by Whalehead King

Created on: February 25, 2009

Every month in any season is both cruel charming in Boston. Even fair days promise stinging sleet after enough time passes. It is the slap of hail that makes warmer times more pleasant and it is the promise of high temperatures that make the most brutal, winter months bearable. This is New England and complaining about the weather is a local pastime. When it's good, it is great. When it is less than good, it is miserable and bone chilling, but we will always have months that start with 'J.'

With its narrow streets and winding cow path, dead end lanes and one way thoroughfares clogged with ice and snow out of which locals carve and reserve their parking spaces, Boston can seem like a nightmare for those who don't appreciate native custom. Once the jonquils and daffodils poke out of the hoarfrost though, Boston is a walk in the park with flower petal confetti tossed on the breezes off the harbor, along the sidewalks, caught in pretty college students' hair. There is bustle and hubbub in Boston no matter the season for no other reason than people walk about in this pedestrian-friendly city.

You can always get warm in a subway station and you can always shave a few minutes off your voyage by taking a trolley from Point A to Point B if you time it right, even if you are only two blocks away. The press of people, the meat and gristle of any real city, provides a community of fellow travelers who share the same experience. You can be lonely in a crowd but you can also be one of the mass of humanity that strides the sidewalks every day, to and fro. Boston is a built-up environment, full of people cheek by jowl along alleyways. It isn't always comfortable but it is always warm with camaraderie. You will never be bored in Boston despite what the sky rains down. Life is lived on the street in this metropolis indepent of the elements.

Take any commercial intersection of streets: delights invite you to walk a little bit farther to discover what is a few blocks further on. In summer, you may find yourself on a beach or in a well-manicured park. In winter you'll end up in a coffee shop or taproom or deli. This is city living. There is no bad weather in Boston. There are opportunities to make the most of the urban experience. Some enticements offer themselves more prominently in winter. Some more so in summer. As long as people are around, and that is what a city is about after all, there is plenty to do, plenty to see, and plenty to experience. Boston offers a feast for those with the eyes to see, the will to enjoy, and the forbearance to abandon disappointment.

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