Bostonians have a complex about New York. They (we?) resent that NYC is bigger and has a higher profile both nationally and internationally. Sure, we have the better sports teams and all that revolutionary history, but that’s about all.
This week while Kiddo was off at environmental camp, Mrs Mack505 and I took a brief jaunt to Metropolis. We rode the Acela, which is my absolute favorite way to travel, and we stayed in a loft in Chelsea. The train was great, and our AirBnB hosts were pleasant and fun. We didn’t get mugged. We saw the sights, did the things, and had a grand time. Big, scary NYC was a lot bigger and a lot less scary than we expected.
Then we came home.
In the first 20 minutes, a bum* yelled at me for not giving him any change. He then proceed to swear at Mrs. Mack505 when she declined his offer of ‘help’ with her luggage.
The subway musician on the Green Line at Park Street this evening was a beat boxer. At the risk of offending fans of certain types of music, I strongly feel that music requires an instrument. I love subway musicians, but if your talent consists of making sound effects with a PA you are not a musician and should go somewhere else. Make room for someone with a violin, a saxophone, or at least a good singing voice.
If you must stay, turn it down so I can hear the trolleys over your ‘music.’ K? Thx.
We watched an old woman with large unwieldy luggage try to board a trolley. In lieu of helping, a teenager stepped up to film the proceedings. It’s probably on YouTube already.
Then we arrived at North Station. Boston spent $20 BILLION on the Big Dig yet somehow neglected to connect the subway to the train station. It’s bad enough that there is no rail link between South Station & North. You can’t even take ONE subway. You must change trains, and then you end up on the street in front of the train station. A subway stop inside North Station would have been the right thing to do; a connecting pedestrian tunnel would have made sense; a covered walkway would have been sufficient. Instead we built a brand new subway station across the street. *sigh*
We just barely caught an early train out of North Station, only to be seated next to a woman who had never heard of headphones. This would not have been bad, but she certainly knew about Netflix.
Maybe I’m just grumpy after a long trip, but Boston is doing everything it can to make me miss New York. As a lifelong Bostonian, that saddens me.
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*Yes, a bum. I understand that homelessness is tragic, but if you stand in my path, accost me, and then verbally abuse me or my family, you are a BUM.
Notes from Mosquito Hill 