what a difference a day makes

It's too easy to assume that when you go away the weather will be wonderful, and getting it wrong - especially when you're on holiday - can be really hard to get over. A few years ago I went to Cyprus on holiday and the weather was just so much cooler than I'd expected, the sun up less, the water colder than anticipated. It was a real downer, and I had to concentrate on forgetting the disappointment in order to enjoy myself (which I eventually did, but it took a while).

Work trips tend to be a bit less make or break, because at least half of the time you're stuck in a dreary conference centre or an office, so the bad weather - like I experienced in Portugal last year - should only be an irritant. It still takes practice to be so reasonable, however, and I've lost track of business trips where I've had to gee myself up after the initial disappointment of poor weather.

Boston is hardly the Bahamas, of course, and I knew I'd be arriving in late Spring, but the weather has recently really improved in the UK, so I was a bit underwhelmed by the torrential rain which greeted me on Friday and the blustery wind which blew me from pillar to post yesterday. I'd looked forward to visiting the Boston Public Gardens, having heard them described as the epicentre of the city. So when I found them yesterday, desolate and bleak, I quickly moved on and explored Downtown instead.

Here's what the gardens looked like yesterday.

And here they were this afternoon. It's no understatement to say that they simply burst into life overnight.

Today has been the sort of day which restores one's faith in the world - Boston on April 5th 2009 felt like heaven; balmy, beautiful, good-natured and brimming with cheer.