paul reed

Well done video showing Boston. Pretty mellow and eclectic [via bostonist]

Someone with too much time on their hands decided it would be fun to re-do the MBTA subway map with anagrams replacing each station name. Aside from the occasional profanity, some of them are pretty good (”A Scenic Perk” replacing Science Park, and the headline grabbing “Own Gin Drowns Scot” for Downtown Crossing). Not quite as big an endeavour as doing the same for the London Underground mind.

Finally reading some old email. There’s a several Big Discussions going on locally right now: one is the State budget (since the state is skint), another is the renewal of the trash contract, and the last is resident parking. The last two are of course tied to the first as the City is looking for any way it can to rake in more money. There are many proposals on the table and it’s turning (turned?) into a heated debate. I’m ambivolent since resident parking where I live is — at least for now — plentiful. I suppose I’m lucky that Danielle Steele doesn’t live next door.

Walked home from the office - it’s a good 45 minutes to an hour traversing the City. You get to see a whole cross section of Boston. Decided not to go swimming: on Thursday night Community Running take up 3/5ths of the pool so it’s normally quite crowded. I’ll plan on going tomorrow before going to the Niketown RC Boston Marathon gathering.

Well it finally happened: after having spent 6+ years driving in the US I was pulled over yesterday. I’d just been to Belmont Wheelworks to finalise some of the spec’s on my new bike. As I trundled up the road totally out of it I saw a Police car practically in my boot (aka. trunk), lights blaring. So, I diligently pulled over to let him past, only to have him pull over behind me. In a word: bugger!

So it turns out that I was doing 46mph in a 30mph zone, both facts of which I had no idea. I was on auto-pilot driving — the sun was out, not a care in the world. He could have said I was doing 90 and I’d be in no shape to argue. Anyway, he took my driving license and registration and went back into his car for about 10 minutes. I’m convinced they’re just listening to the radio, giving me (the crim) time to stew over my heinous crime. Finally he came back and said he was just going to give me a warning, but that I should be careful. “It’s an easy mistake to make” he said, “with such a wide open road, but it’s a 30mph zone. What if a child ran out or someone stopped suddenly?”. He’s got a valid point, but in any other country a road this wide would be called a motorway or autobahn. Still it was a close one … would have made the bike even more expensive!