Boston speak translated

Bah-gin – got a bargain at the market

Chucklehead – derogatory term for a local idiot

Clicker– TV remote

Fah Daze– For days, an excessive amount of; or lasts forever. i.e. “This traffic goes on fah daze.” “I went out drinkin last night and slept fah daze.”

The Gahden – a reference to the Boston Garden or the TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins

“No suh!” [No sir, compare “no sirree”] – “No way!”. The appropriate response is “Ya suh!”

Stab’n Kill – A derogatory term for the Dorchester neighborhood of Savin Hill. The term refers to a past history of violence in that neighborhood.

Suppaahh – (supper) – refers to dinner

Fenway Paahk – Fenway Park

Yah huh– very determined, “yes”

Boston. Wed 10thSep. Huge day in this beautiful city. The Redsox were playing the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park at 1.35pm…on a Wednesday! The stadium holds nearly 40000 fans and it was probably 70% full which begs the question, does anyone work in Boston when the baseball is on? Everything is so close here much like Melbourne and it took about an hour’s gentle walk to get to the stadium from the north end.

The walk was spectacular, through a large park called the Boston Common then down a strip of parkland called Commonweath Ave which split 2 main roads, and along those roads were the most incredible terraced brownstones containing the biggest bay windows I’ve ever seen. The area is called Backbay. Each building was joined, anywhere between 4-8 stories high and all immaculate. The photos don’t do them justice. The whole Commonwealth Ave goes for approx. 2 km and then it’s a short detour to Fenway Park.

Fenway is the “Lords” or “Adelaide Oval” of baseball. It’s about 120 years old, quite daggy but reeks of history. Out in left field is what they call the “Green Monster”. It’s a 40 ft green wall that a batter must clear to hit a home run. If he doesn’t, the ball just rebounds off the wall and its play on. That particular area of Fenway is actually shorter than every other baseball field in the USA, so when the league asked the Sox to extend their ground out, they told them to get stuffed and came up with the Green Monster solution. It’s the Irish logic I guess and it’s certainly unique.

It was a good game even though the Sox got smashed. The crowd are very forgiving and maintained their support despite the poor season the Sox have had. AFL fans wouldn’t be as forgiving if their team had just won the flag and finished last the following year I assured some of the locals! We would be baying for blood. Got up close to the Sox bullpen where the pitchers warm up. You get a clear perspective of what 95 mph pitches look like. It gave me a chance to reassess my ambitions as a major league hitter. The answer is no.

There was a nice touch during the national anthem when the singer’s (a cop) microphone played up and the crowd chipped in and helped him. Wouldn’t happen back home because no one knows the words!

“Australians ball let must divorce coz, we are dum, dum bee…”

There was the 7thinning stretch of course and what is a tradition at the end of the 8thinning at Fenway, on comes “Sweet Caroline” and the crowd goes off! Neil Diamond is of course a Bostonian.

Walked back the same way we came and soaked up the gardens again. Had a burger back in the North End and went and saw a comedy show at The Improv Asylum. Some talented young actors doing a heap of sketches and improvisation. Great night out. Tomorrow is a visit to the museum of fine arts and we are going to do the Freedom Trail. This is marked in pavers from the south of Boston to the north over the river to Charlestown (see the movie The Town). We don’t know a lot about American history or politics, but Boston is the birthplace of modern democracy and stuff like the constitution was written here. Hope to learn a bit more tomorrow. Trust all is well. Love Willow and Lynda.

Oh and we had our photo taken at Fenway by the Sox photographer. Can’t afford the photo though. Down to dirty change now! Spot the dorks!