Work and fireworks.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th. I unfortunately had to work until 10 last night but it did afford me the chance to see most of the fireworks associated with the Boston Pops 4th of July concert. I work on the other side of the river from  where the fireworks barges and the Hatch Shell are situated. As I drove down Mt. Auburn St. I found a parking space much to my surprise. I sat in my car and listened on the radio to a bit of the national broadcast on CBS waiting for my cue as to when the fireworks would begin as enjoying a fireworks display on the radio is not the way to go. I waited for them to begin hoping I could see them from where I was parked. No such luck, so I began walking along the river until I found a spot where I had a decent view.

  All the locations I marked are aproximate especially the locations of the barges and the Pops. I guess I saw about 6 or 7 minutes of the display.

The amber and red streaks you see in a couple of the photos are from cars and trucks going by. I also made a little movie complete with the tail end of the 1812 Overature.

 It was a particularly busy evening last night. After listening to the usual management babbling, "It should be dead after 7 o'clock so you can probably leave early blah blah blah..." the store in fact quieted down except for the deli. Cold cuts apparently are such an essential staple in this part of Cambridge. The days leading up to the holiday provided us with some strnge questions.
"Do you have a turkey that doesn't smell like meat?" and "Do you have a turkey that tastes like turkey?"

I actually understood the second question. She wanted the most authentic tasting turkey. The black angus roast beef took a beating as well.

"I'll have a half pound of the black agnes roast beef." and the delectible, "black anus roast beef ".

One lady in particular called four times to inquire about a party tray. Three times before she actually ordered and once after. I cannot report what she said to the other two people she spoke to but I spoke to her once before she ordered and the day after she took it home.
My first encounter had her asking me question about what we offered and how many people it would feed. All legit questions. She said the last time she ordered one there was a lot left over. I asked her how many people she was serving. She answered 8. I ran down the trays that would serve 8 people. She then asked about a particular she had ordered in the past that had a particular companies name associated with it.
"Oh do you mean the Dietz and Watson super platter?"
"Yes that's the one. It was very good."
"It is," I said, "but that serves 20 to 25 people. You'll probably have a lot left over again.
"Well that's OK. Some of the people are fat!" she said laughing. She also sounded like she had started her celebration of the 4th a tad early if ya know what I mean.
She called again yesterday with more question about the platter she had at this point ordered, picked up and consumed.
"Did the platter have tongue on it?" I mean what what festive occasion is not complete without a serving of beef tongue!

"No ma'am there wasn't any tongue on the tray. It could have been the roast beef!"

"No." she said, "And the beef was devine!"

The platter was pretty basic. Roast beef, turkey, ham and swiss cheese. Her next question concerned the swiss cheese.

"Are you sure that was swiss cheese because some of the slices didn't have holes in them. I think it was provolone"

Yeah right lady. We snuck slices of provolone in between the slices of swiss. That always gives us big yucks. Not to mention that swiss is oblong in shape and provolone is round. Next question.
"What was the flat thing? My friends and I are discussing this right now."

Let me get this straight lady. You have a Monday afternoon cold cut discussion group? Is this Harvard or M.I.T. calling?

"I'm not quite sure what you are are referring to ma'am as all cold cut slices are flat." Unless some of your fat friends ate the plastic party tray.

 I will say that throughout this whole insane conversation she was never rude or belligerent and it sounded like she was still in celebration mode, if you know what I mean. Talk about high maintanence! She sounded like the typical person from this part of Cambridge, near the various universities, who are quite well off and really have never done anything for themselves. I'm surprised that she and her friends (some of which are fat) managed to make a sandwich on there own, unless of course they had the maid or butler make it for them. Perhaps they even prechewed the food for them saving them that tedious task. Unfortunately they would have to swallow on there own. Don't forget we are going through tough times.

So that was my "holiday". On the plus side my reward for working on the 4th is having this upcoming Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

Martha's Vineyard is calling me again. I am in love with the place. I will be going back during the week of September 18th after all the crazies are gone and the weather is still quite nice. I understand the President will be going back in a few weeks though I'm guessing where he and his family are staying will be a bit nicer than where I stay. Not to say where I stay isn't nice because it is.

This blog has taken me a good portion of the morning, uhh I see it is now the afternoon. Well I do have things to do. It's another hot and sticky one today. That's all, over and out.

I'm outta here.