Today is a holiday. It’s Evacuation Day. Some students, and public workers in Boston as well as other parts of The Commonwealth (as in Commonwealth of Massachusetts) have the day off. Now, it can only be a coincidence that a public holiday falls on St. Patrick’s Day. in a state, where at one time, it seemed you had to be Irish to get a state job. Evacuation Day celebrates the British evacuating Boston on March 17, 1776. George Washington’s troops had managed to drag canons from Fort Ticonderoga across the Berkshires and across Massachusetts. They had surrounded the city and were ready to begin shelling. The British chose to pack up and pull the fleet out.
I always celebrate Evacuation Day, as it was on this day, 21 years ago, I left Cambridge and moved out to San Francisco. As I fled, er, I mean went, to Logan Airport there was the sound of artillery fire in the distance. It was for a reenactment, but it did lead to a sense of drama for the exciting day. The next morning I woke on the floor of an Oak Street flat. I opened the window, smelled the spring air infused with eucalyptus. I looked out the window and saw a group of people doing tai chi in The Panhandle. It’s been home ever since…
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