Hi all, although it seems a little vain opening an entire thread just to say 'wish you were here' I thought I'd let you all know that I'm not dead (I can here the sighs of relief from here) but half way through my semi-grand North American tour, hence my absence from our fine forum these last few weeks.

Just managed to catch up on all I've been missing out on, and wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been posting as it's been great to still get a sense of change and excitement all the way across the atlantic. Made me kinda homesick!

We've done Toronto and Montreal and have just arrived in Boston... on Sunday we travel to New York where I might be at risk of skyscraperphillia and may suffer severe friction burns from too much camera clicking.. but hey, all for a good cause. Anyway being over here has given me a lot to think about and reflect on, especially seeing some of the world's greatest waterfront cities.. and above all it's made me miss home and realise just how much of my beautiful city I take for granted. It's amazing out here, but I wouldn't swap any of the cities I've been to so far for Liverpool.. New York will be the real test, but I already feel confident that the pull of the Mersey is sufficient to entice me back home again (that and the mean looking men with guns at immigration control).

Keep taking photos in my absence (and be prepared to be bored to death with shots of other skylines and sentences starting with 'when I was in Toronto/Montreal/Boston/New York........')

Until we meet again... :grouphug:

Lucky bastard! :rant:

Did you get some shots of Fenway Park, Tom? :)

Plough and the Stars pub, Mass Ave, Harvard Square MTA station. Recommendation.

Plough and the Stars pub, Mass Ave, Harvard Square MTA station. Recommendation.

Is it a good Irish bar by any chance?

Yeah, but the Irish thing isn't overwhelming. It's just by Harvard and gets a mixture of locals, post-grad students and the like.

They do have acoustic folk things most weekends there. Gets a bit packed though, when the band is popular.

Seems really friendly.

The starry plough is a symbol of the IRA that's why I mentioned it,if you go watch what you say big balls.:okay:

The 'Ra fears the squirrel.

I think the pub's name comes from name of the Sean O'Casey play, tbh. The starry plough is a symbol associated with Irish republicanism, yes, but more with Irish socialism than the IRA in particular.

In any case, this is not a pub to be scared of.

There's a rebel song called "The Merry Ploughboy" about a farm hand who dreams of going off to join the IRA. Don't know if its connected.

Hey, enjoy yourself Tom. Bring back lots of pics if you can?

There's a rebel song called "The Merry Ploughboy" about a farm hand who dreams of going off to join the IRA. Don't know if its connected. Most people know it from the lyrics in the chorus; "We're off to Dublin in the green in the green".

Boston is a great city and the residents pronounce a lot of words like we Scousers do, "Eye paark'd me caar in 'aarverdz yaard", "me maar'rin'daar", etc. I lived there for a few years. Did you know that the term "Bargain basement" originated in Boston? Filene's, the big department store was the first store to have a return policy, no questions asked. The returned goods, sometimes unused, would be sold off at bargain prices in the basement of the store. When I lived there a neighbour ordered a Zenith TV, returned it a week later then bought it back for a third of the original price when it showed up in the basement. A lot of the Cunard Yanks bought the fridges and washing machines, they brought back to Liverpool, from Filene's basement.

Tom :wave: have a great holiday, and no we won`t get bored when you start posting your 2000pics, honest:|

The 'Ra fears the squirrel.

I think the pub's name comes from name of the Sean O'Casey play, tbh. The starry plough is a symbol associated with Irish republicanism, yes, but more with Irish socialism than the IRA in particular.

In any case, this is not a pub to be scared of.


The play is the Plough and the Stars and deals with events surrounding the Easter Rising in 1916.