LIFE IN THE BLUE ZONES: A friend from Boston writes:

Newbury Street, Boston’s la-di-dah shopping district, is still boarded up, despite the alleged victory of the mob-approved candidate. I noticed one high-end boite had painted its defensive barrier stylishly black with logos and a sign assuring shoppers they are still open. Like it is semi-permanent.

And thanks to the inaction of the authorities, rioting and looting has been legitimized as a form of protest in support of ostensibly laudable causes. Wouldn’t take much to fire that up again.

It all feels a tad post-apocalyptic, driving around. I keep waiting for weird to hit a new high.

It actually feels a lot like one of those old cyberpunk sci-fi novels. I’m making money, dating, conducting business and communicating off this pocket computer, staring at it all day. Driving around boarded up chi chi boites, all the beautiful young women masked up. Plus douchebags on skateboards weaving in and out of traffic everywhere, and black kids on scooters popping wheelies as they blow red lights. Every now and then I get caught in the middle of some civil disturbance.

Where you stayed in Downtown Crossing, also boarded up. Boston Common of course has been overrun for the past decades with the flood of junkies that Big Pharma and Big Medicine bequeathed us. Stay off the Tremont Street side, you’ll probably be safe enough despite the occasional knifeplay and gunplay there, but do you really want to watch some sad fuck shooting up?

Plus: “Latest in the annals of truck heroes: I’m broken down on a small but busy street in Chelsea, which is a rough, largely Hispanic city just north of Boston. Waiting on AAA. 9 out of 10 passing pickup trucks, all Latino blue collar guys, have stopped to offer assistance. 9 out of 10 passenger vehicles keep moving.”