things boston is goot at...part 2...

a. boston is good at not using turn signals. this is ok if you are in a car. it's less ok if you are on a bike, and say, trying not to get hit by a car. especially if you and the car are moving toward each other in opposing lanes, and the car decides to make a left hand turn and nearly hit you. oh wait...that's for another post.
b. boston is good and being confused. let me give you an example. i was biking home. on a medium traffic (but overall slow and quiet) one-lane-in-each-direction-road very close to home. there was a car coming toward me that, without using a blinker, made a very slow left hand turn right in front of me and cut me off. at the speed they were going you could hardly call it cutting me off...it was like a slow motion left hand turn. but the driver made eye contact with me (right before he almost hit me) and kept turning. this was the third such (but surely the most ridiculous) of these encounters today, so i basically stopped my bike and was laughing. i made the whole hold-out-the-arms-and-shrug-the-shoulder gesture at the car...and the also totally confused passenger in the car gave me the same gesture. i think he was saying, "um, i don't know what's going on. obviously you had the right of way and the crazy person driving this car decided to turn anyway." it was funny. mostly because it was so slow and bizarre.
c. boston is good at not stopping at stop signs. boston is even better at stopping so far in front of the stop sign that you think they are going to run it...and then as a bike rider you ride a little defensively and slow down and then they look at you like you are crazy. [i don't think drivers understand how vulnerable bikers can feel. think about it: huge metal machine v. tiny bike, kinda vulnerable].
d. boston is really good at having a farmers' market every day. not always big, and not always diverse. but really, every day. i like the copley square market on fridays. today i bought two buttercup squash and a brownie. the ingredients on the brownie included 'vegetable shortening' which then made me wonder (what's natural about vegetable shortening. why not butter. does it have trans fats? should i make a fuss? but really i just ate a few bites and put it in my pocket for the bike ride home. (which was rainy, by the way, but still fun.)
e. boston is good at bumpy bike paths.
f. hopefully tomorrow boston will be good at manchego cheese to go with the quince paste that is on the stove that is the reason i am still awake. although i think i am going to give up and put said quince paste in crock pot and go to bed.
g. boston is good at haircuts! i no longer look like i have a nuclear mushroom cloud on my head.
h. boston is good at 'flour' but i have no good new stories that would merit jeannie making a comment on this blog. but that also means i didn't eat a cookie today, which is probably good.
i. boston is good at apple picking! this is actually a presumption. the apple picking won't happen until tomorrow, but i am pretty sure it will be good. although it would probably be better if it stopped raining.
j. boston is good at pumpkin spice ale (in my kitchen or in a straw-bale stacked beer garden).
(i start off all negative...but i just end up with a good perspective.)