I woke early, breakfasted and wandered up to the reception to book a place on the hotel shuttle bus in to Harvard Square.
Before booking I had examined a few hotel maps which interestingly seemed not to bother with a scale indicator. However a quick recce of the immediate locale seemed to indicate that I could nip in to Radio Shack, pick up an adapter and walk back and then get ready to get in to work for the scheduled meeting at lunchtime.*
I mentioned my plan to the receptionist and she looked at me like I was absolutely nuts. Walk back! WALK BACK. She brought in her colleague who was equally amazed by this proposal. She grudgingly agreed that it might be feasible if it was nice but wasn’t willing to give an estimate of either distance or likely duration.
I pointed out that I was from England and the fact that it wasn’t raining automatically meant that the day was falling in to the “nice” category. She laughed and then ran off to do some photocopying or whatever excuse they use when they need to hit the panic button.
The shuttle ride took 5 minutes and the Kosovan driver agreed that it was an easy walk back. While waiting for Radio Shack to open I wandered in to Staples “on the off chance”. They pointed me in the right direction and 5 minutes later I was walking out of the office supplies shop with the necessary gizmo.
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| Cambridge, MA |
The walk back to the hotel took me 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES. I pondered the receptionist’s incredulity as I wandered in to the foyer and hit the lift elevator button.
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| Charles River, Cambridge MA |
Back in my room I had a Baron Frankenstein moment as I connected the phone to the mains and shouted “IT LIVES”.
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* This is not strictly correct - this is what I hoped would happen. I was actually thinking "they are not going to have one, I will have travelled over 3,500 miles to watch my laptop and phone die on day 1" **
** I am not a pessimist. I am a realist.
By such small things are our lives affected. I too have experienced the "no walking" mentality of the American people, and it is often the case that a pedestrian cannot even make it from one establishment to another, so well done for sticking it out. Also, if your sleeping pattern is even faintly like mine, then I am guessing you may be watching a fair bit of 2am TV, which from memory often seems to be re-runs of old UK shows! Hope the trip goes well.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for the building advice. I am with you, and am expecting £150-200 p.d. for labour - if your guys are good, £100 p.d. is v. good.