As Francois was driving back home to Montreal on Friday night, we decided to re-visit downtown Boston after the days class. The class finished around 6pm but we didn't set off for Boston until around 8pm as we all spent a couple of hours going thru a dating site (Francois is looking for some fun whilst on future UK business). A lot of the time was spent with us saying "oh yeah! now that is nice!" or "Urgh, she looks like a man" and occasionally "22? more like 42!". After noticing what time it was we set off for Boston... the traffic was the usual death run, dodging in and out of lanes like there was no tomorrow. I wasn't surprised to see a large number of cars with dents and scrapes down their sides (even cars like Mercedes and BMW's). After parking the car on the corner of a intersection, Francois left his hazard lights on (just to make sure people wouldn't hit his car) and we set off across a small park to find the Cheers bar. We took a couple of shots (one with myself and Phil in it) and dashed back to the car. Next stop was somewhere to eat and yesterday the idea of going to Hooters had surfaced, so off we went. After driving in wrong lanes, cutting up traffic, etc we made it to Hooters. I was expecting to see loads of babes with huge jugs, but instead we got 3 women (I'm purposefully leaving out the word young) who seemed friendly enough. After a decent meal I asked if we could get a picture with them and they agreed (Phil even stopped doing his Patrick Moore facial impression and managed a smile for the camera). The bar was due to close soon so we left and headed back to the hotel (ready for an early start the next morning). For those in the UK wishing to *experiance* a Hooters, check out the babes at Hooters UK

Cheers, Beers & Hooters After discovering that the first picture of Cheers was a wash-out, it was decided that we should go forth and get a decent picture of the famous Bostonian bar. The city of Boston is rather like Manchester in it use of one way streets; something that caused great annoyance to our guide as he kept finding himself in the wrong lane, or just past a turn-off. I honestly don't know how we got to the bar, cars from the left and right were dodging and weaving infront of us: at one moment I thought Eddie had closed his eyes to issue a quiet prayer. After a wander through one of the parks in the middle of town we appeared outside the "Bull & Finch" bar and took a couple of photos of us underneath the "Cheers" sign. This evening there was much more totty out on the street than the previous venture into town, however I think Eddie must have decided that taking pictures of them would have seemed too touristy. After Cheers we were taken to another delightful bar in the Boston area... Hooters is considered a family fast-food/restraunt/eatery where the young serving wenches dress in white, tight, low-cut t-shirts and hotpants... The Edster was rubbing his thighs with glee... but only after finding out they served root beer. :-/ Be back soon...

Day 5 in the Bog Bugger Hose Was awoken (once again) to the rhythmic pounding of love-making from next door (the kind that starts up but only lasts for a few seconds as it makes too much noise, so you change position and try again only to find that it too makes too much noise). Watched a bit of TV (with sh*t-loads of adverts every couple of minutes) before getting showered and changed ready to go to class. Going back to last night, Fitzwilliams (the Irish pub/bar within our hotel) had a karaoke night with various people singing there hearts out. Most were reasonable, a few were good, and at least two were attrocious (not that I could've or would've done any better). One guy did a good rendition of Frank Sinatra which Phil and I approved of, and the worst/funniest one was a lanky 'not-all-there' guy (complete with baseball cap) who did an Elvis number. After a large meal (swordfish again) and a couple of beers I was feeling so bloated it hurt and I had to call it a night (much to Phil's dismay who wanted to keep drinking thru the night). I also forgot to write my postcards (again!)... I really must try to get them done before I return to the UK!! We're going out to Boston again with Francois tonight for another trip round, meal and beers - we're going to nip into the Cheers bar for a pint or two... I must remember to take the camera! Regarding the blonde mentioned in Phil's previous entry - she was rather lovely and after making eye contact I got a smile and was tempted to leave Devitt to his beer, but the way I was feeling (i.e. bloated after the meal) I'd have probably embarassed myself by burping in her face or something similar... so I took the gutless way out and stayed with Phil.

Throw another city on the barby God Yesterday was hot (101'F -- the highest recorded in Boston for about 10 years), today is just as bad... As I've mentioned in a previous Blog, I feel that the great glowing ball of nuclear fussion we call the Sun is trying to kill me. Eddie managed to fullfill one of his goals for the Boston trip and actually tried some Clam Chowder... Clam Chunder would have been a more apt description of the delicacy... But fair play, he ate it :-( Last night was mainly spent in the local Irish bar knocking back pints of bitter while listening to some of the local karaoke "stars". Eddie, of course, got the hots for some petit blonde girl that did a turn, a feeling I'm sure was not mutual. Tonight we'll probably be going to a couple of bars in the centre of Boston; who knows, the Edster might get lucky... Is it me, or can anyone else hear the thunder of hooves? -- That's it, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have turned up :-) Now thats a tasty burger... Today's lunch mainly consisted of MacDonalds -- I know, it's amazing, they actually have them over here too. Three guesses for who suggested this eatery !!! Next it'll be Burger King or, heaven forbid, a Pizza Hut.

We all had a good night out yesterday. After driving round/thru downtown Boston and various other sites (Harvard, M.I.T, past the Cheers bar, etc) we parked up and went to look for somewhere decent to eat. We eventually found a nice little Italian place and ate. Both Francois and myself had Swordfish, and Phil opted for the Chicken... the gamble paid off as the swordfish was excellent! After spending an hour or so over the meal and a few beers it was time to call it a night - and we were once more subjected to the perilous voyage that is driving in Boston (I can't believe we didn't see any accidents). All in all, I photographed quite a few sites, but unfortunately didn't get any totty photo's (and there was some really nice ones scattered around). I'm starting the think I'm not going to get a photo that would be entitled The Boston Bag-lady or Boston Supertramp.

Fanueil Hall and beyond... Last night we were shown some of the many sights of Boston by our tutor Francios. Eddie, of course, used this as a photo opportunity and managed to break his 20 picture limit. Hopefully he'll have captured some of the historic sites such as Bunker Hill, Harvard and the Bull & Finch; however I feel that he spent most of his memory and battery power trying to snap the local totty.

Time waits for no man... A strange thing has been going on - on our first night here in Burlington we got tired and went to bed around 11:30pm (Burlington time), then the second night it was 10:10pm, and last night Phil was yawning his head off at 8:30pm (after 2 pints of Guiness and a double Glenmorangie) and I must admit that I was feeling rather cream-crackered myself. At this rate we'll be fast asleep during lecture-time by Friday. So much for adjusting our body clocks! Ah! something's just moved - I must get a photo of it ... I've still got another 19 photo's to take according to my daily quota ;-)

There is a God... Eddie's eagerness to calculate the number of pictures he could take every day was thrown to the gutter this morning when he couldn't manage to get his battery charger working on the US power source... Yeah.... This means that my mug shot won't be being displayed throught half the Western World. The Sun God Cometh... Whenever and wherever I go in the States it's always 95'+ and I've finally figured it out: I am some form of Sun god... The great big glowing ball of heat and radiation hates me and follows me around on the off chance that it can give me sun-stroke. This week is set to become one of the hottest weeks in Boston this year... Great... I love the sun... It makes me come out in a lovely lobster colour.

We have finally arrived and was able to acces the internet via a very kind lady at an information booth in the Mall. The hotel has beaten my expectations; not only does it have an English style bar, it also has an English style bar that serves extremely good Guiness; the Talbot Club has something to beat now... The bar is now becoming our second home; they serve beer, they deliver pizza; we may not return home if this level of service continues. Eddie even managed to break his 3 pint maximum, which of course meant he was randy as hell... I feel sorry for the poor girls sat to the left of him. Just had lunch in the middle of a tropical jungle, very nice (and large) pizza between the two of us, the only problem was the occasional thunder-storm and elephant noise (but maybe that was Eddie on the pull again). Get back to you later...

Despite a clear warning to the contrary, young Eddie started the morning off by taking a good long stare at the chest region of the *Bountiful* Maria; luckily I had previously warned her of any passing advances that he may have thrown towards her. On arriving at Manchester a thought started perculating through the mind of Eddie; did he turn off the TV, and did he lock the front door -- it's a case of "Hello Boston, goodbye wide-screen TV" It wasn't until I got to the airport that I realized that my coniving family had switched my jacket -- now it looks like I've been kicked out of a yacht club... The jacket switch came with a price, the bloody brass buttons sparked off the metal detectors and I got a free feel-up at security; Eddie wants to borrow the jacket when we get to the US. The flight was quiet, we got to see the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament; however on landing we've found that we are in a Godless airport without a Starbucks... The in-flight meal consisted of a cake with poppy seeds on -- but it wasn't the same as the poppy-cake I got on the "Dam'": if it was we wouldn't need a plane to fly home... Eddie has calculated that he can take up to twenty pictures a day with his current memory cards... God alone can save me now. Signing off for now...

This Blogger account has been set up to record the daily diary of the week long trip to Boston. God only knows what is going to happen over the following few days, hopefully we'll come out of this thing alive. But if we don't make it back, please Martin, shag a nurse on my behalf and think of the happier times; times when Balance Transfers was merely something that our customers did to clear off their balances with us; when the IT team didn't have the rich side/poor side devide; when we didn't have to use the codeword "Janeway". Those were the happy days, no forms to fill in and enough mainframe rights to kill half of the business...