Sunday and I have no plans. L and F are celebrating her birthday, and A is back up in New Hampshire. So it was a "day at leisure". I have been pretty exhausted, what with all these vacations, work, and problem parents. I have somewhat reluctantly entered the Age of the Mobile Phone, and I called home a few times to see if my father's impending transfer to a nursing home happened (it didn't for another three weeks).
I didn't leave the hotel until noon. It was sort of hot today. I headed for We Think the World of You, the gay bookstore. It was right near the offices of one of the gay newspapers for New England. When you're in Boston, you are not just in a greater metro area like when you're in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or DC. You feel like you're at the center of New England, a six-state area. There's a more regional sense. Of course, that was my own four-day impression.
A girl disappeared in a nearby town and this dominated news all weekend. I don't know how it turned out, but everyone was praying, and searching, and I had that horrible feeling that perhaps I was the only one in New England who knows for certain she's probably dead. I guess I have seen one too many horror movies and Chris Carter TV episodes.
Anyway, We Think the World of You is now the only remaining gay bookstore in Boston. The older one, Glad Day Bookstore, vanished earlier in the week. Not because business was bad, but because they had trouble getting a lease. Not just homophobia, but nonchainaphobia. Landlords want guaranteed business that only a big chain store can satisfy. Never mind that Glad Day had two decades of good business behind it. One of the reasons they were in a cushy spot like Back Bay was because the landlord was Chinese and didn't have the same anti-gay baggage other landlords had 20 years ago. Now, it's the "need" to make even more money. Of course, a landlord can write off months or even years of not renting a storefront, because inevitably the fortune they will charge the Gap or Banana Republic will help them recoup. Meanwhile, small businesses go under as a result. This also often means that gays and lesbians have to move out of the places they've lived for years because they can no longer afford it. A good economy means urban areas become even hotter. Sigh.
I went out to Wonderland and Revere Beach. I liked the trainride, and I liked getting some salt air. Then I went to the aquarium, which is very well done, but as an aquarium and as architecture. True to my nature, I went to the movies. The Brattle Street Theatre was showing Akira Kurosawa's Ran. I have not seen it on the big screen for years. The theatre is much more like an old school auditorium, and my buttocks actually fell asleep. I've gone to probably 1000 or more movies at this point, and that has never happened, ever.
Boston is yet another town where the mass transit goes to sleep for the night, so I had to make sure to get back to my hotel by midnight.
Since it was a long weekend, a lot of guys were out for the night. I found myself facing trepidation about going out. I certainly didn't want to go home with anyone, nor did I want anyone in my hotel room. I don't need Robert Urich of Spencer for Hire identifying me by my flawed big toe on my left foot, after all. So, I wandered the streets and simply went back to my hotel room.
I guess as queer as I can be, I am just too tired of or too old for or too uninspired to be part of the "scene." The dinner-and-a-movie crowd is more of my scene, and you don't find that among strangers when you go on vacation.
Next entry... Can Get There from Here
Previous entry... Red Bricks and Highways Everywhere