*****(<(O^O)>)***** 

SAILOR'S DIARY 

*****(<(O^O)>)***** 

A list of things that Sailor likes about Boston - #5

Yesterday, when you overslept (be honest: do humans also pass out on a Friday night from reading Aubrey and Maturin? And need someone to pry the sickly paperback from their lifeless ghoul fingers? What I'm trying to say is, you're weird and you can't just leave breakfast duty to me like that, at least tell me where you put the CharlieCard), I went out to Boston Public Market by myself to pick up some lemons and capers. There was a light rain shower by the time I picked out a canvas tote to put it all in, and I waited outside under the portico-thingy for it to let up.

The rain always puts me in a good mood. It makes me laugh to think of rain clouds trying to fill the surface world one drizzle at a time. Maybe one day it could create a second ocean, but it would certainly take a long while.

Did you know that the rain here has a very specific odor? How do I describe it...a little acrid, and a little smoky. On busy market days, with everyone splashing around, it fills your nose. And even though it didn't really make any sense, I found myself stepping out of the building's cover to smell the rain. 

It wasn't a long moment, just enough to wet my hair, and when I'd finished I could see a delivery man staring at me. Well, you know how that excites and delights me...NOT! I gave him a nod, although I must have had a sharp look on my face, and he let out a pinched squeak of a " 'morning", like a balloon deflating. The men of Boston, everyone. I then made a little act of pretending to notice that the rain had let up, then dashed headlong to Haymarket Station.

So, what do you think? How did I do?

Margin notes:

How did you do what?

I've always liked the rain smell here. There is something in the very air that is still the same as a hundred years ago. The rain provides instant comfort in a dry world, just as it did then. Although I've got to say, I've never found the idea of a great deluge very funny.

The CharlieCard is next to the keys. Did you not take the keys when you went out? You left the apartment unlocked while scouring all of BPM for canvas bags?

We still have capers in the upper cabinets!!! What the hell are we going to do with all these capers!

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm attaching my old whistle key finder to the keys, the one you kept laughing at. Don't bother staging a protest, it's done. And, we're going to get an old-fashioned teak key bowl, like it's a 90s sitcom. You're all about the throwbacks, right?

- Jo