a veritable tea party

I've been in Boston since Friday, visiting Ben Hanchett. It's been really good to hang out with my old childhood chum and we've reminisced about the glory of our rollerblading days, cruising down the hills of Hallet Cove. Now we're a little older we like to hang out in more refined places; Ben took me to the Boston cigar room, and we sat in high-backed leather armchairs, puffing fat Dominicans, and dreaming about the future. We also went to see the new Bond film, which I highly recommend, although the suave and witty tete-a-tete we have come to love of our roguish British intelligence agent was sadly missing.

The problem was that after buying hotdogs from a street vendor, we only had 6 dollars between us -not enough for a taxi ride- and thus ensued a long walk home in the bitter cold; minus 8!. While eating said hotdog, I lost all feeling in my fingers which were cruelly exposed to the elements in the act of grasping and directing the hotdog toward my food hole.

Last night I met up with my sociology of religion professor from Liverpool Hope University, and we sort of crashed the Oxford University reception at the Society for Biblical Literature conference. I managed to chat with the director of postgrad admissions, which was helpful and clarified a few things in my mind. But the free cheese and wine was the highlight of the evening!