One Day, Two Days

July 1, 2012.


This is a test drive of the Blogger app, BlogPress for iPad. I have no photos, so that part of the test will be on another day. This is also inevitably bound to be a very boring post, meant for a few people (John) who might be interested in the details, so if that isn't you, I suggest you click out right now and go look at cat videos. That would be much more stimulating than what you will find here today.

Flew the red-eye from Vancouver to Montréal. It was the only flight available for points back in January when I booked, crazy as that may seem. I slept for probably two hours of the four-plus hours of flight, which wasn't bad considering I was pretty much upright. I'd forgotten that domestic business class is really not different from coach: same seat, same inclination, just a little wider and a little more legroom. (I flew business because of the way points work and the legs of the journey to come, on which there will definitely be a big difference.) The good part was that there was no one beside me. Would have been better if there hadn't been a big console between my seat and the empty one; then I could have lay down. Oh well. I nodded off to Leonard Cohen, a recently released album. Quite soporific.

I was able to catch another couple of hours in the Maple Leaf Lounge of Montréal airport, courtesy of my business class boarding pass. I snoozed again on the fifty minute flight to Québec. Then napped yet again once settled in my apartment bedroom here at the Collège Mérici. Now, after two days of cat naps, I feel ready to have a real night's sleep.

I have just one roommate, Janice, so far, two more presumably arriving tomorrow. She and I cobbled together a dinner of omelet and salad after I'd ventured out to a local supermarket for supplies, then went for a long walk across the Plains of Abraham. It was late already, dark, but balmy and moony and starry, a beautiful evening. As we reached the other end of the park, Canada Day fireworks started up, really close to where we were. We headed towards them and found ourselves watching them from the back side along with a few in-the-know others. A good display, the closest I've ever been to fireworks. I could hear the launch of each one. The whole thing became a dance of sound, not just light and colour. We felt quite priveleged to have happened upon the spot.

We began to head home but were stopped for a bit, along with a small crowd, by a cop preventing anyone from proceding up the road. I was expecting a motorcade or something, some important personnage. I finally mustered up the courage to ask a fellow bystander, in French, what we were waiting for, and he explained they were making sure there were no live fireworks remaining in the road. In English. Damn! The good part was that he understood my question. I'm going with the opinion that he answered in English because he'd overheard us talking.That must have been it.

The apartment is big, with very spacious rooms. My own bedroom is huge as bedrooms go. Everything is gleamingly clean. We're very impressed. Janice, a not-too-strict raw-food vegan teacher-librarian from Richmond district, seems easy to get along with, and with lots of knowledge to share. I think it's going to be a good time.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Québec Ville