boston and providence 25/02/05

me and dave
Originally uploaded by rockmother.

Here is a nice picture of me and my friend Dave. Dave was our lodger for years and is like the bestest big brother and best friend all rolled into one. He lives in Providence and picked me up at Boston when I arrived. i got driven very fast in his pride and joy - a Subaru WRX 4WD Impreza thing. It goes fast in a g-force type way. We went out for something to eat at Andino's (Mafia) Restaurant in downtown Providence. It was snowing hard and there it was the only restaurant that was full. It was also the only restaurant with Frank Sinatra being played out onto the cold street and a young Italian looking man in a leather jacket at the door. We went in and there were lots of other Italian looking men at the lovely long bar with a tv at the end playing sport. There was a barman that ignored us and signed boxing photo's behind the counter. Frank Sinatra was still playing. We sat by the window which was perfect as we had the best of both worlds - we were able to look in and out. THE Andino was actually sitting at the bar surrounded by various 'ladies'. He was a small Italian man in a leather jacket and sporting a substantial hairweave ontop.

ONe particular 'lady' had very dry bushy bleach blonde hair, trout lips and a slouch. Not becoming. She had a big arguement on her mobile with I guess her boyfriend (?). She kept asking him if he was out of his mind. Her directness was actually quite impressive. She then told him they were through and promptly hung up and slurped some more of her drink which looked a bit like a JD and coke. Sometime later a suave but dodgy Italian looking man came in - also in a leather jacket and sat down and talked to her. She seemed very pleased to see him and then left. I couldn't help noticing as she walked across the street how she had a real 'street walk', a real 'hustling for punters' gait about her. We went back to our lovely food and fine Chianti Classico. I had Andino's signature sauce - artichoke heart, red peppers, pepperoni and white wine. The pepperoni was a bit much for me but nevertheless was good.

I actually forgot how bad meat can be in America - more often than not a processed pulp is par for the course. Really unpleasant.

We went back and I took to my bed for the night. An airbed, a sheet, a sleeping bag and two blankets to keep me warm...cold...freeeeezing at 4am when I woke up realising that most of the air had actually left the bed and I was lying on a carpet on a concrete floor in minus temperatures.

26/02/05
Got up pretty early to 2ft of beautiful snow. Went to get the hire car and sat in it for half an hour making calls and realised that the Avis map was best put to use lining a waste paper basket. Nevertheless, for someone who is mainly direction dyslexic I managed to negotiate five highways and a few intersections to get to Abbie in Bethlehem.