  This has been a tough week. With Peggy, Ronald Reagan and now Ray Charles passing on there hasn't exactly been a lot of joy.
It makes you take a step back and think about what you are actually doing with your life. That's very depressing at the moment. I swear I just had this last month! Things here in the UK are a tad different than the US, but it's probably the closest to the US that you'll get in Europe - for those curious. I guess in a way, we're not all that different afterall, no matter how much people want to think that Americans are evil people who started a war (right now anyway).
I could honestly see this as a "home away from home" place. It's weird because Portsmouth actually gives me a feeling of Endicott and Frederick mixed with a little of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. You've got Gunwarf Quays and Southsea where things are built up, wealthier, waterfront properties similar to the way the piers have shot up around Inner Harbor of late.
The area surrounding IBM North Harbour mixes that whole feeling of IBM Endicott with one of the parks that we used to go riding our bikes in Endicott. There's a lake on the property with a walking/bike path around it. Downtown Portsmouth has that downtown Frederick homely feel to it, with English architecture. Lots of little storelets, family-owned pubs, 2-story rowhouses and slightly thinner roads complete the area.
Northside is a little less attractive, being like some areas of Baltimore or the area around Krugs in Frederick, but it's still a busy place lined with pubs, clubs, and family restaurant/pubs complete with Guiness signs (the UK is the highest consumer of alcohol in the world - everything is a pub around here)! It's a quaint area, Portsmouth is. But definitely need a scooter, motorcycle or car to get around. Walking no less than a mile to get to Commercial Rd. everyday is a pain. It's at least 0.75 miles up the road to get to the Northside strip where the pubs and other food joints are.
A pain to say the least. Yes, it's exercise, but with all the walking I've done in the last 2 weeks, I've got blisters on my feet (wearing both my Nike boots and Vans). Oh well. =^_^= 
