|
The update which focuses mainly on the past 2 days in Montreal and completely ignores the fact that I've been on vacation in Maine for a week
Yesterday I woke up feeling sort of ambivalent about being back in Montreal. It's dirtier and noisier and smellier and I could go on and on, but on the other hand, it's good to be back in my comfort zone. By which I mean my apartment. And also, there is so much going on in the city all the time that you never get to experience in a small town like the one I grew up in.
Walking to the corner grocery store, the whole neighborhood was echoing with the most beautiful gospel singing, which I discovered to be coming out of a church around the corner that I had never noticed before. In the alley, a woman in a muumuu was sitting on her balcony curing jalapenos over a small grill. Half a dozen wreaths of red and green peppers hanging from her clothesline. This, I was thinking, is what I love about the city.
In the afternoon I took the bus up to MEC to buy a backpack to use on my upcoming PEI camping trip. Or, that was my plan. The bus stop I was waiting at was across from one of the 500 Greek Orthodox churches in my neighborhood. They had blocked off the street and were having some kind of event, piping tinny Greek chanting and music through enormous speakers. People were coming and going, and cars were stopping willy nilly in the middle of the intersection to see what was going on, or to jump out and buy some meat on a stick (a Greek specialty, I think), wreaking havoc with the traffic. Finally the bus came and I got on it, only to be waylaid 3 blocks later by an India Day parade. The bus driver clearly had no idea what to do and circled back around the block until a supervisor drove up and sent her on a detour.
As we drove further and further from the original bus route and my destination, I started to panic a bit and finally opted to get off the bus before it crossed the Metropolitain and I couldn't find my way home. As soon as I was off, the bus turned left, back towards its original route and MEC. If I stayed on the bus I would have been there in 3 minutes. But instead I had a 20 or so minute walk along the side of a 4 lane highway.
To add to my frustration, the Indians, having apparently learned the proper method of celebration from the example of their Greek neighbours, were driving around, leaning on their car horns. Car horns are obnoxious at the best of times, but this was deafening. This, I was thinking, is what I fucking hate about the city.
Instead of walking to MEC, I walked to the mall and spent $100 on books and CDs, to ease my seething. I couldn't really afford to; that $100 was earmarked for my new backpack. I clearly have some kind of rage/control/spending issue.
On the plus side, because of the bus detour, I now know how to get to the park for the last night of Shakespeare in the Park tomorrow.
On the down side, I feel pretty stupid ordering my backpack online when I live only a dozen or so blocks from the store, but that is what I am going to do because fuck if I'm going to risk living through that again. In this neighborhood there is always some kind of kamikaze cultural event just ready and waiting to wreck your plans.
And on the subject of holy fucking shit I am stupid, I just ate an olive which was resting next to a hot pepper and then rubbed my eye. So that is pretty much the end of the discussion, right there.
Um, the whole discussion, because I suddenly have a burning eye to attend to.
|
|
|
about
"The mind of the thoroughly well informed [person] is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-brac shop, all monsters and dust, and everything priced above its proper value."
archives
credits
|
|