​Awoken at around 7.15am by the sounds of the kids and the Wiggles, once again. Shower and shave first, then write-up yesterday’s journal entry before joining the Troake family downstairs for coffee and a perusal of the Boston Globe Sunday newspaper. Then, while Julian and Karen shower and Caroline naps, Henry and I watch Sagwa the Chinese Cats on PBS Sprout.
 
Karen takes Henry and Caroline off for a walk in the big stroller while Julian and I climb into the Mustang for a trip to Foxboro's Gillette  Stadium and the opening day game for the New England Patriots. It will be mine and Julian’s first live NFL game. Julian’s father-in-law, Dick Collari, has given us two $125 tickets for the game, donated by a contact, which Karen is a little miffed about as she is a big Patriots fan too and her Dad has never offered her any tickets!!!
 
We leave around 10.45am and stop at the Boxford Store/Post Office/Diner to grab two coffees which I almost spill when a big dog in a station wagon that I hadn’t seen barks at me in the car park through an open window. It is a good journey all the way down the Interstate 95 from junction 52 almost to the junction 9 turning for Foxboro. But from there it is very slow with all the vehicles heading to the stadium, taking us almost an hour to travel around 5 miles and Julian is worried about us getting to the game for the 1.00pm kick-off. We manage to find a parking space in the official car park – at $35 for the day – by 12.55pm and rush to the ground. Arriving just as a US Air Force Stealth bomber flies low overhead – very fast and very loud.
 
We find our seats in the big stadium – with no help from a local police officer – just as the Patriots score a first touchdown. However, we have already missed a similar move by the opposition, the Buffalo Bills, and the score is now 7-7. Having already grabbed a bottle of Budweiser ($7.50) on the way in, at the end of the first quarter, with the Patriots losing 7-10, we get lunch of a burger ($6.00) and a 22-ounce Sam Adams on draft ($10). The second quarter is just as bad for the Pats, but the third brings some relief. Star Quarterback Tom Brady is getting his throws in and the Bills make a poor strategic decision – throwing on a fourth down rather than kicking a field goal. Dessert of pretzels and peanuts is accompanied by a Pats touchdown to tie the game at 17 all. The Pats are very much in charge in the fourth quarter and score two points after sacking the Bills QB in the end-zone. After that they run-down the clock to hold on to a 19-17 victory.  At the end Minute Men shoot their muskets in the air and cheers ring out around Gillette.
 
We leave the stadium promptly and manage to get back to the Mustang quickly. It is a great journey back to Boxford, taking just 1-1/4 hours with few traffic jams, even though we get passed by a 1960’s Austin Healey. Arrive home around 5.15pm – the game only lasted three hours, albeit for four quarters of fifteen minutes each! Karen and the kids are out at a children’s party, so Julian and I have tea on the deck until they return, all very tired but still hyperactive. We then watch the US Open Men’s final – Karen is also a massive tennis fan – in which Roger Federer easily beat Andy Roddick in four sets.    
 
After a BBQ chicken dinner, the kids are put to bed and we settle into watch a documentary on 9/11. I had seen it before but it was still very harrowing, especially with all my memories of that day. Watching the planes flying into the towers in the Artillery Arms pub near work and being unable to contact the six AFX New York staff in their World Trade Center office or on their cellphones for so long. I had only visited them there the month before the attacks and was even being considered for the position of bureau chief in NYC at that time. The office’s were low enough down, and the attacks early enough for half the team not to have reached the area, so we had no casualties, thankfully, though some of the team were still suffering from stress and trauma. We head to bed around 10.30pm, where I write up this journal. Car Mileage at end of day: 2,496.

​I am awake by 7.30am after a good long sleep in the spare room which has two single beds. I can hear the kids downstairs watching the Wiggles so I get up, shower, shave and join the family downstairs for some breakfast. Henry, who is three, has Baby Gym, to which Karen takes him. Julian and I are left in charge of entertaining 11-month-old Caroline for two hours. Karen and Henry return around 11am and we make ready for a trip to the Massachusetts coast at Newburyport. Julian drives us all in the family’s second car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, up the I95 interstate.
 
We park close to the moorings on the harbour front and walk around the boats to the centre of the busy tourist town stopping at Groggs restaurant for lunch. I have fish and chips and an Ipswich Ale. Julian insists on paying, saying that I’ll be paying for plenty of meals for myself soon enough. We then head to the Cook store to buy some coffee beans, plus two iced coffees for Julian and I. The weather is again warm and balmy, but less humid on the coast. We also stop at the bakery to buy chocolate cakes for desert tonight – though Henry gets a pink sprinkles-laden cup cake.
 
We wander back through the harbour area as Julian wants to see if a boat trip is possible. Karen is sceptical given that we have the kids with us. A cruiser pulls out just as we arrive at the mooring, so we are saved. I never was much of a boat trip fan. Instead, we stroll up to the kids’ playground where Henry runs around for 15 minutes and then flags. The final stop is the Dragon’s Nest toyshop where Henry buys some juggling balls and I stop myself from buying anything – I have a long journey to finance and limited packing space!
 
We head back to the very hot Jeep. The temperature outside is 80 degrees celsius on such a sunny September day, so we drive back to Boxford with the aircon on full blast. The kids fall asleep and the adults detour to Benson’s ice cream store for refreshments – a great Black Raspberry flavour for me. We are home by around 4pm to play with Henry’s juggling balls and drink G&T’s on the deck.
 
Both kids are put to bed early and dinner is tossed on the BBQ by Julian. We eat it in the lounge watching Maria Sharapova win the US Open Women’s final in a black dress modelled on that of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Bed by 10pm – still slightly jet-lagged. ​Car Mileage at end of day: 2,385.

Up early (5am) to pack for a long 30-day trip after getting home late on Thursday following one leaving drink too many! Tardiness not helped by falling asleep on the train home and waking up at Oxted station – four stops down the line from East Croydon where I should have got off. I then had a 20-minute wait for a train back up, during which time my mother phoned and berated me for being late and drunk.
 
Very hard to know what to pack for such a long journey. Not sure what the weather will be like and I only have enough clothes – and a big enough suitcase – for two weeks. I have bought extra M&S boxer shorts and socks this week, however. Packing goes smoothly though, and I have time to check-in online for my Continental Airlines flight from London Gatwick to Newark Liberty International and then onwards to Boston Logan airports.
 
I leave my Addiscombe home around 7am and catch the tram to East Croydon station almost straight away. However, the train from there down to Gatwick has been cancelled and I have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. Still, I am at the airport by 8am, 2-1/2 hours before flight departure time. The check-in bag drop is smooth and although there is a long queue at security, I manage to push through and get airside by 8.40am.
 
Shopping time. I grab some CDs for the trip, just in case my new iPod transmitter plays up, as well as Bill Bryson’s ‘Lost Continent’ book for background, and a Moleskin pocketbook to scribble this journal in at WH Smith. Then I grab a juice and a croissant at Pret where I also phone my Mum to placate her – No hangover. Honest!
 
The Newark flight is called early and boarding goes smoothly. Onboard there is one of the campest cabin stewards ever – from San Francisco. Saying that he is very kind and efficient. Even so, two screaming babies all the way made sleeping off the non-hangover impossible. Movie choice is limited – I catch ‘Nacho Libre’ with Jack Black on the second cycle – so it’s lucky I have plenty of books.
 
We arrive in New Jersey around 30 minutes late at 1.40pm, after a slightly delayed departure taxiing around Gatwick, and I worry slightly about catching my 3.30pm connecting flight to Boston. But transfer is smooth through both immigration and customs – so glad I didn’t travel via New York’s JFK airport which is always mobbed – and I recheck my bag and grab the airtrain to Terminal A. I even have time for my first Sam Adams ale at the gate. From there, I call my old school friend Julian Troake – who I am staying with for a few days to prepare for my long drive - to let him know I have arrived in the good old US of A and that my departure on the internal flight is on time.
 
Arrival in Boston is swift after just a 38-minute flight, landing at around 4.45pm. However, like at Gatwick, there is a slight delay when taxiing, this time because Air Force Two, with vice-president Dick Cheney onboard has arrived at the same time. Once I have finally disembarked the plane and picked up my bag from the carousel, I realise that, unlike International Arrivals, there is nowhere for Julian to meet me. I wander outside of the terminal to a very busy car pick-up point and phone his wife Karen who can’t hear me very well amid all the honking horns and other airport noises, but she told me that Julian had left a while ago so should be there soon and took down my cell-phone number so he can call me. I wait at an information point back in the terminal after grabbing some water – it’s hot and humid outside – and five minutes later Julian arrives, looking flustered after a journey dogged by heavy traffic.
 
We return to the car park where he has left his Toyota, which was abandoned in a panic because he was late to meet me. Unfortunately this means that he failed to note on which level he had parked. It takes 20 minutes and three floors of wandering before it is spotted. Julian then drives me to the car rental centre so I can pick up my ride for the long journey ahead. There I negotiate an upgrade and pick up a blue Ford Mustang coupe (mileage 2,354). In this dream machine I follow Julian back up the Interstate to his hometown of Boxford, where we arrive around 7pm. That was just in time for his son Henry’s bedtime. After a brief meal prepared by Karen and a catch-up chat all of us are tired as well. So I am in bed in Boxford by 9.30pm, which is 2.30am in real time, so almost up for 24 hours. Car mileage at end of day: 2,385.

​