Montreal is a crazy place right now. The weather is insane, for one - this morning Ian woke me up to look out the window and there was... nothing. Just a sheet of gray, which my hazy brain soon identified as the heaviest rain I have EVER seen - it was COCO. Seriously, I've never seen (or not seen) anything like it. At this point I think I decided the morning is just too serious for me, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. Cut to three hours later, and I wake up to the sun shining right in my face. I stagger over to the window and it is DRY out there! A beautiful, slightly cloudy day with not a puddle in sight. This place is schizophrenic.

Some of the other insanity comes from the start of festival season around here. The Montreal Jazz Festival started last night - for some reason even the locals go a little *whooo* when the jazz fest is on. It's like those crabs in Cuba (or somewhere) - they spend most of the year hiding in the rocks, but when crab season hits they come teeming across the city and totally take over, stopping traffic, drinking cocktails, wearing berets, dancing to jazz in the moonlight... uh, that sort of thing. It's a crazy time to be here!

Also, tomorrow is Canada Day! Not so big here in Quebec (they celebrate Fete Nationale du Quebec - love those Separatists!) but they do still have a party, and it's always a bunch o' fun.

Above everything, though, Montreal festival season just has a smell about it. It's a feeling when you walk through the streets, like something is waiting just around the corner, like everyone in the city is either doing something awesome or on their WAY to do something awesome. The city smells spicy; like poutine, smoke and dirty blues music. It's the noise of Montreal - french and english and every other language you can imagine flying at you from the sidewalks, impatient car horns, hiphop music from a second floor balcony... it's an amazing place to be.

So tonight I'm off dancing at Cat's Corner, then hopefully heading out to soak up some jazz fest atmos. Tomorrow there's the Canada Day fireworks in Vieux (Old) Montreal, and a weekend of insanity shall ensue. Huzzah!!

Post a Comment