Home Desktop backgrounds About Attaboy the Archives Links elsewhere Photography Essays & writings Contact info Portfolio
Attaboy.ca

December 17, 2003 — 3 PM

Mostly Cloudy with an 80% Chance of Salty Wet Trousers

1° Overcast. Rain and snow mixed. I’ve been busy working (yes, I’m shocked too), shopping and all that, and so, as with every other blog out there right now, it’s been quiet here at Attaboy. On Sunday I’ll be heading to Vancouver for Christmas and ten days of wet.

I’d like to say more, but for now, let me just say this. Perhaps you recall all that romantic talk of snowflakes and sunshine that I offered last week? Well. I take it all back.

The foot of snow we got the other day, which seemed so pure and innocent as it was falling, has conspired and plotted its way into a half-melted mess, mixed with today’s rain, ice and snow. It has been trampled by Montreal’s army corps of pedestrians, and it has devolved into impassable lake-sized puddles at each intersection. As I hopped, slid and shuffled my way across the streets today, I and every other poor sod outside muttered under our breaths the same thing: why do we live here?

Comments

It’s the same every winter. We just don’t learn, eh? “Only 6 more months until our infamous Montreal summer!”, we tell ourselves. That’s why we live here. So far I’m enjoying the snow and slush, it’s like a giant game of hopscotch or Twister, depending on your luck… gimme 4 more months of it and see how jolly I am. ;)

— Megan | Dec. 18, 2003 — 9 AM

Heh. The slush does suck. However, there is some romance in it all. Light your pipe, be merry, and drive through a silent street in post-rush hour morning through Montreal suburbia, smell the chimney smoke, then drive back into town, enter a low-key coffee shop, and read the newspaper. Life is funny and awkward like that, but if you can afford to do the above soon, and don’t mind the drive (don’t worry, post-rush hour isn’t that bad), it’s well worth it.

I agree that several years of this may become a drag, but remember that if it isn’t 3 feet of snow, it’s earthquakes, tornados, or forrest fires.

Bosko | Dec. 18, 2003 — 12 PM

Winter would be a lot easier to take here if the City of Montreal took care of the sidewalks. I have lived in cold-climate towns, villages, and rural areas all my life, and I have never seen anyplace that neglects its sidewalks like Montreal does. I mean, yeah, they plow them, but they do nothing about the ice. I remember last winter I spent most of my time walking in the street because the sidewalks were so treacherous. Occasionally after a week or two of solidly iced-over sidewalks, the city would put down a thin scattering of grit, barely visible on the surface, and that was it. My sister was a student at McGill in the early 1960s, and she says it was the same way even then.

brad | Dec. 18, 2003 — 6 PM

hi luke, colin ad**k here. uncle marc is over right now and referred me to your site so i thought i’d stop in for a quickie.
take care and merry x-mas.

p.s. addy is invalid. :)

colin | Dec. 25, 2003 — 8 PM

Previously: C’est-à-dire

Subsequently: A Bit Flakey

December 2003
the Archives
Home