ahh... the sounds of home...

my last apartment in montreal was home to me for about seven years. for about four of those i lived next to a construction zone.

the city was re-building a highway overpass across the street from me. the Decarie Expressway in Montreal, which, where i lived was below street level - kind of like a giant moat. they were re-doing the overpass that went across it on the corner of my street. it turned out beautifully, but the four years of construction all spring/summer/fall wasn't very fun.

summer was the worst because you couldn't open the windows without hearing the trucks beeping, or the jack-hammers drilling... all through the night. that was the only time they could safely close the highway below without interrupting anyones' busy schedules - other than the people who were trying to sleep that is! thankfully (for me, not my room mates) i had an inner bedroom that didn't get ALL the noise.

i remember one night my roomie actually called the number they had posted on the signs outside to complain about noise levels. the guy on the other end could hear it through the phone. they sent over some sound pollution testers within a couple of days, but nothing ever came of it. there were some barriers set up, big pieces of plywood that did nothing to eliminate the noise, and i guess they figured that was enough. anyway, it was pretty bad but i suppose we got used to it for the most part.

this morning i was awoken to the nostalgic sounds of drilling in concrete and heavy machinery. i've been expecting it, since there is an insane amount of repairs to the sewers going on around here... it was only a matter of time until they got to my street... but it is a good thing they aren't doing it overnight - they only started, as i woke up, at 6:45 AM. (still, a little early to be drilling, no?) i had to take a shot from my front door... so here it is:
isn't that the cutest little excavator you've ever seen? and the mini dump truck too! too bad they don't sound so small! anyway, the view was quite similar to what i remember seeing in north america. one guy working and three guys watching! some things are the same everywhere you go!

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on another note, my day went much better today than yesterday. i managed to get out for my lunchtime walk and found a new route to take that allows me a little time in the woods as opposed to staying on the streets. it was nice to be surrounded by trees, if only for ten minutes! the laryngitis is clearing up - almost gone actually - but i'm a little worried about the five classes i have tomorrow and friday... hopefully the upward trend of recovery will continue.

Ahh...Montreal, home of my heart...

I was going to write a column on my top ten favourite things about Montreal, but I’ve only listed six. When I started thinking about why I love this city, I hit a brick wall. I mean, let’s be honest, winter is coming on, and the city is retreating into hibernation. With the prospect of five months of blistery wind, snow, slush, and mornings so cold your nostrils stick together, it’s hard to find any reason to love Montreal.

So I started asking people why they love Montreal. The answers I received were varied and many, but everyone I spoke to said it doesn’t compare to any other city in Canada.
“It’s all in excess here,” said Cherry Marshall, who has lived in Montreal for only two years. “There’s so much to do here, with all the festivals and other things.” Marshall has lived in five provinces, and traveled through Europe, but she still agrees that

Montreal has it’s own special flavour. Montreal definitely has incredible diversity. There are restaurants to quell your craving for any kind of cuisine, shopping for all tastes, festivals for everyone, not to mention how great the people watching is. So here’s my list of a few of the things that I realize I might take for granted for having lived here for so long.
1. Only having to walk 30 seconds to get to a dep (and being able to buy beer there!).
2. The first nice day of summer, when the sun is reflecting off the puddles as the ice melts and you can finally leave the house without your jacket.
3. The mountain when it is in all of its autumn glory. And any other time really, what a fantastic bit of ‘nature’ in the middle of our bustling city.
4. The Metro. We really do have it easy, imagine this city in winter if we didn’t have such an underground network.
5. The little waterfall near the Metro station in Parc Jean Drapeau. It’s the best place to get wet for free in the height of summer when it’s so hot the cement is melting.
6. The diversity of culture is probably the most clichéd answer, but it is truly amazing that so many different groups live in harmony day after day.

Whatever reason, I think that Montreal is beautiful, diverse, vibrant, alive, and full of sparkle. I’m proud to call myself a Montrealer and it will always be home no matter where life takes me. I will keep thoughts of hot summer nights in my dreams during my hibernation this winter, and when I emerge in the spring I’ll be ready for another sizzling Montreal summer.