(no subject)

[egypturnash]

Boston is so intricate and grid-defying. If I do move here, I think I need to buy a GPS unit to keep from getting lost, lost, lost. lediva says the streets were planned by just building up cow-paths, and it shows. That and the age of the buildings makes me feel a little like I'm walking around the French Quarter everywhere I go; it's just not built for cars, and I kinda like that.

Comments

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

It's a bit disorienting at first, but you begin to see the city in terms of the subway map, which has its pros and cons.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Kinda like London, then, from what I hear about there. (I've heard stories of people realizing that you can avoid a half hour of Tube riding by getting out and walking a block to another station, once they re-fold the Tube map into a physically-correct map in their heads...)

In the summer, I can really see bicycling nearly everywhere. It's small and intricate by my sprawling California standards.

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure Chris can tell you more about that. I don't know where he gets his bravery -- neccessity, I guess. Boston drivers scare me WAY too much to the point of preventing me wanting to really get out in-town on my bike. Then again, most Boston bikers warrant it by thinking that the rules of the road don't apply to them...

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I'm used to cycling in cities that have Bad Drivers! I was amazed when I moved to Sunnyvale and saw bike paths everywhere and signs that said "SHARE THE ROAD" with a picture of a bicycle.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

I notice that the new subway map is significantly more accurate in terms of its representation of Boston. The 1990-vintage map that's still posted in most stations didn't even have geography's phone number, and confused me on a number of occasions.

[lediva.livejournal.com]

GPS is your friend, at least while driving.

It's a few hundred dollars... but I've saved myself at least that much in sanity.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

While walking or cycling, too. I have a unit that attaches to my PDA, and it's very useful. It's also slow and old, so new gadget lust wanders in, especially after watching yours from the back seat during the drive down. It's like you have the mini-map from a video game in the real world.

[zeeth_kyrah]

I love that part, yes!

[xydexx.livejournal.com]

IIRC, the streets in Boston were laid out that way from avoiding swampland.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I feel so at home now! I come from a formerly-swamp city!

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're all cloistered up in that Posties' apartment, I'm stopping by the city for by 2 PM endo appointment. If you need a guide or something after that, I could stop by.

Also, if you're curious about running into more queer/trans folks, Gendercrash is tomorrow night and I might be persuaded to act as chauffeur. Skian is the guest reader and if you haven't read his stuff, you really should ^^ You can leave early if you find yourself oversocialized with all the college kids, but its worth it to hang with the older folks.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Maybe! I slouched around some today and am thinking I need to go drift out to a bookstore or two soon.

As to Gendercrash, well, I'm afraid I already schedulled dinner with Chris Goodwin during that time-slot...

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

I'll swing by around 4-ish and see if you're in the mood. (Boston Medical is all the way across town). If not, no biggie.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Unless you're into doing something earlier (pre-two). I'm pretty free.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Peggy,

I stopped by your place at 4, as I mentioned above (actually, I came by at 3 since I managed to get out early and waited), but you weren't in. I understand that you had indicated wanderlust in the previous post, but I do want you to understand that "stopping by" the Posts apartment is not something I can do casually. I live an hour out of town which I must drive, most of which is highway. As you have had your own experiences driving highways recently, I think you can appreciate the effort it takes to get from point A to B :)

Nonetheless, when I stop by at a time that late in the afternoon, I end up getting stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home, as I did today. I do hope we can hang out sometime in the future, but it would make a lot of things easier on me if you could indicate beforehand that my presence is not required if I offer to come over, and you have indicated that it would be a good idea.

Thanks for understanding :)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Aaag. I'm really, really sorry about that! I went out to do lunch with Rik and accidentally left the keys in the apartment. Which were HIS keys that he'd insisted I take - I thought I'd given them back to him last night, and was planning to swipe them from him again when I saw him at work.

So I was locked out of the apartment, and kinda stuck roaming around Boston until we were pretty sure Kin would be back home. Me = DUMB.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

So I was locked out of the apartment

It's okay, no hard feelings ^^ I'm sorry you had a rough day.

And are you sure you were locked out? Because when I was there around 3, the door to your apartment was very open. I even put a package of Amazon stuff for Rik in the door for you so it wouldn't go lying around downstairs.

[protocat.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm at all used to it and I've been in the state for years. Really, if it wasn't for the subway, I'd have no sense of direction whatsoever. I certainly don't drive through it much -- and yes, a GPS is a wonderful thing. >.@

[bluerain.livejournal.com]

I always notice that about east coast cities (and what few European ones I've visited). Being from a very young part of the country myself, the contrast is always really striking.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I was born and raised in a city that's several hundred years older than I am, though I think the part I actually grew up in dates back to somewhere in the 30s at the earliest.

Being in an entire city that barely reaches back to the mid-1800s weirds me out in some fundamental way. Back in LA, a "lovely old building" probably dates to the 1940s in most cases. I think most of central New Orleans dates to the mid 1600s, and the city's sonewhat older than that IIRC.

Visiting Europe would be... I don't know, really. I know being in a city significantly younger than New Orleans is strange. Being in one much, much older might be weird, too, or it might be even more welcomingly decrepid. I'm used to more casual decay than the West Coast can usually provide.

[bluerain.livejournal.com]

In Hamburg, I saw a Burger King in a stone building that had to be at least 300 years old.

We Americans not only lack respect for our own antiquity, we lack respect for anybody else's. Of course, I guess the Germans didn't have to let us.

[rubberskunk.livejournal.com]

It's also lovely walkable, with nooks and crannies and variety...

Not sterile.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah. LA is a dead place. This is an old, living city. It's got cycles. It's got graveyards scattered here and there. It's got buildings crammed against each other because space is precious. And it's still got green all through it.

I've been living in the suburbs for a while. I forget how nice it is to be in the city.

[rubberskunk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we miss Boston very much.

[kamenkyote.livejournal.com]

Compared to just about every other city I've been in, Boston is really easy to get around in. Ok, sure, I lived most of my life there, but with the T (from whence I get my name), you can get most anywhere. If I moved back, I wouldn't bother with a car unless I lived way out. I rode my bike to and from work for 12 years. Looking back, I was crazy, and it helped, but I never had an accident.

The stories about the cow-paths are true; all the main roads converge on Boston Common which was a cow pasture. Looking at a map of downtown is like looking at shattered glass. And lots of those streets are one way. It's wonderful chaos.

Didn't know you might move there. *sigh* That'd be yet another person I knew and liked that moved somewhere I left. At least there's built in cool people there. :"D

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's something we're sort of kicking around. Maybe. Maybe not now, maybe later. There's still relationship stuff to hammer out first. And other chaotic influences.

But there's enough cool people in easy distance to make it attractive! Despite fears of the winter...

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

And every time I see a bus, or the signs for 'em, I think of you!