Housemate Nic, catching me in a vulnerable moment last week, invited me to join him at Garcia flats on Saturday, for a games day with the kids/families who live in the area.
Garcia flats is a sprawling campus, with a number of blocks - probably housing a few thousand people (gross estimation). But it's big, big enough to mute the ambient sounds of Camridge. I use the term ambient fairly loosely there.
It wasn't the only break from my regular bourgeois existence. In Cambridge, you don't get your face painted, you get a free temporary tattoo.
You should also be wary of an invitation to a tug-o-war competition. The guys vs girls distinction loses some of its potency when you're up against one of the local Tannie's. My pride and I got dragged across the lawn on Saturday morning; a blister the stinging reminder.Our mini game of Frisbee went down well though, the kids showed extraordinary skills - no hidden joke here, we were really impressed. Were it not for an awkwardly placed tree in the end zone, many more of my hammers would have been caught.
