Segacs's World I Know

Archive for the ‘My Montreal’ Category

Spotted around downtown Montreal in the minus-20-feels-like-minus-30-with-the-windchill weather:

• A cyclist (you have to be pretty hardcore to cycle in this weather) wearing a full ski helmet, ski goggles, and a ski face mask, every inch of his face protected against the cold.
• Two women, both wearing their jacket hoods with faux fur pulled over their face and eyes, walk smack into each other in a pedestrian head-on collision, neither one willing to brave the wind enough to watch where she is going. They apologize, of course.
• The underground city tunnels about as crowded I’ve ever seen them, full of pedestrians who, like me, have decided that walking through shopping malls and government buildings is preferable to braving the cold for too long.
• A man belatedly stringing up Christmas lights outside a storefront, cursing and swearing to himself as he tries to assemble them without removing his gloves. Good luck with that, buddy.
• The guy handing out the free metro paper outside Square-Victoria metro is reportedly sporting a runny-nose moustache.
• Endless greetings in multiple languages that are variations on “F—, it’s cold!”

I love winter. But I love it more when it’s warm enough to snow. Where’s this global warming thing that they keep talking about, anyway?

Mike Boone finds the Spoonman – perhaps Montreal’s most famous busker – annoying, and he wants him to shut up:

Spoonman has been “playing” his “instrument” outside Ogilvy for 13 years.

It seems longer.

As one of those eccentric Montrealers who stroll downtown’s main drag without headphones, I endure daily exposure to the Spoonman. The clacking, which was clicking until he switched from metal to wood, is annoying all year round, but never more so than when it provides discordant accompaniment to what is transpiring in the Christmas window.

I’ll say the same thing to Mike Boone that I said to the City of Montreal when they tried to pass a law to silence him five years ago: Let the Spoonman play!

This according to Lonely Planet, which released its annual list of top 10 party cities a few weeks ago.

Montreal ranked in second place:

Easygoing Montreal is increasingly popular with foreign travellers, who enjoy the joie de vivre of a place with bilingual ambience, good local beer and even skiing at nearby Mt Royal. Montreal’s irrepressible student population and atmospheric old quarter give the city a light-hearted, Bohemian air. There are Old World cafes, cool jazz clubs, packed discos and late bars to choose from, plus a popular comedy festival each July.

And perhaps more surprisingly – not to those of us who’ve been there, of course, but in the face of the public perception of those whose picture of Israel comes solely from media headlines – Tel Aviv made the list at #10:

Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Israel’s second largest city gets going late. The endless bars, pubs and cocktail venues start to fill up by midnight, from which point the nightclubs get revved up with dancing till dawn. Nowadays an international crowd joins Israelis for a mixed bag of funk, pop, house and techno at the city’s dozens of entertainment hotspots. Tel Aviv has a relaxed air, and prides itself on being gay-friendly and outgoing.

Belgrade, Serbia claimed the top spot. Rounding out the Top 10 were Buenos Aires, Dubai, Thessaloniki, La Paz, Cape Town, (surprisingly) Baku, and Auckland.

Some of these may be debatable, but Tel Aviv’s inclusion on the list is a nice sign, especially considering the bad press Israel often gets in the backpacker community.

I looked outside and saw masses of cars honking like crazy and waving Algerian flags out the windows. And I had to ask myself why.

Oh. That’s why.

Algeria became the last African nation to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals on Wednesday, beating Egypt 1-0 in a bruising playoff in neutral Sudan. The breakthrough came in the 40th minute, when defender Antar Yahya’s volley clipped the bar and ducked in from a long cross from Karim Ziani.

Let the games begin…

Okay, so I might’ve changed the headline a little. I still think mine was better.

Gérald Tremblay has won a third term as mayor of Montreal, following a six-week municipal election campaign that was one of the most heated and unpredictable in recent memory.

[. . . ]

At 12:15 a.m., with 3,685 of 4,517 polling stations reporting, Tremblay held a 37 – 33 lead over Vision Montreal’s Harel, with third-place candidate Richard Bergeron of Projet Montréal polling at 26 per cent.

There’s a Kang and Kodos analogy in here somewhere.

Me: Hello?
Him: (in fairly good, though heavily-accented English) May I please speak to [segacs]?
Me: Yes, speaking?
Him: I’m a volunteer calling from the Harel campaign team and I was calling to ask you about the municipal election. Are you aware that there’s an election on November 1st?
Me: Yes, I am.
Him: (a little embarrassed) And, may I ask if Mme Harel can count on your vote?
Me: (laughing) Well, I would definitely have to say… not.
Him: (laughing a little) Okay, thank you.

Even the volunteers know that when they get an anglophone on the phone, it’s a lost cause.

On the other hand, in an election where our choices are Gerard corruption-is-my-middle-name Tremblay, Louise I-hate-anglos Harel, and Richard cars-and-corporations-are-evil Bergeron, I can’t help but feel that my best bet on November 1st will be to stay home.

• Bixi is apparently having a problem with too many bikes ending up downtown and not making it back to the Plateau. You’d think someone might have anticipated this issue when they introduced a public bicycle service in a city built on a hill, no?

• Montreal has claimed the #1 spot on AskMen.com’s Top 10 list of Canadian riots… as well as the #2, #3, #5, #8 and #9 spots. Clearly, something to be proud of.
• Apparently, Montreal’s festival season might be one festival short this year, thanks to idiots in the federal government.
• T-shirt slogan of the week: “My drinking team has a hockey problem”.
• I just got offered a hot pepper by a random guy in an elevator.

Seen today in Square Victoria metro station: A busker playing the didgeridoo. Yes, that’s right. The didgeridoo.

Did I mention how much I love my city?

On the way home today, the STM bus driver on my route not only greeted every passenger with a friendly “bonjour”, but he proceeded to announce the direction and terminus of the bus, as well as every stop along the route.

What city is this and what have they done with Montreal? What’s next, roads without potholes?

If this was the initiative of one lone bus driver, kudos to him. If this reflects some sort of new STM policy – and I highly doubt that it does – then it’s about damn time.

Now if only they could get the buses to show up on schedule…

• The new Montreal transit chief – get this – actually uses public transit! What a concept! He’s even promised to ride the bus out to the west island to see for himself what a disaster the system is out there. Will it lead to improvements? Stay tuned.
• Meanwhile in Ottawa, citizens who’ve been held hostage by the OC Transpo strike, now in its 51st day, might get a reprieve in the form of back to work legislation. For their sake, here’s hoping.
• Back in Montreal, the snow removal crews walked off the job in the middle of a blizzard just in time for afternoon rush hour yesterday. They’re upset because of a payment dispute, and, as is typical for union workers, they believe that gives them the right to endanger people’s lives.
• In more union news, York University students head back in class this week after the government passed legislation forcing striking CUPE members back to work after nearly three months. But, as new blogger Chris reports, this may be only the tip of the iceberg.
• More strikes in France? So what else is new?