Boston public

Today was our first day exhibiting at the conference, so I spent most of the morning setting up our four tables worth of books. Then I grabbed a nice lunch in the hotel bar, and spent afternoon trying to sell as many of those books as possible. Or just standing out of the way in an occasionally very crowded room until somebody asked a question like “how much is this?” or “you offer free shipping, right?”

Tomorrow’s a full day at the “booth,” although thankfully starting half an hour later, at 8:30.

This evening, I took a bus to Harvard Square, across the river, and found myself not entirely impressed. Then again, a cold and rainy Thursday in early March maybe isn’t the best time to see it. I did realize, with some bemusement, as I was surrounded by all these twenty-somethings wandering about (likely students at Harvard or one of Boston’s seventy thousand other schools), that I don’t view them with longing to be one of them, or even nostalgia, but with at least a modicum of crotchety annoyance. Maybe that’s a sign of getting older, or maybe that’s just me being tired from being on my feet all day and waiting in the cold for my bus back to the hotel.

I had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese place I stumbled on, some very tasty spring rolls and a much too big (but also tasty) bowl of beef pho. I read a little in the most recent issue of Granta, which I purchased at a nearby newsstand, and I was amsued to see, as I was waiting for my bus, the very same stationery store Theodora Goss was talking about just recently. (Boskone, the local sfnal convention, was just a few weeks ago.) Alas, it was closed, perhaps because, as she noted with some sadness, it’s closing.

Now I’m back at hotel, watching an episode of Kojak on TV. Isn’t that why everyone comes to Boston?