Once again, "Are they nuts!"

OK I know I whined about this last June, they are once again talking about trying to get the Olympics here in the Boston area in 2024. On the one hand it's a nice feather in the cities cap but realistically, where are you gonna put it? Sure they could have events at the T.D. Garden where the Bruins and Celtics play and then you could hold events at  and then there's Harvard Stadium and Fenway park and Gillette Stadium where the Patriots play, but where are you going to board all these people from around the world? Big Dig or no Big Dig it's still congested around here with some streets that go back almost 400 hundred years. On top of that they are in the process of putting in two or three gambling casinos around the state. Two sites which are being considered would be about five miles or six miles to the east of here which would be close to the ocean. There's got to be 300,00 people living in that area alone. It's not real big around here but it's crowded. The traffic is at a snails pace for a good potion of the day. Where are you going to put all the extra cars? I certainly remember what it was like between 1994 to 2005 while the "Big Dig" was happening. All the detours. I will admit that it did improve the traffic a bit and we got a nice looking bridge out of the deal, but those 21 years of extra hellish traffic are not easily forgotten. So both propositions, while on the one hand would be good for the area, on the other would be a nightmare.

As Arlene and I looked at the pictures of our trip a couple of weeks back we even thought about moving to Martha's Vineyard some time in the future. Realistically I don't think we could afford it but it is a pleasant thought except with putting up with the tourist season but that's part of the deal down there. Then there moving to Cape Cod. Now I do have a place in my heart for the area. My uncle Sam had a place right after Plymouth called Manomet and as kids we used to love going down there. I remember one summer my  sister went down for the weekend and stayed all summer. Then I have memories of my friend Jim who married and moved to the lower Cape, a few miles away from where we catch the ferry to the Island. From the late 70's to the end of the 80's I made frequent weekend trips so we could go trout fishing on one of the many ponds in the area. Once again the summers can be tough. Then there's the western part of the state. Apart from two cities with populations of 150 to 160,000 it's all small towns and quite rural. A whole different world from where I live. Here are some shots from when we went out there back in 2009. These are the Berkshire hills.

    

 

 

 

The computer has been giving me a hard time. At the moment it's working but it has had it's moments. I have wanted to take some foliage pictures but we're not quite at peak here though it should be in about a week. In the mean time here are some shots from 2008 and 2009 locally. It was a good year Then some shot from the Mt. Auburn Cemetery from 2011 also a good year. This place is magnificent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mt. Auburn

 

 

 

So to wrap it all up, I think it's a bad idea to bring the Olympics here and of course I say this for purely selfish reasons, how is this going to affect me? It wouldn't bother me if it was in the western part of the state but it might bother those people or maybe it won't.

As far as the casinos go I'm not against casinos per say. We have plenty of gamblers in this state. Our lottery is one of the most successful in the country so I don't think they'll have a problem attracting customers. I'm really annoyed about all the extra construction and traffic. May be someday we will move to the western part of the state.

Alright I've taken up enough of your time.

I'm outta here.