I noticed it most listening to people's conversations on buses and trains. I have probably overheard at least four groups of people talking about friends they have who are currently overseas fighting. One girl was berating her friends for failing to stay in contact with someone they had all once been close to, but who had been in Iraq for nearly a year. An old couple were talking about how hard it was for some children they knew to be growing up without their father around. War seems to have
intruded into people's everyday lives here much more than in the UK.I stole this picture from Sarah, who is in Boston for three weeks on a visiting fellowship at Harvard; I forgot my camera when I went out walking today. She pointed these signs out to me. They are all over the city, 'though I saw a particularly high number in a poor neighbourhood called Dorchester. I can't find anything about them on the internet, but apparently they are the names of American soldiers who have died in recent conflicts. I'm not sure if they lived on, or had any connection to, the streets they are assigned, but it's startling to be reminded, on nearly every street corner, of a recent death. And many are well tended (like this one) with flowers and american flags.
