And so we left New York and headed off towards the sunshine and Poverty.
A nice little train ride and we were deposited in the railway station of New Haven. And there coming down the stairs to meet us was our very own Pov. He’d very kindly offered not only to put us up for a few nights but had driven out to pick us up and drove us back to the Pov Palace.
Brian is the perfect host and made Jen feel so at ease. We had a pretty lazy day planed and only went up to one of Brian’s local comic shops. And that’s where we had a little adventure. After arriving and parking up we discovered that we had left the keys in the car!! So we had to call out the AAA to unlock us. That wasn’t so bad as we were in effect locked into a comic shop until rescue arrived. The best bit came later when we witnessed the following conversation between a very confused Pov and two attractive women who had called into the shop looking for something for a relative (I think)
First Lady “Brian? It is Brian isn’t it?”
Second Lady “It is Brian, it is?”
Brian puzzled look on face as he obviously has no idea who these two are “yes”
First Lady “Brian Fletcher, how are you”
Second Lady “Brian don’t you remember us”
Brian “sorry……not really”
Lady’s “you must remember us we were all at school together”
“No…..no…..sorry”
at which point these lassies collapsed with laughter, and handed Brain his driving licence back pointing out that he had dropped it outside whilst dealing with the AAA man.
Whole shop including Brian bursts out laughing.
After that we drove home, still laughing and after stopping for an ice creme ended up back at Casa Povichino’s and then we met up with Cobalt Kid after a night spent sampling a case of the finest Harpoon ales, plus some old speckled hen from home, Jen out her sensible head on and told us to get an early night as we were driving up to Niagara Falls the following day.
So it was we set out on what turned out to be a longer drive than I thought. Stopping to pick up Kent along the way we trundled along through Connecticut, New York State all the way up to the Canadian border. Even with Brian’s best efforts to p off the guards and toll booth attendants it was easy and quick to get the Canadian stamp in the passport and then a short hop and we were in our hotel. Unfortunately the weather was poor and the vaunted “falls view” room just gave us a view of a lot of mist and spray. After settling in we headed downstairs to wait for Loser to arrive. Poor lad when he did I only just caught myself in time and shouted out Bill rather than Loser which had formed so easily on my lips. Bill is a real gentleman, quiet and thoughtful and really good company.
Anyway it was wet and Kent had hurt his ankle so we didn’t want to go far that night so we headed across the road to an outback stake house. Food was good but the company was better and we were soon laughing and joking. Gig even managed to get Pov out of his pants and into full length trousers.
Still the beer was nice and Jen and I had a great time
Then we thought we would have a bit of a look around. We wandered down to the riverside to see the falls but the weather was still against us, so we headed back up to the casino, as neither Gigi nor I had ever been inside one in our lives. We had to smile when out of the entire group only Cobie got asked for proof of age. I have to admit I was not impressed, I guess it was just not the sort of thing I was expecting next to the falls. Plus to be honest no one really looked like they were enjoying themselves. Cobalt decided to spend some of the money he had embezzled (I mean he had received as head of security) from Legion World to play on the roulette table. This was the point of the infamous gambler incident, when we all stood open mouthed in amazement.
Anyway it was getting late and we decided to call it a night and head back.
The next day dawned sunny bright and warm so we headed down for a coffee and Danish and waited for loser to join us again, then off to the Maids of the Mist for a boat ride to the falls. There are no words to do the falls justice, they are spectacular, awe inspiring and, at least when I was there, bloody freezing. You certainly need those ponchos as you get soaked.
Afterwards we mooched around the park then decided to go off to visit a place called Niagara on the Lake. This is a lovely little town on the shores of Lake Ontario and it was so nice to just wander up and down the shops on the main street in the sun.
And then all too soon it was time to leave and say our farewells to Bill. Jen still talks about the way Bill starts his car. But I have to say meeting Loser who was one the first people to talk to me on line was a real pleasure and I just wish we could have had more time together. And so it was back into the car and away we go. Cobalt driving this time
The journey back was pretty uneventful until we got almost home, then the heavens opened and it came down cats and dogs. The spray coming up off those big trucks was a wee bit scary, but we (obviously) got back safe and sound. After waving Cobalt off, we all collapsed tired but happy into bed.
And that was our time in Connecticut. It was time to head off for Boston and the last leg of the journey. Brian drove us up to Framlingham and dropped us at the station and then we boarded the local train for Boston. Gigi was dead chuffed to see a double decker train! The arrival at Boston is like so many train stations pretty grim and its made worse by the so called big dig. Jen was not impressed. But then we got to the hotel, literally next to Quincy Market and she changed her mind. Like me she loves Boston, it’s a big city with a small town feel to it and the pace of life is much softer than New York.
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for putting us up for a few nights. How’s my favourite cats, hope you are looking after them for me. 
