An Excursion with Paul

So I decided that I should write my new version of R & J by hand because notebooks don't have the internet. And by notebooks, I mean the older sense of the word: pieces of lined paper bound together. So I went to town to get myself one and a paperback copy of Romeo & Juliet.

It was really cold outside, but it doesn't seem right to me to take a car to town, so I put on a scarf and gloves to ride my bike to town. It's so weird to have this kind of weather in May.

After buying my necessary supplies, I decided to sit in Amherst Coffee with a cup of tea and look busy. Hopefully someone I knew would see me and realize I was up to something important, but then would decide to interrupt me anyway because they know I'm not too pretentious to leave my work for a second to say "hello" to a friend. Well, I did see my old French TA, but she was leaving as I was coming. She's so cool.

I'm really having fun with this piece, but I couldn't stay in the cafe all day. I like taking my tea outside, actually, but seriously, it feels more like March than May outside. So I decided to walk back to my bike and go home.

Along the way, I saw a man leave the old location of Bart's Ice Cream Parlor, which has been closed up all winter. Rumor has it, it went out of business.

"Excuse me," I said to the man. "Could you tell me what's being done with this place?"

"Oh, it's just being renovated."

"For a new business?"

"No, just Bart's. New owner, same business."

:-)

I visited the grave of Emily Dickinson before returning to my bike. There was a woman there taking pictures. And just staring. Perhaps I take the fact that we have a very famous dead poet for granted, but I often just stop to say "hello" and then go on my way. I felt that maybe she would like to be left alone with the dead.