Tuesday, March 8, 2011

In No Particular Order, a Few Things I Miss About Quebec

I think I've almost acclimatized myself to British Columbia. But in spite of its good halibut and suspiciously fresh air, I do find myself missing Montreal every now and then. And some of the things I miss about that fair city aren't the usual suspects either (poutine.)

-Really stupid "controversies" over language. Does that disco movie, Funkytown, have too much English in it? Surely, somebody thinks so and will write a column about it.

-Lebanese places that stay open late so you can shovel garlic sauce into your gullet while drunk.

-Francophone men, the kind of guys you strongly suspect have more scarf than personality, but you don't mind because they really know how to drape that scarf.

-The days when the brewery near my house would make the whole air smell sweet, probably because they were brewing some kind of Honey Brown Ale.

-A metro system

-Meu Meu, the ice cream place with hibiscus, honey, salted chocolate flavours and more

-Monastiraki, and Billy, the delightful man who runs it.

-The cheap pitchers at Verres Stérilisés

-The sense of unearned victory you feel when you speak French to someone and- glory be- they reply in French!

-Simons, the store where you can lust after some 1,000$ designer skirt, and then actually purchase the 19$ store brand knockoff they're also carrying downstairs.

-Ms. C and Mr. Will, two wonderful friends

-The murals in the train station

That's all I can think of, for now. I would try and come up with a list for Guelph, but fear it would be a rather short one.

3 comments:

TheGrunk said...

Kind of forgot about the hockey team, non?

Beer is purchasable in convenience stores, and discounted. Bain oui!

Sex stores galore! The dirty kind to, not the pro-fem variety. Bonus points for those across the street from a church. Sacrement!

-NJH

ps. Bonus about living in Ottawa, is hoping on the bus and buying a cheap case of beer on the other side of the bridge.

Ivy McDougalhopper said...

*The fact that high end stores are sandwiched between exotic dancing places

*Cafe L'etranger (back when it had sandwiches)

*Cultural activities all the time at all price ranges

*There's always a festival! Specifically, I miss watching movies on the side of Place Des Arts

*The underground city

And so, so much more!

Protagitron said...

Grunk- good point about the beer. And the hockey team. Also, they're best when combined.