doggies

When you’re writing a blog and you’ve lost momentum, added to the general inertia is the realisation that whatever you’re about to write is probably going to be sitting on the front page for yonks. I’ll try and update regularly enough to knock this off onto page two soon, but I’m not feeling massively inspired right now, so here goes nothing.

I’ve been reprimanded by my own mother (Hi Mum!) for not keeping her up-to-date with the goings on round our way at this blog. “It all seems to be just photos and I’ve seen them before”. So here’s an attempt to assuage my critics.

Brunswick’s a small town. Now the students are back its population has swelled a bit, but basically it’s a high street with a park area, a few restaurants, music shops and a dvd rental place. All surrounded by a few streets of housing, a river, forest and then the sea. One of the most popular places was an ice-cream shop that had a queue from opening to closing time but despite the evident sky-high demand for frozen dairy products it’s closed down ’til next spring. Without wanting to be slanderous, I’m guessing it’s some kind of tax evasion/ money laundering operation. It’d be perfect, Who’d suspect an all-cash ‘mom and pop’ lolly emporium? I would. On our tour of Portland, ME, t’other day the guide mentioned that somewhere nearby there’s lobster-flavoured ice cream to be had. Everyone except Sally made a that-sounds-less-than-delicious face. It probably tastes better than tutti-frutti mind.

If you like seafood, it abounds. If you don’t like seafood, it still abounds. It’s pricier than we were led to believe but that might just be because the entire Maine economy is based on tourism (and blueberries. And toothpicks.) and it’s still high season. I’m no expert, but I have it on good authority that it’s quality stuff and can assure you that it’s a fine source for all your omega oil needs. And sodium. And vinegar. We’ve been working our way round the restaurants. My favourite as of yet is El Camino (their website– warning: MySpace). It does a fine line in (almost) Mexican food and the decor looks like something out of From Dusk till Dawn. Though the food is not the most ‘authentic‘, the music in the background was straight out of a proper cantina’s jukebox and I reckon I recognized a fair few of the decorations as coming directly from Tlaquepaque/Tonala.

We were a bit worried when we arrived that the town centre was all that was on offer in terms of entertainment and supplies. It’s lovely and all that but sometimes you just want to see a film that features Seth Rogan, aliens or 3D glasses, or you need to buy furniture that isn’t lovingly hand-crafted by Maine’s finest carpenters. Soon after exploring we found all manner of malls, superstores and a cinema a few minutes drive outside of the ‘city limits’. Squint a bit and you could be in Downey, CA if it weren’t for all the trees and the general absence of police helicopters circling. There’s a Borders book shop that stocks Word magazine too, which makes me happy. Trader Joes is sadly absent from Maine but there’s one 10 minutes from Boston airport and it’s looking like we’ll be there on a regular basis. I mustn’t go on because according to some forum or other that DrSita read before we got here, one sure way to piss off Mainers is to complain about the chain stores they don’t have.

IKEA’s another one.

Talking of IKEA, my office is full of built-in shelves. I have enough stuff to fill about 2 of them. DrSita has several hundred books so she chose the office upstairs. With no shelves. That’s what I get for not charging enough for my heavy-lifting/removal services.

How’s Atticus you ask? Well he’s settled in nicely. We don’t have much of garden and it’s not fenced but he appreciates the carpeting indoors. It provides the necessary traction for tight turns, rapid acceleration and provides pleasing acoustics for his frequent barking fits. He’s also happy to have a fair few areas where he can run unfettered in the countryside and keep the squirrels on their toes. If squirrels have toes. Claws? Talons? Anyroad, he’s content striking poses for the camera all around the coastline and defending his reduced empire from the likes of pizza delivery boys, Bowdoin college maintenance crews and his old nemesis, the postman.

That’ll do me for now. Personally I never read posts as long as this, unless they’re written by Stu who never fails to delight and entertain. Right now it’s all text. I’ll spend the next 10 minutes punctuating it with pretty pictures. Maybe I can fit some bullet points in. I’ll try and write again soon, I’ve been pretty busy of late a-localisin’ and a-webdesignin’ and it shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Which is a good thing.

Thanks for reading this far. And Mum, I expect a comment now. In Spanish please. Using the subjunctive. Twice. Only if you have time between walking Ramble/Jed and Welsh Society bureaucracy though 😉