Final prep stages...

Yeah you all know where Arlene and I are going on Sunday morning. Today (Thursday) we went out to pick up a few necessities for our stay on the island. My vacation officially starts today because I won't have to work until Oct. 7. I have gathered up most of my clothes though I won't pack until the last moment. You know I'm still adjusting to all this extra free time I have. For the most part I really like getting up when I feel like though that just means I'll stay in bed till about 7 at the latest but that's certainly better than 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. The weather looks to be pretty good next week. I suppose the best thing about going there is to get away from the city. I was driving home from work the other day and though I have several routes I could take home none of them were any quicker especially at 3:30 in the afternoon. I decided on the most direct route which is out the parking lot straight into Harvard Square in Cambridge, then I cut across the next city into my own. Harvard Square is always a crowded place, it's extra crowded with all the students back in the area. Now I like Harvard Square. I spent a lot of time there when I was in my 20's. I continued to go there for many more years because of all the offbeat shops and diversity of food. There were many record shops and so on.

 Now I don't seem to have the patients I once had to deal with the crowds, the clustered up traffic and the traffic light that signals you can take a left and at the same time signals for the pedestrians to cross as you begin your turn. The roads are just plain screwy around here. There are many things around here to be proud of. This state and Boston have contributed much to world. I was shocked to learn that Boston has a very large economy and ranks among the worlds largest. Who knew? But we're all squished into a small area. The city of Cambridge alone has 100,000 people and the area population swells in the Fall with 250,000 students. There's the traffic. The drivers around here have earned the nickname "massholes" and I can understand it , especially if you're from out of town. Driving is like a struggle for existence. I have been working full time for the last 45 years. 43 of them with the same company and though I am now semi retired  I guess I still hit a wall every once in a while. So Arlene and I are heading back to our little utopia this time for a whole week. This is the latest in the year we have gone. It should be very quiet. I like quiet.

On to another subject. I work with a young guy who's father I knew well as we had worked together for 11 years in the past. Well his father took him and his family to Italy  this passed June. He had pictures and he sent me five. Three of the Coliseum, one of The Pieta in St. Peters and one I'm not sure of.

  Well that about wraps things up here on the Wild Willy West Show.
I'm outta here.