GlobeToddles

That was the title of one the books on our host's shelf, along with "The History of Coffee" and "Rwandan Women". I enjoyed a few brief sojourns with the latter two, but then the "Heroes Are My Weakness" title caught my attention. Which heroes? Why is it "weakness" to be captivated by them? Surely that's one of their wonderful side effects: people hold heroes up as great examples of humanity, and aspire to be like them? Upon closer inspection, the book was rather disappointingly a romantic fiction novel, but the title still plays on my mind. Heroes are my  weakness indeed. And Boston, I was beginning to realise, is full of them. I was starting to really like this place. In chronological order, first we delved into historical Boston we learned about the brave souls who set up home in this, a foreign land, in a desperate plight for a better life. The Mayflower brought the first wave of pilgrims in 1620 from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, ...

I always thought those were the lyrics. In my head this poor girl (I'm more familiar with the Kirsty MacColl version of " A New England " than Billy Bragg's original) was wandering around North America trying to find an elusive area of land, fervently explaining to each passer-by whom she asked for directions that she most definitely did not have a political agenda. As I sit in our Boston Airbnb which is owned by a political adviser for the Democrat party, having spent the afternoon at the JFK Presidential Library, the day before walking around Lexington and Concord where the American Revolutionary War began, and a few days prior to that in Plymouth where the Mayflower landed and the Pilgrims built themselves a new life away from (Old) England, I'm not surprised they questioned her: it seems Massachusetts is all about people who want to change the world. Hold up, I hear you say: you're in Boston now? Yes. After a few months in the UK we've resumed our...

In our time in California we've visited a number of university campuses, but the one that holds a special place in my heart is where my affection for California first started back when I was just 20 years old: the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). I have been back a few times over the years, but this time was very different. And not because the kids were there, but because it's changed quite a bit recently. The university is expanding massively so the first thing I noticed was that the student hub, called the Price Center, had morphed into this gigantic structure that seemed to be double the size of the old one. Indeed, what was once the back wall of the eateries now has a small tunnel which brings you out into a huge area full of more food places, some glass-walled study rooms, some phone charging banks (all full) and lots and lots of chairs and tables. With an escalator in the middle it actually looks more like an airport departures hall than a student hub, but yo...