Monday 15 January - Boston

Today is an official public holiday, Martin Luther King day. However, Vitale is open for normal business hours, as is most of the private sector, as these business don't recognise it. Where is Bob Hawke when you need him? I think his famous comment could come in handy - "Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum."

By the way, anybody who thinks the Patriots can beat the Indianapolis Colts this upcoming Sunday in the NFL Conference Championships please contact myself or Pete McCormick urgently - we think opposite and thus want your $.

Tonight was Pete's housemate Andy's birthday (their apartment is a full-on bachelor pad in the middle of the city, only 3 blocks from our apartment building), thus to celebrate it was off to Japanese with Pete, Andy, Becky and Pete's friend Alice. Although offered on numerous occasions, I left the sushi alone - I just can't stomach it at all. Afterwards, we were looking for a beer in the Fanueil Hall area. Despite Pete having been to both the Bell in Hand and the Purple Shamrock (we couldn't find the Queens Legs Hotel - or at least, certainly the Queens Legs weren't open), we were refused entry to both places on the basis of having no passport.

Well, I think Pete's already dumbfounded by the fact he is well past 21 and certainly doesn't look under 21 at all, yet gets checked for ID at all bars (along with everyone else). Add tonight's knockback, and the big fella was well and truly wound up for one of his trademark sprays that he can launch, however held himself back remarkably. Perhaps the female presence was the difference. Anyway, I agree with him about the pubs being overly anal. Both of these two pubs missed out on $100+ in the till due to their anal attitudes.

We finally settled in at the Green Dragon, leaving there at 1pm, but not before being told to be quiet by some tools who themselves were talking (and louder than us) while the stand up comedy show in this bar was going. It wasn't all bad on the night though, apart from for Becky, who had to follow up our 12:30am finish with a 7:30am pickup the next morning and a 12 hour day of work. Me... slept in until 8. Happy days.