2013/02/08

• 
  2011.03.24
  Scènes de Montréal – Montreal Scenes
  

  I started editing this post January 26. That’s one of the reasons I hate winter. It’s like always having an urge to hibernate, so in the end nothing is done..

  Out of…

  The next worst thing after being out of luck is being out of bananas. I had bought five on the day of my release from the pen. I eat one a day (with Rice Krispies and milk… I know this is terribly unimaginative) so the last one took the stage on last Wednesday (23rd). The weather being what it was last week, I just had to make do without them. However, on Friday evening, there was a little rise in temperature, because of less wind mostly, so I took on me to get dressed and walk to the pocket supermarket near my pad, a 300 metre trip, 600 return. I bought a few other items, like raisins and cheddar cheese, not much, because I have to use the same hand to hold both the bag and the ramp when I climb the seventeen curled stairs when returning home. It didn’t work that well, the bag constantly getting caught in the vertical parts of the ramp, making it even more dangerous than not holding the ramp at all. I have to buy some kind of shoulder bag (sac en bandoulière) to free my hand, but the cold spell prevents me from shopping for this and a bunch of other stuff required by my new ‘condition’.

  

  The Spring Battle

  Anyone knows who owns the rights on Spring?

  Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil and Ontario’s Wiarton Willie have both predicted an early spring since they both haven’t seen their shadow (which is kind of normal for a groundhog since they are almost blind). On the other side, I mean the north and east sides of the forementioned, I mean, tah-dah!!!, Québec, our own Fred boasts a 20/20 vision and saw both his shadow and all the crap that’s still to come. Considering my well-known love for winter, I suddenly have this urge to become an American, just for this once. As for the urge to become Ontarian, that’s a hell of a longer way than going to Tipperary, that’s all I can say. .

  

  

  Scents

  There’s an American television program (now dubbed here in French, I’m ashamed to add) featuring a family of obese (body) and anorexic (brains) bunch of misfits. I think it’s called Honey Boo Boo or Honey Goo Goo or Honey Poo Poo, it’s hard to tell, being all at once scary, slimy and…, well, and. From the little of it I have seen, I’d go for the latest. The Honey in question is a young girl (I think it’s a girl, at least she dresses like one, but the kind who’d open shop in dark alleys if you know what I mean). She is to honey what telephone pole syrup is to real maple syrup. Since the program still has viewers, I guess she (and her family) also attract flies.

  We did have a series here called “Les_Bougon” and also featuring a family of semi-misfits living off of welfare and petty thefts and whose family dog was named Ben Laden, but it did not feature a six-year-old dressing up and acting like a whore. Their young girl was Chinese and born from a woman refugee found in a ship in Montreal’s port and who died soon after giving birth. They adopted her figuring she’d be a good investment since everyone knows the Chinese are good in computing, and they called her Mao. She indeed turned out to be the brightest number of the family, and not necessarily at school which she attended occasionally, sort of. For her there was more to learn in the streets and everyday life than at school, or gazing at her navel like the forementioned Poo.

  

  Wynne Won

  Kathleen Wynne won the leadership race of the Ontario Liberal Party recently. By virtue (?) of the parliamentary system we have here, she also instantly became Premier of Ontario. With our own Pauline Marois, elected the same day I was relieved of a lung lobe, a majority of Canada’s provinces are now governed by women. I don’t know what that means.

  I didn’t mention it before, but on election night September 4, Marois who is leader of the independentist Parti Québécois, was the subject of an assassination attempt at the Metropolis in downtown Montreal. It’s a stage technician who was killed instead. Another one was injured. The accused (his trial just started) made no secret about his motivations, yelling on location «The English are waking up! It’s gonna be fucking payback». You won’t find any mention of this in the above link, except in the bottom references. It is however mentioned in the French version of that wiki page. I won’t bother expanding on that.

  

  Da food section

  Along with family reunions around the Thanksgiving turkey, the apple pie, the New York cheesecake, and the football cheerleaders, a special place in Americana has got to be given to the intriguing for some, disgusting for others, peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To my recollection, I have never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To my recollection I have never even seen one either. Since I eat a lot of peanut butter these days because I was told it’s full of protein which I was told I’m very in need of, and probably because the winter blues make some people desperate, I got this crazy idea the other day, looking at my peanut butter covered morning toasts, to try topping them with jam. I took for granted that jelly here meant, in most cases, jam. I had cherry jam, so cherry jam it was.

  

  

  Lending an arm

  I take great liberty at blaming the winter blues for my being late doing just about everything lately, including feeding this here blog or visiting others. The fact is that my missing left arm and hand has more impact then I first thought. Every little thing seems like a mountain to cross and I very often postpone again and again. Using the computer with only one hand has also become a chore instead of the fun it should be. Of course if we had a decent winter maybe the morale would be on a better track. Since I’m back home, I have too much of a few fingers to count the days it was liveable outside. In this respect, we have the worst winter in years. And staying inside all the time is not good for anyone.

  

  Boots

  …to come

  

  • 18:32
  • 11 Comments