She Played "Please Come To Boston" On The Jukebox, I Said "Hey That's My Favourite Song"

WOW !! MORE THAN A FEELING

I have had a fairly exhilarating trip so far and I'm not sure how far I'm going to get before falling asleep at the keyboard so if you notice a few zzzz's creeping in, shout and wake me up.

Had a pretty crazy weekend between playing at a weekend and that wedding's reception (in the middle of the night), church on Sunday playing but also listening to a preacher who would like to be our churches' next minister, and then playing at a 90th birthday party so it was about 6pm on Sunday evening that I finally got around to the equally important jobs of tidying my house for Peter who would mind it for me and packing.

What to bring on a trip lasting 2 1/2 weeks in March ? Wasn't really sure - still not - but went for a two-pronged strategy of a) keeping it light and b) you're bound to have lots of the wrong stuff but everything can be bought bar travel documents and passport. So one wooly jumper, one short-sleeve shirt and lots of inbetweeny clothes. Bob's your uncle. Oh, and a box of Cd's. Getting that together was a story in itself but together it was got and I got to bed by midnight with a minimal amount to do in the morning. The packing light didn't work but that was mostly because of the CDs so that should improve (unless I buy more stuff to offset it)

All the usual stuff happened on the way to the airport: checked for my passport 15,000 times, checked that the ticket said pm and not am about the same number of times (thanks Em), went to the bank and got dollars, ran for the bus and thankfully didn't set off any alarms going through security.

Had some fun with immigration over the box of CD's in my bag, particularly as I hadn't mentioned them on my customs form (the usual mixup between gifts, samples and merchandise: Q when is merchandise not merchandise ? A never). I realized pretty quickly that I should have mentioned them of course when, despite very pointedly not telling the man the "whole story" as Ian Dowse had advised all those years ago, the immigration man seemed to want to hear the unedited version. I stopped short of singing "leaving on a jet plane" or telling him any jokes and although I was relatively comfortable that my bag was safely on the plane, I was surprised to turn around and see my case had a starring role on a Telly screen to my right.

"sir, do you recognize this to be your bag ?"

Upon Confirming that it was indeed mine, there was some furious scribbling and I was told that the lady in Customs would complete my interview. Oh shit.

Although I kept telling myself that it was probably the bag of jellies mum had sent me with to post to my cousin in California, I knew that this was probably less likely than it being about the bloody discs and although the nice lady in customs and exercise expressed great surprise when I fessed up, I suspect that this was merely a way of rubbing in the unease I already felt about being in this particular room. Anyway, she smiled and said she was happy to let me be on my way as long as the discs were gifts and not for sale. I agreed and off I went.

Welcome to the United States of America.

Flight uneventful and fun - love the sat nav map they have now to show you where you are and what to look out for below. Kept me entertained for hours. 50/50 was the movie. A vaguely trivializing movie about cancer, it nonetheless had some touching moments (and even whole scenes) featuring friends and family and how they deal with the situation.

Met up with Steve and Beth Jungmann and their three beautiful girls who appear to me to be glowing examples of humanity and a credit to their parents and themselves. It is always a pleasure to be in Steve and Beth's (and their family's) company and I am thankful for the time and their home they shared with me over the last two nights.

I seem to have arrived at the onset of a mini-heat wave - considerably hotter than it normally is this time of year anyway. I ended up in the drugstore yesterday buying sun cream, didn't think I'd need that. Also have new baseball cap and am seeking out shorts. Of course I'll get them just in time for the weather to break.

This shopping was done yesterday in Boston (remember Boston ? This blog is about Boston - think Arlo Guthrie for that reference) and there was a large shopping list which included;
* sim card which would work in USA - successful, if somewhat pricey.
* pick up Greyhound pass - eventually successful although t-mobile staff member from previous task sent me wrong direction down right street adding an hours' walk (but I did get to see Commonwealth Ave and Boston Common in the process so that kind of made up for it)
* do some research into replacing laptop, maybe with iPad - total success, am writing this on said iPad and it was $500 cheaper than laptop would have been.
* find new battery for my phone - unexpectedly successful, bonus points
* get train home to counter-balance bus overload - very enjoyable
* meet Alice and Rebecca - both unsuccessful and believe me girls, nobody more disappointed than me.
* post the jellies - half successful. They're in an envelope but not in the post yet (see below)

But bonus points for unexpected pleasures of finding Berklee College of Music, Boston Common, playing a $81,000 Steinway concert grand (and making friends with the sales assistant), meeting a police man who told me he hadn't a clue where the post office was ("but ask a cabbie, they know everything") and finding public loos every time I needed to pee which was quite a lot thanks to 22 degrees sunshine and large bottle of water combination. My walk on Tuesday was about four times the length it needed to be but goodness, isn't Boston lovely ? I shall return

After some playing with my new toy, I went to bed last night and slept the sleep of the dead.

New day today and start of the odyssey proper. I had organized to do a live radio interview with Scott Raymond, a dj with WVKR, a radio station broadcast From Vasser College in Poughkeepsie in New York State. The show goes out on Sunday but Amy Panetta organized me some activities for sunday morning so Scott very kindly said he'd do a pre-record this evening (Wednesday) and this was my first stop. Fun-and-games with transport options earlier in the day meant I almost didn't get here at all. The bus in Boston was full and I didn't have a reservation. There were six of us in that "boat" and five of us got on and had to watch the sixth in tears on the platform. Doug who was behind me in the queue was traveling to New York to connect to a bus to Muncey, Pennsylvania to go to work drilling for natural gas - he works 18 hour days 2 weeks on, 1 week off leaving his wife and kid in New Hampshire. He had been the girl on the platform the previous day and had been told by his employer not to bother showing up if he didn't make it tonight. His onward journey meant he would have 20 minutes between making it to Muncey and starting his shift. It put my time pressures in perspective but I wasn't giving up my place in the queue anyway. In the end, we both got on and he didn't hold it against me - "each man for himself". Another guy was coming home from Afghanistan, on his way to Missouri, some 52 hours all on the same bus from New York down the road. The bus driver was a hoot, commenting on everything - they seem to think they know as much as the cabbies. We stopped at a burger king. Later, he told the front few rows that the driver of the other bus at the bk had confided in him that there had been a report on his bus of one passenger having a gun in his possession. He (our driver) had advised him to get the police to quietly and discreetly corner this guy behind the bk where it wouldn't upset the other passengers. Three miles down the road and we saw the same bus on the hard shoulder surrounded by 5 squad cars lights flashing. Black humor yes but there was some amusement on our bus. "see what the police service has come down to ?" yep, and they don"t even know where the post office is.

Poughkeepsie is well served by bus and train from NYC but the bus is not valid on my discovery pass so i decided to get the train again. Both services are a well kept secrets if you don't actually live in the town. So even once I reached New York it was a test to work out where to go which saw me almost paying $100 more than I needed to and mistaking the word bus for the letter "s" (not as stupid as it sounds) amongst many other deviations from the most correct, easiest, efficient and quickest route. The Subway staff are rude and seem to consider customers an imposition that they shouldn't have to contend with in the course of their working day. There are no subway maps on the walls and no subway staff except for the aforementioned who sit in a glass box, scowl at you if you approach them and get cross with you if you ask them a question. The staff on the tube in london have got it right- not always polite but at least there when they need to be and some bloody maps on the walls. Aaaaagggghhhhhh. I eventually made it to Grand Central and found my way to the correct train. After all this the journey to Poughkeepsie was a tonic for the soul along the banks of the Hudson in the early evening sunlight - lovely journey.

Dinner and very enjoyable interview with Scott Raymond and now I'm staying the night with parents of friends of friends (although these people I've never actually met before so I really do appreciate the goodwill and hospitality shown towards me tonight. Thanks Marcus and Lily, David and Susan, Scott, and Sheila Powers for teaching me how to pronounce the word Poughkeepsie.

Back to NYC tomorrow. Next installment soon.