who are chummy over there are trying to kill the people who are over here who are chums." It's interesting that I've got a better idea of what he means now (sans trying to kill each other, obviously -- I was in a rainy city, not a war). People stand watching the rain and chatting. Some people fret over getting where they're going, but mostly they just all hang out.
I got on the subway and outran the storm, going under it up to Porter Square. By the time I got there the storm was well out of that area and I was able to walk back to the apartment. Things smelled surprisingly nice and there was a cold bite to the air. I've noticed that when there were storms in the general area here -- the wind can get quite cold.
I've never liked storms. They're loud and they're alarming and they can be really dangerous. But I've experienced storms in the city before -- once a nasty one in downtown Pittsburgh that put on an amazing light show -- and I like them there. The Pittsburgh storm was in a hotel, so you couldn't hear much, but here I've found out that the thunder has a much different tone to it. It's got sharp edges, sounds like a load of metal falling down the stairs, not the rounded, rolling sound you get in the Midwest.
I had a doctor's appointment right at the end of the day today. A large number of Harvard doctors are located in Harvard Square, in the large administrative building there. The lower floor is given over to shops and has an inside arcade area.
Anyway, I came down from the appointment to an arcade packed with people and this:
This is all about three steps away from the subway, so I figured I'd take advantage of the fact that no one seemed inclined to go out and hopefully catch a train easily.
Turns out that when it rains in the city, everyone packs into the subway -- outside the tolls, of course. There's a weird sort of feeling -- Hawkeye describes war in an episode of M*A*S*H with "A war is like when it rains in New York and everybody crowds into doorways, ya know? And they all get chummy together. Perfect strangers. The only difference, of course, is in a war it's also raining on the other side of the street, and the people who are chummy over there are trying to kill the people who are over here who are chums." It's interesting that I've got a better idea of what he means now (sans trying to kill each other, obviously -- I was in a rainy city, not a war). People stand watching the rain and chatting. Some people fret over getting where they're going, but mostly they just all hang out.
I got on the subway and outran the storm, going under it up to Porter Square. By the time I got there the storm was well out of that area and I was able to walk back to the apartment. Things smelled surprisingly nice and there was a cold bite to the air. I've noticed that when there were storms in the general area here -- the wind can get quite cold.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Shopping in the rain
So one thing they don't tell you when they say you can live in the big city with no car is that there's a asterisk.
The asterisk is: so long as you don't want to go anywhere when its pouring rain.*
I'd hoped to get out this morning before it starting pouring, but it moved in a little quicker than I'd expected. I couldn't put it off after not being here at all last weekend (and after dropping my toothbrush in the toilet first thing when I got back and using my travel brush all week). So I went out in the rain.
And got soaked.
It wasn't too bad right off, really. Those three years at Denison where I commuted and had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk were fairly wet. I'm a little out of practice at being damp, though, not as tough as I used to be. I got to the market and trust me, I wasted as much time as I could trying to dry out a little before even thinking about going back.
My clothes still aren't dry and they've been hanging in front of the fan all day.
*OK, so you can go places, but you'll need a zipcar or a cab, both of which are expensive.
The asterisk is: so long as you don't want to go anywhere when its pouring rain.*
I'd hoped to get out this morning before it starting pouring, but it moved in a little quicker than I'd expected. I couldn't put it off after not being here at all last weekend (and after dropping my toothbrush in the toilet first thing when I got back and using my travel brush all week). So I went out in the rain.
And got soaked.
It wasn't too bad right off, really. Those three years at Denison where I commuted and had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk were fairly wet. I'm a little out of practice at being damp, though, not as tough as I used to be. I got to the market and trust me, I wasted as much time as I could trying to dry out a little before even thinking about going back.
My clothes still aren't dry and they've been hanging in front of the fan all day.
*OK, so you can go places, but you'll need a zipcar or a cab, both of which are expensive.
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