July 7, 2005, this was the scene in London. Less than 24 hours after the city jubilantly celebrated being awarded the 2012 Olympics, terror struck on the London public transport network, claiming 57 lives and shaking the city, country and world to the core.
There was little evidence of the scene a year ago as I rode the Underground around London last week. There are posters up everywhere urging vigilance about things like unattended baggage or suspicious characters, much like those in the New York City subway, but for the most part it seemed to be business as usual (complete with typical line delays and suspensions wreaking commuter havoc).
One year ago, people were reacting in shock and horror. But today, even as memorial services are held, what has changed? Can we really say that things have improved, any more than we were able to say so a year, or two, or three, or four after the 9/11 attacks rocked New York? Whether people are fearful of threatened “anniversary attacks”, still mourning personal losses, or trying to come to grips with “what it all means”, it’s hard to find any lessons to learn here. Maybe that is the lesson after all; terrorism is senseless and teaches us nothing beyond what we already knew, that it is terrible and must be wiped out. Maybe to reach for any other lessons is to attribute too useful a purpose to such a senseless act. I don’t know, and I don’t pretend to have the answers.
Today, London and the whole world remembers. Another senseless anniversary, another senseless tragedy.
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Mike Ribeiro will be back in a Habs jersey next season.
After a stellar breakout season in 2003/04, Ribeiro struggled this past season, finding the net only 16 times. He’s talented but he seems to have hit a slump, so the question is whether he can dig out of it next year. Maybe the coaching change will help.
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The latest summer fluff exercise from the Montreal Gazette took the form of a survey about Montreal, which, by design, generated the sort of stereotypical answers you might expect from a Montreal of perhaps 20 years ago. I mean, who would really elect Leonard Cohen mayor? Nobody, except that even less people would choose the other three options. According to the survey, we love Old Montreal and hate potholes (duh) and we prefer smoked meat to poutine or Orange Julep (well, some of us, I suppose).
The Gazette may try, but it’s still got nothing on the Mirror’s Best of Montreal. After all, who can resist lines like “here’s to the Big O, finally paid off 30 years after a man had a baby.” And it says a lot that in the Montrealer closest to hell category, Karla Homolka was beaten out by Gerald Tremblay AND Jean Charest. (The latter is particularly ironic in light of this).
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“The country is run by extremists… because moderates have $@#! to do” – Jon Stewart
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… and I see that Loto-Hydro is one of them.
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Cheap budget airlines in Europe such as Ryanair, EasyJet, SkyEurope, Wizzair and others have revolutionized European travel, making it often cheaper to fly halfway across the continent than it is to get a bed for the night. But that’s all about to change:
AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.
MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.
Well, it was great while it lasted, anyway.
I don’t know what this will do for the environment, but being quite familiar with the budget of the average backpacker, I have a fair idea of what it will do to European tourism.
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Montreal’s streets are alive with honking horns. I guess that means Italy won.
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If Saturday evening’s Canada Day festivities at the Old Port are any indication, then federalism in Quebec is in serious trouble.
Sure, it was raining, the Jazz Fest offered better music just a short walk away, and most people in Montreal were busier with moving vans than with parades. But the organizers of the Canada Day festival – excuse me, “Celafête” – have taken such pains in the past few years to erase anything Canada-related from the day, that what is left over is nothing but a hollow shell.
The music was an odd combination of Afro-Caribbean and gospel, the decorations lacked any sort of flags, maple leafs, or – apart from a few generic streamers – even a red and white colour scheme, and the fireworks display was accompanied mainly by Quebecois music. A few people had dressed in maple leafs for the occasion or brought along flags, but they were in the minority; I saw more Italy, France and Portugal flags on Saturday in Montreal than I did Canadian flags. Looking around in the crowd, an outside observer would be hard-pressed to find any clue that there was anything more than a Saturday night concert going on. I almost wish I’d stayed in London, where there was a big party in Trafalgar Square.
I missed the St-Jean Baptiste parties this year, but I’m sure that – as usual – there would have been a sea of blue and white, popular local music, Quebecois customs and celebrations, and a decisive air of Quebec national pride in the air. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, either. But the Canada Day organizers have downplayed the “Canada” in the Canada Day festivities so much, that they have lost the true meaning of the day. It you want to foster Canadian pride here in Quebec, it needs to be done openly, not by being ashamed. Make no mistake about it, there’s a colour war here in Quebec, and right now, the red and white is losing badly.
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I had the opportunity this summer to watch World Cup matches in about seven different countries. In five of those seven, I didn’t speak the language and therefore couldn’t understand the commentary. Not that it really matters. Bunch of guys running after a ball, if it goes in the net it’s a goal, right? But it was amusing listening to the games in English, particularly the wry commentary of the British sportscasters who lace their play-by-plays with ironic observations.
Even more entertaining has been watching the games on RDS since getting home. Not only does RDS have the novelty of a female commentator (let’s hear it for gender equality, folks!), but the Quebecois accents punctuating a game that usually gets little more notice in Quebec than snowshoeing – and considerably less than mini-golf – are good for a laugh. Actually, it’s a lot like watching hockey, listening to the Quebecois-inflected phraseology that’s so familiar from our national sport: “il a râté son tire”, “un passe vers le centre”, “hors jeu”, or the rare but enthusiastic “et le but!!!”
If soccer (excuse me, British readers, football) ever catches on in a big way here beyond the World Cup, then you can expect to hear very distinctive commentary and terminology emerge from La Belle Province. After all, we’re unlike the rest of the world in all other things – sport or otherwise – so why should this be any different?
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Yep, it’s really me! Not a mirage or an illusion, I’m actually up and running again.
So… did anyone miss me? Didn’t think so. But on the off chance that someone is actually checking this site, regular blogging resumes as of now. Sorry for the long hiatus, but those of you who know me know where I was and understand why I couldn’t blog. As for everyone else, well, suffice to say that I’ve been travelling for a while, and I’m sure that stories from the road will be creeping into my posts from time to time.
It may take me a bit of time to catch up on what’s actually been going on in the world, but I promise to entertain you with random thoughts and tidbits until I can get some meatier postings going.
It sure is good to be home! (Where’s my ticker tape parade?)
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