Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Stop the car

If you met Paul, you might not immediately put him in the Adventurous category of people you know. That's not really the vibe that he projects.

Stalwart. Person I Can Always Rely On. I have to admit that those are the first descriptors that come to my own mind. But Paul is, in fact, far more adventurous than myself. Or, if not more adventurous, more inquisitive, which is often the same thing. As we wandered about Boston and the Massachusetts coast, Paul would often see something and ask aloud "I wonder what that is," and in the time it took to ask himself the question we would be redirecting to find its answer.

"I'll bet there's a beach over here..."
And suddenly we step out onto a sandy postcard beach, complete with salty leather-skinned New Englander casting into the water, all ours to play football and get sunburned on.

"Did that sign say ice cream?"
And the car is spun round; within minutes we are sitting with massive cones of some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

"Hey look, lobsters for sale."
The car skids to a halt and that night we are eating like kings.

Paul asks questions and pursues their answers. Unlike me, he is not happy to fill in the blanks with pessimistic assumption. This is the way we are supposed to live. I am endeavouring to remind myself of that as I carry on across the country.

Or, as, Bao-Kim simply put it, as I looked suspiciously at the mochi she had bought me: "It's good to try new things, Chris."

Westward.

2 comments:

Sarah Stevenson said...

Ice cream = good.
Mochi = good.
But mochi ice cream? = awesome.

Yes, trying new things is good. However, let me just state right now that if you're ever in a sushi restaurant and someone tells you you should try sea urchin, YOU SHOULDN'T. That is a thing you don't need to try. I even tried it twice just in case I was wrong the first time. But sadly, I wasn't.

Banksy said...

Hmmm.

Trying new things is good, but in sushi restaurans seems especially hazardous.

The dollop of wasabi that I thought was something to be picked up and eaten in one go for instance, only for my nasal passages to melt onto my plate.

Still, it made for an entertaining evening waiting to watch in case my fellow diners did the same thing (they did)