We have some very lovely neighbours here on the 10th floor, Chris & Jessica. Eamon met them in the lift one day and he has been stalking them ever since. He managed to lure them into being friends with us by using our deadliest weapon (Zoë), as Chris & Jessica themselves have a very new and cute little baby girl called Amelia. Chris has already led Eamon astray once, when they went out one Friday night "to watch the Celtics game" (which actually means "go on a bar crawl, get totally shitfaced, come home at 1 am and chunder in the toilet").
Yesterday it was unbelievably hot (and pretty humid too), the perfect day for a few cold beers. Chris & Jessica obviously felt the same way (naturally) so at lunchtime we packed the little girls into their strollers and headed to the Boston Beer Works on Canal Street. Normally, a meal out with Zoë follows an unchangeable pattern - fast asleep in the buggy on the way to the restaurant, asleep whilst we peruse the menu, order and wait for our food, wide awake and up for some fun as soon as the food hits the table. Yesterday was no exception, although she did wait until we'd downed our first pint of beer before deciding it was playtime.
At the Beer Works the beer is brewed on the premises, and includes a variety of fruit beers. They were extremely refreshing and I can confirm the Raspbeery is also a fast-acting sedative - by the time we got home after lunch we were both wrecked and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for a very long time.
In the evening Bridget came to hang out with Zoë, but we had totally failed to organise anything for ourselves to do (after our daytime drinking we would have quite liked an early night). Our knowledge of Boston nightlife is pretty limited, so we headed back to the Beer Works, where Eamon totally kicked my ass at pool. In 2002 Eamon, an early protégé of Stephen Hendry**, was crowned the SJ Berwin pool champion at a seedy dive in Victoria and, who knows, if the SJB/Proskauer merger does happen maybe he could lift the crown again?
I suspect that my evening pint of Bluebeery lager merely topped up my lunchtime Raspbeeries, but that still doesn't excuse how crap I am at pool so, after Eamon got bored with me being so hopeless, we headed to the North End and for a stroll down Hanover Street, the heart of Italian Boston. There is a very famous pastry shop on Hanover called Mike's Pastries that sells cannoli. Maybe if I knew what cannoli are I would be more inclined to join the block-long queue to purchase said pastries. Instead we went to the Grand Canal Irish Pub, where we felt far more at home (more beer, less fancy pastries).
Today we've taken things pretty easy as tonight's excitement is the second match of the NBA final between the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers. Do not underestimate what a huge deal this is in Boston. LA may have Jack Nicholson sitting courtside, but the Celtics have the most devoted and hardcore fanbase a team could wish for.
Despite myself I quite enjoy watching the basketball, but Eamon absolutely loves it. In fact, him and Chris are already plotting how they can get rid of their wives and have a good old session in front of ESPN. They have cunningly disguised this as the opportunity for Jess and me to go out for a few cocktails, whilst the daddies babysit, drink beer and watch an upcoming game. Let's hope this time, now he's a had a bit of practice, Eamon will be able to go beer for beer with Chris and not end up spending the night on the bathroom floor.
* To be clear, I mean me & Eamon, not Chris & Jessica!
** If you have ever met Eamon you will have heard the story about how Stephen Hendry came to his house once, together with a man called Mulligan after whom our cat is named. True story!
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