The Atlantic

A real sense of winding down has descended on the tour, most notably this evening, as we have essentially completed our trip. This afternoon, we arrived in Portland, Maine, officially conquering the USA.

We left Providence and arrived in Boston, spending a little time in Harvard Square before descending on Allston, our home for the weekend. Kate and Cat and their posse of the greatest cats ever were the perfect hosts. They took us (as well as the other three guests they were entertaining that weekend, so a grand total of eight St Andrews graduates were partying in Allston on Friday...) for nachos, chili, beer and baseball, then onto a bar/club filled with Bostonians who all wished they were British. As we danced to Pulp and Suede, we were told that as Brits, we were the coolest people in the place by default. Ironically, we're all after Green Cards...

We drank a lot of PBR and had a lot of fun.

Waking up the next morning was a little more difficult than usual. Hungover (it took Neil until 8PM that evening before he finally declared himself 'post-hangover'), HOT and tired we headed into the city. Boston is pretty spectacular, and feels quite small downtown, so the walking wasn't as much of a pain in the ass as it had been in other cities. Particular highlights were the Common, little graveyards, the Statehouse and of course the waterfront.









We took a trip to Fenway to watch some more baseball and drink some more beers. We also enjoyed some Little League World Series, the single most engaging live sporting event on the planet.



Back to Allston for more chili and beer, then once reunited with the rest of the team, we headed to some dude's basement where Cat's band were playing a show. And they were good. And she forced her band to learn a Jonas Brothers song for us. She's quite the rockstar. Good going Cat.



Sadly there are no photos, but to make up for it, have a myspace link pushed in yr face yeah?



www.myspace.com/helloninjaband

Click it.

We had a super good time, so thanks a million to Cat and Kate, and Will for the amazing sandwich which did not last long, and to Rachel and Pete and Claire for hanging out with us, and most especially to Clarence and his sidekicks for keeping us entertained. I have never seen a posse of cats quite so organized with their scheming and troublemaking.

Today we took a leisurely drive thru New Hampshire to Maine. We watched a little NASCAR with a beer then drove out to Two Lights and the Lobster Shack.



The Lobster Shack is essentially identical to that chippie in Anstruther that everyone goes to. Except here there are ample picnic tables outside, you're sitting on the beautiful Maine/Atlantic coastline, it isn't freezing all the time, and instead of fish and chips, you're going for a lobster dinner.





Life is pretty good when you're eating lobster. Especially when you're eating it here.



And just like that, we're done. We beat America. Tomorrow we return to Massachusetts. On Tuesday it's NYC, and what is sure to be an emotional goodbye to Caroline the Chevy. And probably a less emotional goodbye to Michael.

On Wednesday, it's goodbye to the States. On thursday, it's home. Goddamnit.