patriots' day washout
Well, looks like Boston's annual Patriots' Day party (the Sox game and the Marathon) is going to be a very wet one. That's too bad as I just love going to Boston on that day. I keep trying to get tix to the annual PD game, only to get shut out every year....drat the luck. It's business as usual here in CT...Nutmeggers don't really care about Paul Revere's ride or the first battles of the American Revolutionary War, fought at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
Sometimes, it's hard to believe CT is actually part of New England. No candlepin bowling down here (even with the two television shows broadcasting), far too many Yankees fans for my taste (many of them of the obnoxious, "we won 26 World Series, how many did you win? kind), and certainly not enough really good fish houses (I actually have to drive over 1/2 an hour for simply decent fish...three times that for the good stuff!). Sometimes I think I'm living in New York.
CT living is far more fast paced than my home in Western Massachusetts. In the 12 years I've been here, I've noted a pretty long list of nuances that make MA somewhat appealing to me...
- Native Nutmeggers tend to be a very fast paced bunch, keeping an average speed of 80-90 MPH on the highway I normally use to get to work each day. Thankfully, the CT State Police have been out in force, slowing down the traffic recently. I compare this to the highways in W. MA that tend to be much slower and easier to travel; I won't get on a CT highway unless I absolutely have to.
- Hartford area residents still believe the town (not city, Hartford is a big town with large buildings...cities have life, Hartford is dead, gone and buried) is major league quality. Sorry folks, the NHL ain't comin' back anytime soon.
- CT folks are terribly afraid of mass transit. I have no idea why, but when I bring the subject up, I usually get a diatribe on how much my conversational partner loves his or her car and would never give it up. If only people had the luxury of the T down here.
- CT is much more expensive, on the whole, than MA.
- Very conservative state...MA can be far more open to new ideas and ways of thought.
That's just a few thoughts on the differences...with only a couple of cups of coffee in me. LOL Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate my life down here. I have a great family and some fantastic friends, but sometimes I feel like a square peg in a round hole. But that feeling is really the main reason we love the area of CT that we've chosen. The Tolland County area has a Western MA feel with small towns and winding roads, involved communities and progressing schools, and not a lot of traffic (although the Northampton area has a lot of it now, not like the old days!). And the best part, for me at least, is the fact that I'm not too far from MA. We can jump in the car and get anywhere we like very quickly.
Gee, as I read this, I keep thinking...I'm just longing for the "good ol' days," aren't I? Didn't Carly Simon sing about that? "And stay right here, 'cause these are the good old days..."
