random thoughts – Day 1,563 – (Friday) – downtown buzz

The week was neither especially stressful nor especially boring, but it was still tiring. Exhausting even. This afternoon had elements of being annoying, especially around 4:30, because who doesn’t like to receive an email with a bunch of problems at that hour on a Friday. Me. I don’t like it.

Fuse Bistro supper.

Thankfully, there were after work plans with a couple colleagues. Shortly after 5:00, we grabbed a sidewalk table at a bistro near work and enjoyed the sunshine. It felt amazing after freezing in the office all day and I was thrilled I could finally take off my jacket. 

We exorcised the stress of the week by talking about it briefly before moving on to more fun topics. We talked about vacations – recent and upcoming, ours at the table and those of our colleagues – a trip to Punta Cana this past winter, a recent tour of Europe, a fall trip planned for Mexico, a colleague leaving for Italy on Sunday. 

Around us, downtown was buzzing. The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists has been in town for their annual conference at the Tsongas Center since Wednesday, and the sidewalks were alive and crowded at their lunch breaks and again at dinner time with lanyard badged attendees in search of sustenance. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a Summer Music Series concert at Boarding House Park. Chair-toting concert attendees weaved through the future doctors and scientists.

We were lucky to have gotten our table and finished eating before the concert-goers and the conference dinner rush hit hard. As we were finishing up at our table, prospective patrons were eyeballing the few open sidewalk tables at the Bistro and lining up at the door of the place across the street. 

On my walk to the garage, Merrimack Street was crowded. The bakery looked packed, as were the sidewalk tables at the Mexican restaurant and every other restaurant I passed was full or filling up quickly. The street vibe was energetic, more like a bigger city, and it felt good. The vehicular traffic getting home felt a little less good, but that's how it works. People need to get to places somehow.