martha python

It's a kind of lettuce, related to (but contrary to popular opinion, not the same as) arugula.

cass

Hilary:

If people find you "gorgeous, intelligent, witty, warm, fun and generally super-talented," why on earth do you lack self-esteem??!!!

The Maine coast and the No. Calif. coasts are actually rather different -- flora, fauna, weather, climate, smell, feel. (The tides in Maine can be 10-20 feet!) But both great experiences. Recommend a trip up through Maine to Canada -- most Americans have no idea just how much wilderness there is in the far northeast.

Sorry to hear that rocket is lettuce. I had really enjoyed the idea of a constructed salad with propellant!

Hilary

Cass,

>>>>>> If people find ......

They don't. It was just my daft sense of humour. I am all those things of course, it's just people are so overawed in my presence, words fail them. Yes yes I'm sure that's it. Nah, the truth is that behind this cheery facade I have all the confidence of a turkey in November, but I’m working on it.

Talking of working, I'd better get on with some if I'm to afford another trip out sometime. Thanks again for th

Hilary

e travel tips. Oops.

Al

Hilary, I am surprised you didn't recognize my quote's source. It is Robert Burns, the Scottish poet.

Hilary

Hi Al, Tks, yes I remembered myself just after I sent through the question. Presumably we'll all be 'quoting Burns' come December 31st ... I sing the blinking song every year and I've never known what it means!

Happy New Year.

Donna

Bravo, Hillary! Quite the trip report...Actually, the Midtown is a "hidden jewel" (although, not so hidden anymore, thanks to travel boards, with ever escalating room rates, because it's well located, has a "T" stop right outide the front door and provides free parking (so far) worth a good $30 or so daily. Believe me, it's "nice enough" in Boston for the rates. And, then some... If you were fortunate to find "bargains" shopping at the Pru and along Newbury Street, consider yourselves truly fortunate! Faneuil Hall, like all popular "tourist destinations" is indeed "very busy". But worthwhile all the same. On the TV, you can tell when one program ends and another starts by the 12 minutes of advertising in-between. Your comments about the telegraph wires are most observant, since one would imagine that towns blessed with lots and lots of snow and ice in the wintertime would have buried them underground by now. As for Ogunquit, popular places and heavily visited and therefore very crowded. Best time to go, when the weather is still nice, is May, June, September, October. You're so correct - a beach is a beach....Also true that lots of Americans are considerably overweight - and don't mind their appearance (or claim they don't). Here in New England, we take potential storm warnings seriously (you just never know about those peskly N'oreasters...). Better to be prepared than not. So, so true about Lake Winnepesaukee. We have a favorite lodging (which I'd never dare post) where the ultimate pleasure is lifting our heads off the pillow upon waking and just gazing about. Heaven... However, you should have felt fortunate to have enjoyed your views, since there is precious little "lodging with a view" around the lake, so any remote location should not have seemed inconvenient. Lake W is huge. You didn't mention - did you take a cruise on the MV Mount Washington! A fabulous way to spend the afternoon or enjoy an entertaining dinner cruise. As a NH resident of a glorious 10 years or so, I'm relieved that this destination is mostly scenery. Apparently, you did not happen to stumble across Love's Quay, a fabulous restaurant for lunch or dinner with wonderful nighttime entertainment (and, curiously, where we just happened to be when the news reports of the accident claiming Princess Diana's life - and we just adored her - were broadcast). To us, Waterville Valley is a disappointing destination and overpromoted as a "resort". Nothing much going on there. If you do return to Lake W., be sure to dine at William Tell and the Victorian. Both are Spendid. If you e-mail me directly, I'll recommend a fabulous place to sleep right on Lake W. I'm amazed that right on the way back you weren't aware of the outlet center in Tilton!!!Dozens of stores, amazing bargains, no sales tax! Excellent restaurants nearby as well. All in all, it seems you made out quite fabulously, though...

Hilary

Yes, me AGAIN. Hi Donna, thanks for all your comments. I’ll pick up on a couple. I realised after I’d written the bit about finding bargains in Newbury Street it probably made me sound like I was rolling in it .... that’s not the situation at all, it was just that some of the more specific American clothing my kids like can be almost double the price here and I won’t let them have it because of it, so they’d been holding off buying clothes for ages before we came out in order to get what they wanted at normal prices, plus they were also buying the odd item on behalf of their friends.

Re Lake W. lodgings, I know just what you mean about ‘lifting your head & just gazing’ – our downstairs bedroom looked straight out onto the lake and I used to go to bed really looking forward to waking up! I’ve been fully aware throughout how fortunate we were to have this particular location, not least because it wasn’t cheap! We booked late, there was very little available and we ended up with something pricier than we’d planned, but it was sooooooo worth it, and any hassles connected with its remoteness were far far outweighed by the beauty of the place. I would be very interested to hear of your ‘secret’ lodging recommendation – my sister may well be heading out to Winnipesaukee next summer for one thing. Perhaps you could e-mail it through to me at the above address. Thanks.

No we didn’t do the Mount Washington. Dinner dances aren’t really our scene and we were able to get out & about around the lake fairly easily on the speedboat. We saw the ship once while we were boating. Love’s Quay is in Wolfeboro I think? We went to W. one day by boat but ate lunch at more or less the first place we came across because we were busting to go to the loo! (Public toilets are SO hard to find in your country!!) It was Rumors Cafe and I’d remembered reading a recommendation for it. The food was okay but we had to wait an AGE to be served.

Re Waterville Valley, believe it or not our main reason for visiting it was because of its BMX track! My eldest was very keen to try out a US one as he’s very involved with it all here. Also it wasn’t too far from where we were staying, whereas the real beauty spots further north were a bit too much of a trek if we didn’t want lots of whingeing from the back seat. I wasn’t knocked out by W.V. particularly although it was very pleasant at the time of day we were there because there weren’t many people around, and there was definitely a quiet calmness in the air up there.
I felt it was probably quite a good spot for a family with young children wanting a weekend break. Oh yes, one thing which I definitely remember was the road from there to Lincoln. For much of it it was a dirt track and VERY slow. We kept worrying we were on the wrong road but we weren’t.

The other horror point roadwise was trying to get through Meredith on the Saturday when we left. The traffic was more or less at a standstill for the most unbelievable time. We knew there was an art & craft fair on so assumed it was that but when we finally got to the town there didn’t seem to be any sign of any fair and we got the impression from a lady in a gas station that it was just an overstretched intersection that suffered most weekends. Avoid, avoid, avoid! We drove through Meredith often at other times though and never had any problems.

We did go to the Tilton outlets but one of our main reasons for doing so was to try & find this new computer game which is out in the States but not here and was dollar for pound. (There were seemingly no shops selling very up-to-date computer games anywhere around the lake, even Laconia, which surprised us.) We also bought a great new piece of luggage to take home our various purchases in and that was an amazing bargain. At other points on the trip, the males amongst us all bought shoes at great savings. I only wish the antiques I’d bought at Burlwood had been bargains too – that was one area which wasn’t cheap! We’re all very happy with our various purchases though. Every other time we’ve been to the States we’ve either not thought ahead enough to allow for the extra spending money to buy stuff, and/or haven’t had ‘room’ to bring anything home. Incidentally we drove through Tilton itself and as I recall it seemed a very attractive looking “real” town, perhaps ripe for ‘reviving’? I may have that all wrong though as we didn’t stop long enough to have a proper look as it was peeing down.

Ah well, yet more thoughts from a broad who just doesn’t know when to stop talking.

Yes I do. ‘bye.

Lynn

Hilary - It was a true delight to read your posts. They are the wittiest and most wonderful I've ever read. So glad you and the family enjoyed your time in the States.

cass

I know Hilary has gone to do battle on other threads, defending the reasonable from the shrill, but for the benefit of Donna and anyone else who might care about telephone and power lines:

There's a reason why there aren't many farms in New England: ROCKS! Not only would it take amazing, and unprecedented, cooperation among all the jurisdictions to agree to spend the money to sink the power lines, it would also take enormous effort to cut through or around those rocks!

When I lived there, I used to try to have a garden and finally caved in to those who suggested a "rock garden." I just piled up the rocks and let the wildflowers pop up wherever they could.

Tony Hughes

At the risk of becoming even more unpopular then before I have to go against the grain and most of you on this thread.

The second I read hilary's first line I had an inkling she was from London. It's the attitude that gets me.

Your trip report was amusing and well written in parts but in others it was patronising and negative.

I'm sure Virgin will be quite happy not having to accomodate you and your family ever again. So many people always moan about seat allocation - in the bigger picture of things it matters not. You are willing to take an inexpensive flight and then whine about the fact that you couldnt blether to your husband for 8 hours.

Boston was like a building site? The food hall was busy? Now you know what it's like being a tourist visiting London.

Your condescending and negative tone throughout the report was funny at first then got monotonous from midway to the end. It reminded me of all the Bill Bryson wannabes who try try try but cannot capture the right mix of negativity and humour.

How amusing to record that many Americans are fat. The traffic around Boston is busy? Really?

I was also disappointed by the crazy lexicon you slipped into with the all too obvious Yanks comment and the mimic-ing the way Americans speak.

It seems you did very little research, despite insisting you posted a number of months ago.

You should read about Robert Burns, try to understand him and his poems...after all , if an American can??? (Al - Burns was a great man - 'bought and sold for English gold' his comment about the Act of the Union from 1707, also worth a read).

I've yet to have a battle about seat allcation on any flight, anywhere and I have been on airplanes since the early 1970's. What is is you find to moan about? 'I DEMAND 4 seats, all together, on the aisle with a window, non-smoking for three of us, with good legroom not near any fat people or children. Oh and we want 2 vegan meals for three of us and two peanut free meals for two of us. This had better not take long'.

The only point I will make about Diana is that, for all the people who mourned for her, all those who wept buckets, there isn't one who she would have wanted as a friend. It's the old 'how do you do, your majesty, wipe your nose on my carpet, your majesty' thing. She didn't care about any of the working class but her PR team did well...holding HIV positive's hand, African mine victim etc ..

Incidentally, in that awful British Airways advert, O'Rourke mentions cricket - that's not British, it's English..British Airways was also a national company. Thats is, it was owned by the people. Then the 'British' Government privatised it - essentially asking the people to pay for what was already theirs.

Do you know why it is one of the biggest airlines in the world? For years it had no competition and when it did, BA still retained, as it does today, the 'best' take-off and landing slots - If it can't be bothered with a particular flight it will attempt to sell the slot , despite never having purchased it in the first place.

With its outrageous prices - it costs more to fly out of Britain (and in particular Scotland) than it does to fly the other way - some smaller companies tried to, quite rightly, undercut BA. What did BA do? Only started its own 'budgest' company whose losses it offsets with its enormous profits.

Hilary, London is NOT the cat's pyjamas, that's a point many Londoners seem to forget.

Charles

Hilary - thanks for your post...unlike Cass (thought mama chocked on a ham sandwich) we enjoyed your story. Please return to San Francisco. The "City" has not been the same since your last visit. Come Back, and remember that most americans appreciate humor and wit. Best Regards from California!

Diane

To Tony: Such anger. Come on, the woman was just giving her travel report, which we asked for. Give the woman a break, and go express yourself elsewhere.

Hilary

I can’t be bothered even wondering what was behind Tony’s need to do such a hatchet job on me, but I’ll respond to his post purely to put straight one or two points within it. To be fair, I can see on re-reading my stuff how he might have drawn one or two of his conclusions. Being a big girl (as you know), I can cope with a bit of criticism, and I’ve also lived with e-mail long enough now to know that moods & tones can be misread occasionally. However, his mention of this ‘London’ tone he seems to think I have says more to me about him than it does about me. It’s also somewhat ironic bearing in mind that I’ve had very little to do with London or city life for very many years now, have no great love for the place and at no point suggested that I did. Of course it’s crowded, it’s a popular city. The last I heard though, it didn’t have the equivalent of the M1 motorway being built right through the centre of it.

His judgemental generalisations apart, I would also suggest that my report was a) occasionally amusing, yes, b) fairly well written in parts, although as I wasn’t remotely attempting to come up with a piece of ‘travel writing’ but just a few memories of my holiday, as requested, hardly my finest hour, and c) critical in places, yes, but, unlike Tony’s attitude towards me, not patronising or negative, or at least not when it left my brain. It’s just not the way I think. I’m proud of being what I like to think of as an equalist, ie no better or worse than anyone else, and my country is no better or worse than any other either. There’s good & bad in everyone & in every place in the world. The way I see it, the States is a big girl too & can cope with a bit of harmless criticism, although if others on this forum also found me overly critical then I apologise. I would just like to point out though that my giving the trip 9 out of 10 is hardly negative. Returning out of choice to the US for the 4th time is also hardly a sign of thinking little of the place. If I thought that, I doubt I'd waste my time bothering to write anything at all.

But back to those generalisations for a minute. Tony has no idea what our seat allocation problem was about and yet in he went with all guns firing. Firstly, we chose Virgin because we'd been happy with them in the past and because of the computer games/tvs in the backs of the seats which our youngest loves & which on a seven hour journey can make all the difference, and not because it was any cheaper, which it barely was, than British Airways. Our travel agent had been told by Virgin when he’d booked our tickets that we couldn’t get pre-allocation. I phoned Virgin at the airport the day before we were to due to fly out just on the offchance and found we had been allocated separate seats. The girl apologised for the mistake but said the only chance of changing them would be to arrive three rather than two hours before the flight, which we did. After a bit of haggling at Gatwick, we were put together. We were also told to go to the Virgin desk when we arrived in Boston and they would sort out our return seats, which had also been allocated and were even more disparately scattered than on the journey out. We tried to do this but there was no Virgin desk at Boston, and we were told by someone from another airline to phone a number later that day. When we did this we were told to arrive on the day three hours before our return flight again. We did this and then waited in a queue at check-in for over 45 minutes. The Virgin staff there were outrageously unhelpful and refused to budge. I also heard the man in the next check-in line with the same problem being told, even though he’d booked & paid for his tickets very many months previously, that he was lucky to have a seat at all. The flight was typically overbooked. We ended up calling for the manager, a supercilious character who beat anything I could do hands down in the condescension stakes, and we eventually settled for two lots of two some distance from each other. Tony might think £1800 is inexpensive for four flights from London but for that money I don’t expect to be treated shabbily. A family holiday for us starts when we leave this house, not when we arrive in a country. The travelling should be enjoyable. It wasn’t. Perhaps the reason “so many people moan about allocation” is because it actually does “matter”. To families at any rate.

As for my not having done any research, this did make me smile. I spend so much time researching trips that by the time I go I feel like I’ve already been. For one thing, my initial post back in June or whenever (I can’t find it on the forum anymore) produced over 30 really great responses from friendly Americans all trying to help.

I’m sorry if my ‘fat Americans’ topic bored Tony so. I mentioned it because it was an issue personally related to me.

I’ve noted his advice that I ‘should’ read Burns. So now who’s being patronising? Personally I think I should read whatever I wish to read, and I think my understanding of the world might just about survive if Burns doesn’t quite top my reading list at any point. I think Tony should stop with the shoulds.

I agree with most of what Tony said about British Airways and certainly hold no candle for it. I also agree with him re Diana. However I have some empathy with certain parts of her character, assuming for a minute they were genuine, as I was once bulimic and it’s no fun. I also believe she was appallingly treated by the Establishment. I personally was also somewhat confused by the masses who thronged to sign her condolences book when so many of them had paid daily for the tabloid newspapers which made her life such a misery. But the fact is that every now & then throughout history the people, and that includes me, have required a hero/heroine to idolise & to remind them about basic good ethics which sometimes get lost along the way. Diana was her own little moral tale which fitted the bill perfectly, especially as in these image-conscious times she was so easy on the eye to boot.

So, an end to yet more ‘blethering’ from me. Tony was right about that one ... pity my husband! He was also right that I was perhaps a little too sarky with my “ACKsent” comment, but it was never meant remotely maliciously and I fully expected someone to come back with an ‘anti-British’ retort. Instead, all I got were some very warm, overly generous responses for which many thanks. I needed a “Tony” or two in there also, just perhaps with a little less vitriole. I haven’t read anything else by him to be able to appreciate why he might be deemed unpopular on this forum.

Oh & Cass, I shall think of those telegraph wires a little more kindly now I’ve read your explanation! I’m a bit confused about your reference to me going off to do battle on another forum – I’ll defend myself or others where appropriate but I never seek out trouble. Charles’ comment that you didn’t enjoy my story also confused me though as I’d thought you had. I really want to go back to SF, Charles, and see it in depth as our visit was a bit of a lightning one last time. These too-short city trips aren’t a good idea. And Diane, thanks. Your message helped confirm I wasn’t going mad.

cass

Dear Hilary!

Let me reiterate how much we did enjoy your comments. Tony's rather uncalled-for criticism of you struck me as rather patronizing of us Yanks as well as not particularly accurate on some points.

We are happy to poke fun at ourselves, can be almost obsessively self-critical at times, and love to laugh at SOME of our foibles with others. Remember, too, what a large country we are, with regionalisms within regionalisms. Frankly, to many northeasterners, California is another country, and chortling at the accent and attitude is good fun for us. I'm sure they'd return the favor, WHEN they look further east than Las Vegas!

Tony also clearly has no idea how profoundly the "Big Dig" has affected Boston traffic and aesthetics. For the information of those still unaware: Interstate 93, which runs north-south straight through the heart of Boston, used to be a series of ugly and poorly-engineered overpasses. It is now being "sunk" below ground in what is shaping up to be one of the most extensive, lengthy, expensive, and ultimately entropic urban projects in the US. Even Bostonians are addled by the gridlock and shifting patterns: the way you got somewhere last night isn't how you get there this morning.

As to the "doing battle" comment, I certainly never meant to imply you went searching for a fight. I was referring to your wonderful, and dead-on, quote from Socrates on the "we hate babies" thread -- in a clumsy attempt to excuse you from having to return to this thread and commend you for your good defense there. Sorry if it came out any other way!

As Donald Duck once sagely observed, "No good deed goes unpunished," and I'm afraid this thread has begun to look like an example of that. Once again, thanks for your report, and may we please look forward to the next one!

Hilary

Cass, thanks so much for your support. I was very pleased to read your message as the last thing I wanted was to have started a mini-war! Re the 'doing battle' thing, your explanation is in line with how I'd decided to perceive your comments in the first place; it was only when Charles said what he did that I wondered if I'd missed something! (I tried to e-mail you direct but wasn’t surprised not to get through on that address!) I’m not sure quite what I was doing posting the Socrates quote – it just suddenly seemed so apt! Anyway, cheers m’dear.

dan woodlief

Hilary, for what it's worth, I too enjoyed the Socrates quote. A very appopriate and hopefully concluding remark. If you ever do decide to post that cucumber photo, let us know.

cp

Jeez folks!, get a grip. Someone voices an opinion that doesn't jive with yours and you get ALL bent out of shape.

I re-read everything twice just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I didn't think Tony's post was particularly vitriolic or angry. I do think he didn't have the same appreciation for the details as other readers and commented accordingly. I see no difference between that and the threads populated by The People who are Shocked by Petty Crime in Italy and The People Who Can't Believe Others are Shocked by Petty Crime in Italy.

That said, Hilary, I did appreciate your trip report. Not all of it was interesting, but some of it was. I found your comment on California extremely strange since the way you wrote out the accent made it look as though you'd been accosted by a Texan masquerading as a Californian. (Perhaps the reason for said encounters is that after so many years of Masterpiece Theatre we tend to think of an "English" accent as educated and dignified. Thus, here on the Left Coast where our accent is significantly different, the rest of our countrymen sound like a bunch of hicks -whether or not they actually are- and people visiting from Britain sound civilized -see comment re: Americans.)
As for your girth issues, I understand completely. For the most part, San Francisco is just another outpost for people from the Land of the Skinny. You won't catch me posing for pictures while bending over, too cruel to the viewer.

Heather B.

Hi,
I just returned from a weekend trip to Boston. What a joy to read Hilary's postings as a follow-up! I have to agree that the "Big Dig" is really something else. And I'm from New York! Took a great walking tour with Boston by Foot, a wonderful volunteer group. The tour leader brought us through the middle of some of the construction as we made our way from Quincy Market to the waterfront. I can't imagine how people survive the rush hours with so much dug up at the same time. The other tour I enjoyed very much was in Cambridge, led by a National Park Service Ranger, who took us to the places associated with Longfellow. The Longfellow house is closed for renovation until next year (my only disappointment with the trip), but the walking tour was a terrific substitute.

Trina

Hilary - Here's one American who didn't take offense at all to your observations and opinions of us. Your posts have been greatly enjoyed by myself and others. Don't let what Tony said get you riled up.....I've read enough of his posts over the months to know that he likes to act high and mighty and is quite critical and down right snotty a majority of the time. Keep on posting, Hilary!!!!!