We live on the east coast of England, home of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Nearly 400 years after they set sail, Jane and I made a road trip to explore east coast USA and see how things were going……
Friday, September 29th, 2017: Manchester England to Boston Massachusetts.
We leave Old England and chase the sunset all the way across the Atlantic. The sun finally descends over Boston and so do we. Our plane banks steeply and the homeward bound commuter traffic crawls like blood through the arteries of the twinkling heart of the city below. Downtown neon gives way to dark, grey water as we begin our final approach to Logan Airport. The water rushes up to meet us and just as it looks like we’re going to land in Massachusetts Bay, our ship makes landfall and we touch down on this New England.
Our Boston AirBnB is, to say the least, stark: a bed, a table, a cupboard. From the other rooms we hear the sound of a TV and voices. Who are they? Our ‘host’ is at the end of a text message, sounding friendly and helpful; just not sure where he actually is? Can we use the opened carton of milk in the large fridge in the kitchen? Who has left the dirty pots in the sink? Will there be three bears in there when we wake? The adventure begins!
DAY 1: Saturday, September 30th, 2017: JFK and Chinatown
Pouring rain. A heaven-sent gift. Otherwise we wouldn’t have got to know JFK quite so well. But first a trip downtown.
We’re Uber virgins. Like children engrossed in a computer game, we watch the tiny, lozenge-shaped icon that is our taxi, inch its way across the phone screen towards us. We’re informed the driver’s name is Mali. I feel I know him already. We have bonded via app. Is that Latin? He arrives in minutes and we set off for the city.
Brunch in Quincy Market, where anyone can play the upright piano in the corner of the food hall.
A visit to Brattle’s Book Shop (the first of many bookshops). Then I notice a plaque high up on a wall commemorating “..the first complete and intelligible sentence..” transmitted by Alexander Graham Bell via telephone in 1876 and wonder just what was he babbling on about before he decided to become coherent?
Then take the ‘M’ train to the JFK Memorial Library….
Walking through the main door the honey-coloured, confident voice of John Fitzgerald Kennedy declares:
“…too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought..”
Just one line. Just one line among many, many more, that all shine like sunlight in sharp contrast to the ill-considered, late night tweets of the barely formed adult who now resides in The White House. Complete and intelligible? Only to himself I fear.
The library was a wonderful but dispiriting introduction to these parts; the liberal, educated, democrat stronghold of America. Liberal. Educated. Democrat. Now such despised adjectives. As we toured the centre I looked at the faces of the people as they listened to the speeches, the newsreels, the hopes. I wanted to ask them,”What happened, was that a dream, does any of this stuff mean anything anymore?”
Met an elderly attorney in the café. Liberal, educated and democrat. Typical!
Jane saw his hands were trembling as he tried to negotiate his slice of pizza out of the cabinet, and she offered to help. He asked if we were English. He thought so because we had come to his aid without being asked. Nice to hear. Especially from a liberal, educated democrat. (We’re not that bad after all you know). He gave us a long, educated summary of the political landscape in the US: thoughtful, informed and eloquent. He described the character of the eastern states, contrasting it with California. A lady at the next table leaned over, keen to correct him. That was southern California he was describing. She was from upstate.
Spent five hours at the library. Mythology. Hope. Eloquence. Intelligence. Family. Learning. Assassination. Shock. Grief. Loss.
JFK where are you now when we need you? Sleeping? Like King Arthur? I hope so.
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Dinner in Chinatown. Rammed. With Chinese families. A good sign. We peek at the other tables wondering which of the poor creatures which minutes ago were vying for room in the overcrowded water tank is now lying motionless on their plate. Ordering is a bit of guesswork. Some you win, some you lose. Wonderful. Take the ‘A’ back to Lechmere. Walk home through dark, frisson-filled, unfamiliar streets. Turn up Thurston St, key in the door. Back ‘home’. No sign of bears thank goodness…