i was surprised that the alleyway behind greentown labs wasn't sealed off like it was on somerville avenue. it wasn't so much about security as it was more about just blocking off a section of road for the convoy of vehicles to park. i locked my bike to the market basket bike lock and then walked to somerville avenue. they were banks of motorcycle cops parked in market basket's lot, not much MB could do about it, nor was there restitution for closing the road and the lose of supermarket business.
the morning was sunny but cold - only in the upper 30's - and made even worse by some blustery winds. this was some wintery weather when people were still dressed for autumn. i stood next to a black lady from randolph wearing a facemask clutching a notepad hopefully to get some autographs. on my other side was another old lady - a local - holding a welsh doll and a wales flag (her mother was welsh). i saw a man dressed up as uncle sam holding a sign - at first i thought he was a royal protestor - but he had a welcome sign. there were also some news trucks and reporters and cameramen mixed with the crowd. from where i was standing - east on somerville avenue - wasn't very busy. the crowd had congregated directly opposite greentown labs, on the north side of somerville avenue.
i heard some entertaining conversations. the half-welsh lady knew a lot of city workers, including police officers and road crew people. the road crew were complaining about how cold it was, and wishing william and kate would leave soon so they could take down the barricades and warm up. cops who followed the convoy in their SUV's stayed inside their vehicles to keep warm. a young man with a moustache told the crowd he normally could care less about the royals, but came to see them anyway after getting swept up in the excitement. i saw a serious looking man walking around, whom i thought was maybe a bodyguard, but the road crew guy said he was just the mayor's driver.
around 11am things began to stir. people were leaving the building, there was a sense the prince and princess would come out soon. some of their minders surveyed the crowd. originally i thought maybe just to make sure nobody looked dangerous, but what they were doing was trying to find someone to pull out for a photo op with the future king and queen. they ended up selecting a little old boy dressed as a royal guard holding a bouquet of flowers. he and his mother were brought to the entrance, to meet william and kate as they exited. later i learned on the news that the brookline boy was 10-years old and bought the costume after a trip to london.
at 11:25am kate and william finally came out, as a cheer erupted from the crowd. it's kind of surreal seeing celebrities, but as someone who occasionally birdwatches, it feels very similar to spotting a bird you've only seen in photos. they greeted the little boy dressed as a royal guard, got their photos taken with him, before scurrying into their hybrid range rover SUV that they brought from the UK. i thought they would maybe take some time to shake hands with the crowd, but they were scheduled to be in chelsea and were probably late so didn't have time to do that, which was a shame (late on the news i saw they did greet the chelsea crowds afterwards). as their SUV pulled away, i got one more good look at williams as their vehicle rolled off with their windows open.
after that everyone quickly scattered, just to get out from the cold. my hands were like ice cubes. i stashed my camera into my bag and went to do some grocery shopping at market basket. the story was nearly empty (because it was hard to get in due to the road block), and many cashiers were craning their necks looking out the window, hoping for a glimpse of william and kate. i got a box of chai, some more hazelnuts, and 2lbs. of italian chestnuts. i finally got back home a bit before noontime.
i had to clean up my community garden plot then go to belmont to plant the overdue garlics. unfortunately it was so cold outside, i decided to forgo going to belmont until this weekend, and instead focus my attention on my community garden plot, which had to be winterized by this sunday. tomorrow would've been a go day for gardening, but i have to work at the cafe because my sister said she wouldn't work on her birthday. i was going to make a kielbasa egg bagel sandwich for lunch, but i got lazy, and ended up just eating a quick salad of mix greens and kewpie roasted sesame dressing.
i didn't leave for the garden until 2:15pm. i went via bike, because i needed to bring back the milk crates. most of the plots had already been winterized weeks ago, i was amongst the remaining few left. i was the only person in the garden. i couldn't find my anvil pruners, either i lost them or left them at the cafe, so i had to borrow a pair of loppers from the tool shed. good thing i already did some cleaning a few weeks ago. things were still growing in my garden back then, but now everything was dead. i pulled off the remaining hyacinth bean vines, and cut back any ground level dead plants, like the garlic chives or iris leaves. there were also a lot of seedlings, what appeared to be either nigella or reemerging larkspurs, i guess i'll find out next spring if they can survive the winter (neither of those plants mentioned are perennials). i was finally done by 3pm, ended up walking my bike home, with 3 milk crates dangerously balanced on the back of my rear baskets.
my google pixel 7 arrived today. but with my clear case not arriving until this weekend and my pixel 6 not getting here until next week, i wasn't in any hurry to open up the new phone. besides, i need to back up my pixel 3XL first, maybe replace the cracked screen protector one last time before i retire that phone.
my anker soundcore motion plus bluetooth speaker ($80) arrived in the early evening. the box that it came in was awfully large, and so was the speaker itself when i finally took it out of the box. i tried to compare it with the tribit maxsound plus ($43). both sound different, but hard to say objectively which one is better. no doubt that the soundcore is much louder (being that it's physically bigger, but it's also 30W compared to the maxsound 24W)- i don't even dare to crank it up to maximum, i don't want the neighbors calling the police. the soundcore is not very portable; the maxsound with its smaller size is something i could see easily getting carried around. it's really hard to say. honestly, i like to keep both, and give the maxsound to my parents. one thing about the maxsound i've noticed is it has a hard time auto-pairing to my macbook pro. when i turn it on, it connects then disconnects repeatedly, unless i click on the bluetooth button on the speaker and manually repair it with my computer. i don't know if that's normal, but it's a little annoying. the soundcore doesn't have this problem. of course the soundcore costs twice as much. the soundcore also plays a little melody when it pairs and when it disconnects.
i ate the last of my leftover congee for dinner. i was watching the patriots game but it was too depressing. it wasn't even the second half yet, and the score was still close, but it was obvious new england was going to lose, i couldn't stomach watching that so i switched channel.