I was thinking that nothing really important had happened during the last quarter, when suddenly, overnight, we had a worldwide financial meltdown! Maybe it was all Neatstep’s fault. Everything was quiet when we departed for Boston and New York. We had a great time sightseeing and the weather was perfect, making up for that lousy summer.
I guess I should have been suspicious when we arrived in New York to find half of Manhattan closed off because of the UN General Assembly. The place was full of police and limousines with motorcycle escorts, flashing lights and sirens. Everyone was in town apparently, including Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin (who?), George Bush and well, Neatstep, of course……
We visited Wall Street because I wanted to see what that hotbed of sin really looks like. Well, it looks exactly the same as it does on TV – in fact it looks better on TV, because they don’t show all the road works and barriers outside the stock exchange. Little did I realize that my visit to Wall Street was going to trigger a global financial catastrophe shortly afterwards. Maybe it was because we neglected to photograph the bull, which we couldn’t get near, due to all the Japanese tourists with cameras around it, on top of it and everywhere else. Anyway, so much for Wall Street and the bull!
We traveled by fast ferry to Seattle, then by plane to Boston, train to New York, subway to JFK airport and back to Seattle. For once, we had a reasonably smooth trip, in the sense that not too many things went wrong. The only eventful episode was when our return ferry from Seattle broke down, after everyone was on board and before it could leave the harbor. The replacement vessel was smaller, so they asked for 30 volunteers to stay behind. The incentive was obviously not very great because the next step was to remove from the ferry all those who had reserved last – fortunately that wasn’t us. Then we departed with an hour’s delay.
What was I doing in Boston? Well, the whole purpose of the trip was to attend a unique high school reunion, which for historical reasons took place at Harvard University. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip and should probably be the subject of a separate blog. Much will be written about this occasion so I will include a relevant link later on. For now, it’s time to get back to the serious business of drawing!