Paul's House Diary

The dark side of the moon can be more welcoming than Boston in the winter. It’s cold, everyone’s grumpy and we all have bruised trunks from slipping on black ice. It’s summer now, and being outside is no longer painful; this weather combined with God-like bikers calves such as mine the recipe for a road trip makes. I decided yesterday that road trip would be to Davis Square where I would  see what those kooks on the other side of the river do for fun.

In my two and a half years as an official Bostonian, I’ve rarely ventured across the river, let alone journeyed to the strange northern wilderness they call Somerville. In the past, with limited T access, Somerville to me was Canada; not that foreign but too far to ever bother visiting. Now that I’m a biking fool, Somerville is no longer Canada and more like, well, Somerville, that town an easy half hours ride away.

My big conclusion: Davis Square is a lot like Allston Village. In fact, it has a Joshua Tree, a Tavern in the Square, a really nice Goodwill and a McDonalds in a store front; all staples of my Allston experience.

Their Goodwill outdid Allston’s. Theirs has two hilarious floors of orphaned memories compared to Allston’s one. The VHS collection was a carbon of copy of the one I grew up with back home, minus the “Dancing Grannies” work-out series we discovered.  Some of the children’s books made me depressed, like the personalized pre-to-post operation children’s diary from Beth Israel that was started by Rachel in the pre-op phase BUT NEVER COMPLETED in post-op. I learned that High Schools on the South Shore provided champagne flutes to their underage students for prom in the early part of the last decade. I just hope little Rachel survived her operation at Beth Israel and went on to get trashed on champagne from the North Quincy High Prom 2002.

Davis has less foreign food than Allston Village but more in the way of pubs and Deli’s. I could have been my regular xenophobic-foodie self and opted for a burger with BBQ sauce anywhere, but my companions had recently gone vegan and veg so we got sushi. I got chicken teriyaki rolls, which were cooked and laced with a mean spicy mayo. It was totally cheating but I never branch out, and this was a big branch.

Somerville has shades of my hometown, Stoughton, too. Both towns share an affinity for paved or graveled front lawns with statues of the Madonna front and center. I guess they do it to keep the statue protected from children or pets who might play on a surface that is more soft and lush.

Below are some pictures from the day. The man in neon yellow is my sparring partner Joe, and the hotty in purple is my girl X, who both hoofed it to Davis with me. On the way we saw many noteworthy things; a cab who lost it’s rear-end at the intersection of the Harvard Bridge, a street with the same name as me, Harvard students outside, etc., etc. Me and X continued the exploring on the otherside of the river today with a trip through Cambridge’s big three squares, so I threw some of those pictures in there too.

I’ll be visiting again soon, to claim my “Dancing Grannies” DVD and look into property on Davenport Street.

 (Click on photo for slide show)

 Extended tour of Cambridge, click for slides.