Mini Ha Ha Lives On: Catching up III - Boston 3 - The Mad Sharman goes to The Tea Party

And so to some history. Back down into Massachusettes and Concord which they pronounce conquered, the place where the first bullet of the war was fired (oh no it wasn't say the soldiers at Lexington).
But first here lived Louisa May Alcott (she wrote my life...Little Women)

and there is also a picture of Nathaniel Hawthorne's gaff too but because I can't lay claim to knowing anything abut him and it was too expensive to buy I haven't included it.
This one was an accident in terms of the framing, it is a shame the car is there and also that the image of P isn't better.

Walden Pond was also planned but we only got as far as the car park because Plymouth and other heady destinations seemed feasible.
You know you have to hand it to the Americans (and that is not meant in a patronising way) they are fantastic at talking up anything and sometimes it is absolutely fantastic but others it is absolute cr..bull...boloni. Here is an example of big boloni sausage....Plymouth Rock. Plymouth itself is pretty though not convinced they have done that well in preserving the houses.

The reproduction Mayflower II is not bad

and then we come to the Pilgrim Father's Wizard of Oz...Plymouth Rock or should I say Plymouth Boulder. Why did I think it would be like say the Needles or Durdle Door off the Dorset coast i.e. it was the first thing the Pilgrim Fathers saw off the coastline. More like they tripped over it and shouted "Who put that there!" when the set foot on land.
And to understand its life you need to conjure up the backing music of either Benny Hill or a cop chase in a slient movie. In order to maximise its tourist and veneration potential it has been up and down the hill twice, only the second time they did it, they dropped it and it split in half. Clearly the master craftsman commissioned by the local dignitaries (either that or it was the first case of the Mafia infiltrating the buidling industry) did not understand its significance. So you know what it's like he'd had a long day burying bodies in party walls and just thought he would slip this little job in at the end. And here is the subtle makeover job that resulted. Crack?????? What crack????