Kaboom

in Newton & Boston!

From where I stood at Memorial Drive and Ames Street, a lot of the fireworks were obscured by smoke that just hung there in the air. This doesn't usually happen.

Went down to the fireworks like I almost always do since moving to Boston 8 years ago. This year was a little different than most even though I went to my same spot. Some of that was disappointing, but on the whole it was not disappointing. Here are my random thoughts:

1. The weather turned almost perfect around 3 PM yesterday. It was like someone knew when all the cookouts started and made it beautiful to sit around outside and grill and drink beer.
2. If you don't try to park right next to where you want to watch the display, then you'll almost always find a spot (legally) and damned if the ones I thought would be open were still open at 9 PM even though we were running a little bit late. (No, I won't post where it is, because I don't want to compete for it. But let's just say it's only about 2-3 blocks off of Mem Drive...so sweet! :)
3. Disappointment #1: I like to go a bit up-wind from the Mass Ave bridge hoopla on the Cambridge side. There's a piece of the river bank that juts out between the BU and Mass Ave bridges and so you have a straight shot to look up river at the fireworks and any wind at all will push the smoke away from you to see the fireworks very clearly. The disappointment is with DCR for letting the bank of the river grow tons of plants along the concrete barrier. I used to take a spot between the dirt walking path and the concrete to sit and watch because it meant nobody could get between me and the river. Now there's a ton of brush there blocking the ground off. Oh well.
4. I bring a boombox and tune it to 1030 AM which broadcasts the Pops concert. It still syncs nicely with the fireworks and you're too far up river at that point to hear any of the rebroadcast down near Mass Ave. (Aside, if you were in earshot, mine was the only radio playing out loud like that in the area and you're more than welcome. I usually get a lot of thanks from the crowd nearby every year.) So, that went well yet again this year.
5. Disappointment #2: When the fireworks began, people simply stood on the path next to the aforementioned flora instead of finding a seat in the grass up the hill right next to them. This meant that people lower on the hill then had to stand...and the people behind them...and suddenly nobody could see without standing. Part of the reason for going back a ways is to avoid needing to stand on the bridge to fit everyone in and look over every one. I was in spirit with the people yelling "down in front" but when we're talking 200-300 people in front of you...you're just not going to move that ocean, sorry. It's a shame...it was really nice and then suddenly we're all standing just to see because of people who weren't being considerate of anyone behind them. Very disappointing from my fellow man.
6. The fireworks were really nice this year. The songs were sometimes a bit dated (what? no love songs to play since "Titanic"??) but the display was synced well and pretty to watch.
7. Final Disappointment: Yes, you're outside, but you're amid 400-500 other people. Did you really need to light up so badly? Couldn't you have walked up to the roadway where the crowd is less dense or non-existent? Ah well, it was a fleeting problem anyways. Life goes on.
8. Final thought: A big thanks to all of the out-of-towners who had no clue that both lanes of Waverly St turn left towards the BU Bridge rotary. Passing all of you sitting in the left lane was awesome. It lightened my traffic angst immeasurably.

I think next year I'm going to go clear some of the brush on the 2nd or 3rd and setup a bunch of police tape and maybe some sort of metal piping in and around the clearing until I can arrive to take it down. Then it can go back to being nearly perfect again.