Quebec City

Quebec City was lovely. Like being in Europe. I had lot's of "this feels like Edinburgh" moments, strangely enough, but then I'd turn a coner and feel I was in France, or one of England's walled cities. And this promenade reminded me of Nice, despite the lack of beach. The whole place was very pictureskew, really. Click on the pic for more.

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1. Mathelicious!

2. Social Networking Wars.

The May First March

The marching band (at least some of us) played for the May 1st March the other day. A march/protest that the police apparently don't much like...

We were just marching along, playing our music, waving our banners in support of worker's rights etc, and then suddenly there was a whole battalion of riot police behind us, banging their shields (and not in time to the music!) and saying something incomprehensible that may have been about the march being illegal. And then they were running. So the marching band also started running, somehow without stopping playing. The band made it to the sidewalk, and there was this whole tense standoff moment between the police and the protesters, with us sort of between them but on the side, looking down the no-man's land between them. So we started playing again. And somehow the situation didn't turn ugly. Well, not very ugly. There were a few scuffles, and some sort of gas from the police that we thought was going to be tear gas (shut your eyes and keep playing as long as you can) but turned out to be some sort of stinky gas that didn't affect our eyes or airways much at all. It seems the police are using stink bombs...
So we just kept playing, and the police backed off. I think we played an important part there. It seems that if the band is still playing, the mood stays more festive than tense. I think it might calm people down - both cops and protesters, and defuse the situation a bit. And then later, one of the protesters passed us and said how surreal and amazing it had been to be running from police, and hearing the music still going - and hearing it run along beside them! Our strategy of not stopping playing is a good one, I think.
Anyway, after the second time we nearly got run over by running, yelling cops, and once again used our strategy of running to the sidewalk and letting them go past (I believe that our instruments and music mean that we are not targets - it wouldn't look good if the cops beat up or arrested the band!) we got separated from the protest, which I think got uglier, so it's probably just as well we didn't go to find it again. We roamed the streets playing randomly instead, which is always fun!

prolific performances

I never reviewed our Maha concerts from a couple of weeks ago, but they were great - at least the Saturday one was. Friday felt a little shakey in places... The venue, which we had had enormous troubles finding, was brilliant in the end - a blank canvas of a loft space that we decorated and lit with lamps brought from our houses and as much greenery as we could muster, both plastic and plant. And we certainly had the numbers - both nights had people sitting on the floor as we didn't have enough chairs! The pictures and a few little videos are here.


I've performed since then, too. The group of us who did the Quebecois folk song Ziguezon took it to a bar that has a traditional music jam last tuesday, a far noisier venue than we were used to, but it still went down pretty well, I think. We did Mouth Music too, while we had the floor, which is an Irish traditional piece that the whole choir had sung at our concerts. And were asked for more, but that was pretty much the end of our traditional repertoire!

And earlier the same evening a bunch of Maha members had met in a (rather beautiful) recording studio to record some backing vocals for friends of one of our members, which was also a fun experience!

And then my other small-group piece, Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man has been invited to perform at a show in a couple of weeks too. We're going to work on making it a little more dramatic (or maybe drag-atic), but the singing is fantastic as is. We ended up with a lovely arrangement for it - rather barber's shoppy in places, which is great. And I sing the tenor line, basically, which has lots of lovely tenor-y notes.

And finally, the marching band continues to perform reguarly - I can even play a few of the songs without reading the music lately. I still make a lot of it up, though... But I did get to perform on bassoon in a small gig we did for the Rhizome a week or two back! I was organising the gig (playing on the street isn't so hard to organise, really) to help support my Rhizome friends who have been having some neo-nazi type hassling in their area. I decided we had enough people available to do the gig, but realised that there wasn't a single bass instrument among them. So I borrowed Telyn's bassoon, printed out what I could of the music, and spent 15 mins before the gig remembering fingerings and reading through the pieces. For the actual gig I pinned the music to our drummer's back, and lurked behind him to read it. A little silly, but it worked! And I had so much fun playing the bass lines!

We also played for the May 1st march the other day - I'll blog that separately. And tomorrow we march with the "Solidarity Across Borders - Status for All" march in support of immigrants rights. This is the march the band was born for, two years ago, so we're making it a festive brithday march, too! It should be fun.

And then straight after that, I'm off to Quebec city for a couple of days of exploring.

So yay for performance opportunities! And this town seems to provide many of them! *Sigh*. I like Montreal!

International Tuba Day!

Did you know that today is International Tuba Day? No? Well, why not?
It was. And in celebration, a few marching band members decided to surprise-serenade our tuba-player, Cathy, bringing her tuba with us so that she could join in!
Despite some problems in actually finding her to seranade (we missed her by less than 5 mins at the first rendezvous point, it seems!) we managed in the end, and she was appropriately surprised and pleased. We then spent the next couple of hours wandering around the streets of Mile End playing randomly in the streets and parks and train yards, and then having lunch and beer while sitting in the sun.
Such a nice way to celebrate this important international day!

zoom

I booked a flight to London last night. I now have a leaving-Montreal date, which is quite distressing. But hey, maybe I'll get to return after the summer (must remember to submit those visa application forms...)
I fly to London on the 11th of June, accompanied by Telyn, to spend the first weekend at Transfabulous, a festival in London, and then I have a few days in which I think I will meander my way northish, maybe to Liverpool (despite having a slight liverpudlian accent at the age of 9, I have never been there) maybe north Wales, maybe Manchester, I don't know. And then I meet Nathaniel on the 19th to catch a train together to Paris, where we will both descend upon Sean in his tiny flat for a few days.
After that, I'm currently unbooked until I start work in the UK on July 3rd. I have a few ideas, but suggestions and invitations are most welcome!

During Breakfast

I'm appreciating a 'normal' Saturday morning.. er... afternoon... - my first actually at home alone in weeks, it seems. 'Normal' means sleeping in a bit (ok, a lot), then getting up to do prosaic things like the washing up and other housecleaning tasks before I make breakfast (the clean dishes make breakfast much more pleasant). I also get time to do things like write random blog posts, and catch up on other online things.
And then today, I'm actually going to bake those ANZAC bikkies that I have been talking about all week. I want to take them to a potluck this afternoon, so I had better get on with it.
When I've finished my coffee...

Meltyness

Remember all that snow in my backyard a month or so back?

Well, here's what happened over just a few days last week.

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Nothing like 25 degree temperatures to melt snow. And now the grass is growing, and it's starting to look lovely and green, and I think it's time to get the backyard furniture out and invite people over to hang out in the sun!

Behind again

Way behind in blogging. Didn't blog Ottawa, but the pics are on flickr. Didn't blog last weekend, and now I've done enough since that my memories are getting hazy.
Haven't blogged this week - melty melty and over 20 degrees!
Haven't blogged today - sugar shacking, sun lazing, and then maha concerting. Flicks on pickr...
Haven't blogged tomorrow (this may not be so unreasonable though) which involves a marching band gig for my friends at the Rhizome and the second Maha concert, and then going out after, and then getting up for a 9am bus on Sunday to go to a cabin in the Laurentian mountains for a few days.
Life is good.

Maha Concert Friday and Saturday!

I should have posted this a week ago! First, admire the pretty pretty flyer...

Next, read this:

Choeur Maha presents

"Vers le Vert!"

TWO NIGHTS!!

April 18 AND 19

At 8:00 p.m.

At: The Eastern Bloc, 7240 Clark (near Jean-Talon)

$10

With special guest: Willow Rutherford

http://www.myspace.com/willowrutherford

**

MORE INFO

Choeur Maha, our much-loved Montreal women's choir, has been about

challenging musical and social conventions. It has taken us from

experimental sound installations to spontaneously spreading the singing and

dancing groove into the audience. Directed by Kathy Kennedy.

www.kathykennedy.ca

Finally, put on your best green outfit and come to the concert this weekend!

Friday

Friday was busy. On my way to work in the morning, I investigated a grocery store called "La Vieille Europe" that turned out to not have the golden syrup or treacle I was looking for. I can see that my planned ANZAC biscuits are going to end up being "Australian, New Zealand And Canadian" biscuits, as maple syrup seems my best substitute at the moment!
Then I went to work, at least for a couple of hours. Then I had some errands to run all over town which meant I spent the whole afternoon on public transport.
After that, there was a lecture by a trans activist and legal professor Dean Spade, which was interesting and educational. And then I had a gig singing (and playing clarinet and spoons) our quebecois folk song "Ziguezon" with people from my choir. It was our first performance and we outnumbered the audience (we were performing at someone else's "Cabaret Canadien" which hadn't been well publicized!) but it was an excellent practice for our concert next week.
After that I went to a friend's house to drink vodka and somehow got myself adopted by the sweetest two guys ever. I now have two more dads, it seems!
Finally, I went to a slow dance prom party and spent the early hours of the morning filling up my dance card and doing the slow-dance shuffle to such songs as "Every Breath You Take" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Saturday, I didn't do anything at all. But today, Sunday, I have a brunch-ish-lunch, a champagne tea party clothing-swap, Food not Bombs, a marching band rehearsal and another choir small-group rehearsal.
Better get on with it!

Melty Days

The weather has been positive every day for about a week now, although it still gets negative at night (which, I'm told, is the perfect condition for the maple trees to produce the stuff that gets turned into syrup). So huge great piles of white snow everywhere are gradually becoming slightly smaller, ugly, dirty brown piles of snow studded with garbage and surrounded by dirty lakes.
On the upside, the permafrost that makes the path to my front door treacherous has melted enough for a few holes down to the actual concrete to appear, allowing a firm foothold for at least some of the steps.
And the sun is stronger. So much stronger that I think I'm got slightly sunburnt this weekend. I didn't think that was supposed to happen on this side of the world, dammit. But sitting in the sun feel very nice. I've even ventured out without long johns on! And my down coat is definitely too warm now, but my hoodie alone isn't quite warm enough most of the time. So one of my missions for this week is to find a spring jacket of some sort. I can feel a thrift store shopping expedition coming on! Maybe I'll get those rollerblades as well...
Oh, and I went to Ottawaaaa for the weekend (that's how they say it here) but I'll blog about it another day.

Hot Torture

So I just did my first ever Bikram Yoga class. You know the one - it's where they heat up the room to the average temperature of India on a summer's day and then expect you to spend 90 minutes tying yourself in knots in it. And you're not allowed to leave. Or speak. Or do anything other than what the teacher says (in 2, sometimes 3 different languages, so there's no excuse for not understanding.) You are allowed to die sometimes and just lie there in a puddle of your own sweat.
I survived. I even did about 90% of the postures, at least in some form or other. I also decided I'm not going to move to India anytime soon.
I have a week's introductory pass, so I feel I have to go at least 2, maybe 3, more times to get my money's worth. Maybe by then I will be a convert, but for now, I think I prefer my yoga without all the strict rules and at somewhat more sensible temperatures...

80s Prom Party

There was a party on Saturday night. An 80s Prom Party called Pretty in Kink. Telyn's friend won tickets and couldn't go, so we went - with instructions to take lots of photos.
The 80s must be long enough ago now that we've all forgotten the fashion trauma, as it was actually a lot of fun dressing up for this. Admittedly we went mostly with the prom theme, as Telyn had this lovely princess dress, and an old tux and ruffled shirt for me to wear. It was a little small and didn't quite do up, but I think I managed to turn that to my advantage!

A few rubber accessories (for the kink part of the theme), some big hair and a side pony tail later, and we were ready.

It's entirely possible we spent longer on getting the outfits together than actually at the party, but that's half the fun, right?
There are more pics on Flickr, though nightclub photos are ridiculously difficult...

Diary of a too-late Ice Skater, Part 4

So it seems the skating season is over. I was down at Parc La Fontaine yesterday, and the pond is now just slush. Temperatures are predicted to be over zero all week this week, so I think that's it for the skating. I'm really glad I got to go one last time on Monday.
But now that the sidewalks are mostly free of snow and ice, maybe I'll buy some rollerblades (which are also plentiful in thrift stores) and continue to develop my skills. It would probably save me buying a bike as well.
Of course, I've never rollerbladed in my life. So I bet I'm a pretty-crap rollerblader. But I managed to not kill myself on the ice, so I'm sure I can learn to survive on the streets as well!

Meanwhile, here's a pic I took at the ex-ice skating pond yesterday. Isn't this the funkiest dancing hockey playing stick figure you've ever seen? As far as I can tell, this sign means 'don't dance with your hockey stick here'.

More published pics

A friend of mine writes a local Montreal blog called nouveau*queer, and has played with a bunch of my photos to make lovely collages to illustrate her latest blog post. It's also a lot more info about the film screening I went to after the Choeur Maha concert a few weeks ago. The post is here.

Diary of a Still Pretty Crap Ice Skater, Part 3

Finally got to go skating again. Yes, it's been months, and my plan to become an expert over the winter didn't exactly happen, but I'm still glad I bought my own skates. Soon it will be too warm for skating. Already the change room and skate hire place is closed, and the ice was mostly pretty crappy, but there was still a big area with skatable ice, so I survived. It was easier this time. For a start I didn't have to do the horrible walk from the change room to the ice, which is always so precarious and terrifying on skates and icy paths, and secondly, I was there with a friend and my attention was more focussed on our conversation than on my skating, so I was more relaxed and didn't notice what I was doing, and did far better than the last time I went! Here's video proof:

With luck I'll manage to go again at least once before everything melts! And snowshoeing and cross country skiing are still on the wish-list too, but the chances of having time when the conditions are right are getting less and less as the weather feels more and more spring-y. Already the sun feels so warm, even though the temps are -5 or more, there's real warmth in the sun, and the birds have returned!

We Built an Igloo!

So on Saturday I had some friends over with the crazy idea of playing in the mountain of snow in my backyard, and then drinking mulled wine and hot chocolate (not necessarily together) afterwards. I had ideas of snow sculptures or something, but it was too cold. You need melty, sticky snow for snowpeople, apparently (I'm learning so much here!). But as the day before had been melty, the snow was quite dense and solid, which is apparently perfect igloo-building-snow. I had never considered the possibility of actually building an igloo. It is a foreign concept. But I'm into foreign concepts, and I had expert help and design advice from a couple of actual Canadians. Actually, Telyn did most of the shovel work cutting the blocks, and I just placed them, usually where I was told to. Emily helped by taking photos and playing with the puppy she was looking after for the day, preventing her from digging up our igloo or running away.
It was all going brilliantly until Emily slipped on the private ice skating rink we have developed out there, and had to go to hospital to check she hadn't broken any ribs. She hadn't, thankfully, but it will probably feel like it for a week or so. And it put a stop to our igloo building, so we never did get a roof on it, and I had to dismantle it the next morning so my neighbour could park his second car there, but we did bridge the door gap, and I'm very glad I can now add 'igloo building' to my list of experiences, and thankful to Emily and Telyn for humouring me and my crazy Australian snow-deprived ideas.

I'm now a (net) published photographer

So I got this random message a while back asking if I was ok with some website using one of my photos on flickr in their travel guide. This photo, in fact: And I was ok with it, as they link to it on flickr and publish my name with it. And today I was sent the link of the completed website. It's one of my Wreck Beach photos from Vancouver, and this website uses it as the icon photo for the Wreck Beach info, which is nice. It's not my favourite Wreck Beach photo though. This is my favourite:

Revenge of the Librarians

Life continues to be crazy busy, but I have managed to update the photoessay that is my life on Flickr if you want to know what I've been busy doing.
To satisfy demands for pictures of me rather than random others, I will post this pic here though. Last night there was a "Revenge of the Librarians" party at Cagibi, which Telyn and I dressed up suitably for. My outfit came almost entirely from the Free Pile at the Rhizome (Free Piles are even better than thrift stores!) and I had many compliments, so I gather that "nerdy librarian" is a look I can do. I must remember this for future costume parties...

Too Fast

Life is going way to fast to keep up with blogging right now, but I'm still managing to upload photos regularly. Photos from this month now include:

1. Kim Zombik, Choeur Maha member and jazz singer extraordinaire, from Circo d'Inverno, a circus and music performance I went to unexpectedly last Saturday (Thanks Elvi!)
   
2. The protest, march and many of the Marching Band from that same Saturday's Internation Day Against Police Brutality (including one of the poor old man a posse of police knocked down right in front of me, after Telyn and I had dexterously leapt sideways out of their way.)
3. A random pic of a huge work machine thing that made so much noise I thought the world was ending when it came through the metro station while I was waiting for the last train last night.
4. Some marching band friends playing in the metro after practice last Sunday
5. A photo from the practice itself, which is held in an anarchist library.
6. Hairdressing and poker playing at last night's surprise party for Rosin.
   
7. Cooking at Maison Laurier for Food not Bombs on Sunday.
8. And older pics of things like huge piles of snow from the biggest snowstorm of the season (or any season in the last 30 years), the metro, nuit blanche, colourful construction, climbing Mount Royal and random Montreal street scenes and statues.
   

Hot Hot Gossip and other events

I went to see another Edgy Women thing last night - this time it was Hot Hot Gossip - the live-action lesbian soap-opera comedy.

It was highly amusing! And full of lots of lovely lesbian drama! See, doesn't this look familiar? At least to some people...

Unfortunately it was only episodes one and two of a 6 part series, so I'm going to have to go back and see the sequel when they get around to putting it on! And I hope the third and final part gets staged before I have to leave for the UK in June, or I'll never hear the end of the story!

After the show I stayed around to chat to all the people I knew who came, which was many. I am no longer surprised when I know bunches of people everywhere I go here now. And that most of the people I know know most of the other people I know, even though I met them in completely different places. This is now normal to me. However, standing around chatting to half the performers and special guests of the arts festival you're attending is still a surprising experience for me. But that's what we did. Ivan E. Coyote, a brilliant storyteller (see here selling books that I now really want to read) and Lazlo Pearlman, whose solo show I am going to see tonight, are both amazing wonderful people I am glad I have had conversations with.

And then today, there is a skill share at the Co-op sur Genereux that I appear to be failing to go to (I'll definitely be there tomorrow!), a march against police brutality at which I am supposed to serve Food not Bombs food or provide anarchist marching band support (after only one rehearsal, I'm not actually up to *playing* for the march, but I'm good at moral and photographic support!) and then I just got a phone call inviting me to a show that one of my fellow Choeur Maha members is singing in, so I'm going to that first.
And then tonight is Lazlo's show, and tomorrow I have the skill share at the co-op, including another theatre workshop that was so much fun last time, and then Food not Bombs, which I have a feeling I will be missing, as it clashes, and a marching band rehearsal in the evening. And I have a feeling there's something else on as well, but that's probably enough for one day anyway.
And I wonder why I feel like I need a weekend in the middle of the week...

The Mountain.

After only three point five months in Montreal, I finally climbed The Mountain today. Mont-Royal, the lump in the middle of town that gives this town its name. It's affectionately referred to as a mountain, but it's only a hill really. Still, there's quite a bit of uphill involved in climbing it, but the view at the top is rather pretty.
And the reason that I had time to do such frivolous things as climb mountains was that there was a mix-up with my day's worth of classes and they got cancelled. I didn't find out about this until I had already trekked all the way to Laval (45 minutes away, if I go early enough for the good bus!) so I got to turn around and trek all the way back, which was ok, as I should get paid for the day anyway!
Once home, I sent out an email to everyone I could think of who might have some time to do something with the wonderful sunnyness of the day, and the fact that it was only -10 or so, and ended up getting invited to climb The Mountain with Telyn. And as it was lunchtime, and we were on the McGill campus, Telyn took me to the Midnight Kitchen, for an almost-free vegan lunch, which is something I think every university should have.
After Telyn had to return to student life after lunch, I had a chance to wander around town, which I don't often do, and go to the Frigo Vert for a little shopping, which I also never get to do. At least, not there. And then I came home to while away the hours on the internet.
So overall, today was good!
More pics on flickr, as usual.

To the Dark Side

So I did it. I joined Facebook. I know. I know I said I wouldn't. I know I have been heard to say 'Facebook is evil'. And I still think it is. However, like long-haul aeroplane rides, it seems it is currently a necessary evil in my life. I'm living in the country with the second largest number of Facebook users in the world. Apparently 1 in 4 people in this country are on facebook. And the 3 in 4 who aren't probably include all the people who are too old/young/technophobic to be on it at all. People don't exchange email addresses or phone numbers anymore, they ask 'are you on Facebook?'. I say 'Oh, I didn't know about ' and people respond 'Really? It's on Facebook'. It was all just getting a little much for me.
So yesterday, I joined.
And my first impressions are that it's a great way to waste time. But also to find out about things that are going on. And I'm utterly astonished by just how many of the profile pictures of my new 'friends' are *my* photos, stolen from my flickr page! I had no idea! I'm rather flattered, really! Obviously I need to befriend someone as snap-happy as I am so that I too have large numbers of interesting photos of myself to choose from for profile pictures. I never have an interesting profile pic, because I'm just not particularly good at remembering to take photos of myself.
Or other people, I thought, but apparently I was wrong!
So feel free to search and befriend me. But I think I'd rather not have any pokes, gifts or other silly unnecessary pixels. I'd much rather an email (or blog comment) with actual real news telling me where you are and what you're doing!

Random Observations.

1. The highest point of the blanket of snow that is currently covering my backyard outside my window here is at eye level when I'm sitting here at my desk. This is a record breaking year, apparently.
2. My internal french-monologue has started frequently speaking with a quebecois accent-la.
3. Changing to summer time (as we did on Sunday morning, apparently) is fantastic, and I love long, sunny evenings, but somehow my body clock cannot be convinced that it's nearly night time right now, and that I'm running late for our jam session, which usually starts *after* dark...
   

Another Review of Saturday's Concert

Here's a far better review of our concert on Saturday night, which also uses a heap of my photos! (Not randomly though, rather because Nouveau*Queer is the oh-so-useful blog of a friend and fellow Maha chorister!)

Edgy Women!

So last night I spent first singing with Choeur Maha and Clara Furey, then seeing films and partying all as part of the Edgy Women Festival at Studio 303.
The concert went brilliantly, especially considering we had learned a few of the pieces ridiculously quickly. I didn't help much - after months of robust health, I've managed to pick up a cold this week, which chose Saturday afternoon to hit me. I wasn't too bad until after about our second number, when my right ear chose to completely block up, leaving me with no idea of how loud or soft I was singing. I'm told I didn't embarrass myself, though, but I was probably singing quietly, just to be on the safe side. I know I later found myself talking too quietly in conversation for the same reason!
My pics are on flickr, as per usual, but here are some of my favourites:
Choeur Maha, resplendent in red and black, going oooooh:


Three of us Maha people also did a bit of backup singing (no doo-wops involved, I promise) for one of Clara's pieces, which was great, but of course, I don't have any pictures of that, because I was performing. Here's Clara, though, being edgy solo:



After the concert, there was a short break, and then the next event started - a short film session called 'Juggling Gender'.There were two short films and a discussion with the two artists, one a short comedy about transmen, and the second a documentary about Circus Amok and bearded lesbian extraordinaire Jennifer Miller:



Lazlo Pearlman was the other artist, and next Saturday night is doing a show called 'Madame Pierre's Other Tongue', which I am definitely going to see!

After the films and discussion we all (well, the brave, hardy souls among us) slogged through the worst blizzard in 30 years (or something) to get to Le Sociale, the venue for the after-party. Which probably would have been a lot better attended if said blizzard hadn't been blowing. It's a real pity, as the proceeds were all going to a local queer youth organisation. Still, those of us who were there had fun, although I decided I wasn't having quite enough fun to make it worth missing the last metro!
All in all another brilliant Montreal evening, and more motivation for me to work hard on getting back here after the summer!

Good Things

Good Thing #1
I have a clarinet! To borrow while I'm here. I got to play it last night at our jam session, and discovered I can play You Are My Sunshine in just about any key that doesn't have a ridiculous number of sharps or go into the upper register (I realise this narrows it down considerably!) I need to train my lip muscles a little more before playing anything in the upper register. Not surprisingly, after a 10 year hiatus (I stopped doing a lot of things about 10 years ago, it seems) they are a little out of shape. But I always preferred the sound of the lower register anyway!
So now I need to think of things to practice! It's odd, because my fingers remember what to do fine, but my lips put me right back in the beginner category. So I squeak like a beginner, but can remember all the fingerings for all the notes. It's an odd combination.

Good Thing #1b
**Geek Alert**
Speaking of You Are My Sunshine, this is one of my favourite Voyager moments. A hologram and a Borg singing a duet...


Good Thing #2
The supermarket that sold marmite, and then didn't sell marmite, is selling marmite again! Yay! Ok, so it's not vegemite, but it's a decent (and apparently occasionally available) substitute, so I'm happy.

There are more good things, but there's also the not-so-good thing, which is that I have to leave for work in about 8 hours, and I still have to fit in some lesson preparation, lunch preparation and sleep preparation. And then the actual sleeping as well, if I ever get around to it.

Nuit Blanche

Last's night's Nuit Blanche was great! I spent most of the evening at the Belgo building, which is a big old building downtown full of little (and not so little) galleries and studios. Including Studio 303, which is where we're performing next Saturday as well. We sang Pentatonic Alleluia while wandering up and down the stairs, which worked quite well, really, as it's a piece without structure. (Disclaimer: I'm kinda new to this videoing thing, and I really have to learn to let it run at least until the end of a phrase! Also, apologies that my slightly wavery 'I've just climbed three flights of stairs while singing' voice is the main one you can hear!')

We agreed to meet at the bottom after about 15 minutes of it, so we could coordinate the end of the piece, and then we sang Hide an Seek - an Imogen Heep song that we are still trying to get right. Last night wasn't the best venue for getting it right, but here's a snippet anyway:

The rest of the evening I spent wandering the halls of the Belgo seeing other art and performances, which was fun. One gallery was full of things that vibrated - sections of the wall, a table with puddles of dancing water on it, and this:
The place was full of interesting people, including a few queeruption people I hadn't seen since Vancouver, which was good! I really haven't connected with queeruption people here much at all, even though it is, indirectly, the reason I know most of the people I have met in this town!
I finished off the evening by dropping into the Musée d'Art Contemporain, which was open until 5am, and full of people who weren't nearly as interesting as the people in the Belgo building!

All my Nuit Blanche photos (the still kind) on flickr here.

music (up) to my ears

So here are my current musical projects and prospects:

1. Choeur Maha is doing a very short gig tomorrow night as part of Montreal's Nuit Blanche - an all-night festival of all things cultural. We'll be singing an alleluia in a stairwell, which should be interesting.
2. On Monday I'm hosting our weekly all-girls-blue-grass-jam-band-jam. We plan to perform sometime soonish in the 'Monthly Mess' organised by indyish.com
3. Next Saturday, International Women's Day, Choeur Maha is also performing at the Edgy Women Festival, in a show with Clara Furey, a local singer/songwriter/dancer and generally interesting person. The choir is doing a piece of two with her, as well as a bunch on our own, and then I'm doing one song with her on my own. There was supposed to be more of us, but I was the only one who actually turned up to the rehearsal. It's exciting, and a little scary as it's a while since I've performed outside of the safety and relative anonymity of a chorus.
4. I've been offered a clarinet! Just to borrow, but that's enough. I got to play one briefly last week, and discovered that my lip piercing is not really a problem, and then a friend from choir mentioned she had a clarinet just sitting about at her place not doing anything. So I'm going to borrow it and join the anarchist marching band.
5. As part of the small-ensemble work for the Maha show in April, a group of about 8 of us are doing a Quebecois folk song called Ziguezon. I get to play the spoons! (proper, wooden ones, that is, designed for Quebec folk music, except when we don't have them handy, and I steal wooden spoons from the kitchen...).
6. And then finally, also as a Maha small ensemble, there are 4 of us preparing a version of Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man. The plan is to also do it for the Transpride festival that is on around the same time as the Maha gig. We're not entirely sure how we'll do it yet. We're still trying to decide whether to do it big-band showtune style (anyone got a big-band we can borrow?) or sleazy lounge-bar style. Or, maybe, like this version from Michael Buble, we could do both at once!

Have I mentioned that I love this town?

I'm rich!

I have to open a bank account today so that I can bank my first ever Montreal pay cheque (yay!), and then give the details to the two schools that want to pay me by bank transfer. And hopefully have the net banking and everything set up so that I can pay my rent by bank transfer before the first of March (this might be hard).
Anyway, as my brain was thinking about banks, I decided to check my Australian bank account, which has been pretty much idle for the last few months (I've been living on the cash from the payout of my van). I didn't expect it to say anything different from last time.
So I was rather surprised to find the balance had gone up by rather a lot. Much to my surprise, the ATO has paid me my tax return! I didn't expect to ever get it, despite lodging the paperwork in November (only a month or so late). I expected lots more trouble over not having filed for a few years. I hadn't actually earned any money in Australia for a long time, and generally pay my taxes in the country I'm living in instead, so I hadn't had to (I wasn't a resident for taxation purposes, as the ATO says), but I also hadn't realised that I needed to tell the ATO this formally, rather than just not filing for 4 or 5 years. In fact, the last time I filed was when Michael did it for me. And that's ancient history now!
Anyway, having earned lovely quantities of money at QUT last year, and been studying in the same field I was working in at the same time, I got lots of lovely tax back. Which definitely justifies the hours and hours I spent working on all those horrible forms!
So I'm rich. Sort of. Rich for me, anyway. And in Australian dollars, which I'm often in need of (mostly because I only have an Australian credit card, and they occasionally want repayments...) but find hard to get when I'm overseas.
Which makes me feel even more justified in turning down the Tuesday class I was offered. My last Tuesday class finished, and I don't need to work in the office of the other school on Tuesdays, usually, so I'm planning to try to keep it free. I don't need to work more than 4 days a week in this town! Or less, even. And my life is a lot more sane and healthy when I'm not working full time. I get to do useful things like open bank accounts, get my boots fixed, go to the post office, and other such business-day things. Not to mention catch up on sleep, and, if it weren't snowing heavily, I could even go skating or something. Maybe next week!

The 'Hood

I like my new area. It's just off the Plateau, which seems to be the most interesting area of town and where most people I know live. My flat is also very close to the metro, which is so much more convenient than the long walks or buses I needed to get to the other places I've lived in Montreal (two months, and I've stayed in about 5 different places...). So even though is a couple of extra metro stations out of town, it's actually more convenient. And, of course, I'm teaching two days a week in Laval, which is the island north of Montreal Island, and thus I'm a couple of stops closer to that job, which is nice.
Also, it seems a lot of my musical friends live around here - both from the LadiesAux and from Choeur Maha. Which means our jam sessions and small-group rehearsals are frequently conveniently located.
In terms of facilities, there's an IGA supermarket around the corner, which is convenient, but I hope not to use it too often, as I work right near a super-cheap and interesting supermarket (they sell marmite!), and I'm also just a few blocks from Jean Talon Market, which I've only visited once so far, but which is apparently *the* place to buy fruit and veg and bread and everything, really. This evening I found the nearest swimming pool, about 5 minutes walk away, but I didn't go swimming, as I had forgotten that it was the other pool that was open tonight - the one that is about 10 minutes walk away. I plan to get the schedules for both, if ever I manage to go when they are open! I'm still loving the free, indoor swimming pools! I'm also told there are lots of interesting cafes around here, and I know I'm close to 'Little Italy' and there seems to be a healthy middle-eastern population around here too. All good things.
However. Walking to this swimming pool this evening (and then about 5 long-blocks past it, as I hadn't remembered the address correctly...) I walked down St-Hubert which, for about 4 or 5 blocks around here, is 'Plaza St Hubert'. It's a shopping street, with covered footpaths, that reminds me of something I saw in China, or somewhere. And it's filled with the least attractive shops I've seen in a while. There is nothing in any of them that remotely tempts me (except the Salvation Army store, which I found this evening). I noticed a preponderance of bridal and formal wear shops, including, for some reason, multiple children's formal wear places. And there seems to be a market for tacky formal outfits and coloured suits. The fashions remind me of things I've seen in non-western countries, where the local version of western formal wear often gets a little overdone. There are also electronic junk stores, whitegoods shops, sex stores (with open glass shop fronts, so you can see all their wares... and customers...) and discount-clothing chain stores. Not to mention the occasional plastic-tablecloth eatery with names like 'El Tropicale'.
The best part about this street is that I know I can safely walk down it on a regular basis and never be tempted to spend a cent!

EDIT: and the Nail Salons! I forgot to mention the nail salons! Which is odd, because just about every second shop is one!

Diary of a Really Crap Ice Skater, Part 2

Today, though, it was without the benefit of skates. The weather has turned warm - the temperature went and got all positive today, and the nice powdery snow melted, then refroze into ice that, in many places, very closely resembles polished glass. And it's raining, which is really not nice. So I'm not particuarly impressed. This evening my walk from the metro (about 300m or something) took ages tonight, as I was slipping on nearly every step. And on my way to the from Rhizome (where I was at their film night), the sidewalks actually slidewalks, and after a block or so I gave up and walked in the road instead, which had been salted, so wasn't icy. A car went through a puddle right next to me and sprayed me all over with puddlewater. I felt like someone in a New York movie.
This is my some of my least favourite weather. I would much prefer -20 and snow. At least the footpaths are walkable then!

This Weekend

So last night I didn't have anything on. Friday night, and no social events! This means I think I have got enough sleep for the first time in a week or three! And it's just as well, as here are my plans for this weekend:
1. Go out and buy milk to bring home to make coffee. I've been up a couple of hours, but haven't really started the day, as I seem to require milk to make anything resembling breakfast.
2. Go swimming. I've been slack in the last two weeks - I've only been once. It's the working thing. It just takes up too much time and energy, and leaves nothing for things like swimming!
3. Go to the all-girl-bluegrass-jam, which is called the LadiesAux. Today we're jamming at some sort of knitting thing, which sounds like fun. I will also be meeting Rebecca there - someone I met in Japan, who comes from Montreal, but currently lives in Spain. She's back in town just for the weekend, so I invited her to my social events.
4. Go straight from there to a big hair and moustaches party and potluck at the Laurier house where I was staying last week and where the Red Party was. Tonight is in honour of Ashton's birthday, which happens to be on Valentines Day. I've made a curry, which isn't at all Valentines-y, nor have I added any big hair or moustaches to it.

And then Sunday:
1. Food not Bombs at the Co-op sur Genereux. I will go for the beginning and help out until I have to leave for:
2. Rehearsal of a quebecois folk song that I'm doing in a small ensemble for Choeur Maha. After which I will rush off to:
3. Feminist films of some sort at the Rhizome.

And then I will have to get home at a reasonable-ish hour so that I can function successfully at work on Monday!

Today

This morning, just before I left my house at 7.45 or so this was the view out my front door:And then when I got home (and after tramping to my front door up to my knees in snow, getting the shovel, and tramping back):


Then I shovelled. It's still a novelty, so I didn't mind. Not yet, anyway.

Why I'm not blogging much

I'm working. Every day. 5 days a week. At least I have 2 different jobs, so there's variety, and in theory it isn't full time, although it sure feels like it at the moment. But it's nice to know I`m doing some good in the world, helping out people like this.
In the last week I have also attended no less than 4 musical things, by which I mean rehearsals and jam sessions, as well as a free yoga class, and about a million social events. Ok, well, a couple. Oh, and I moved into my new flat. This means I have a new address. AND this flat is ALL MINE for 3 months (and 4 days). Why, it's practically permanent! You can send things by Seamail (if you're quick). Email me if you want said address, or the phone number that accompanies it.
I will blog about my flat soon - once I've unpacked, or rather, put things away rather than just upending all my bags to find things...
In the meantime, the pictures of last weekend's fantabulous Red Party and Cultural Insurrection Convention are on flickr, and if you haven`t seen them yet, you should! And yes, I know they need editing, and I will delete the ones that aren't worth looking at sometime. Soonish. Probably.
One of my favourites from each event:

Montreal Marching Band Madness

I've just come home from an incredible evening spent listening (and dancing madly) to marching bands. Yes. Marching bands. Sousaphones and all. Who woulda thought they could be so much fun! Here's the flyer:Several people I know here are in something that is generally referred to as the Anarchist Marching Band, and officially known as the Ensemble Insurrection Chaotique, I think. I would also be in this, if I had an instrument to play. I may yet borrow something and join, as it seems like a lot of fun. I've been offered the use of a flute, but I don't know if I want to go that far!

Anyway, this evening there was the film, which I unfortunately missed most of, and then the bands individually, including a gumboot dance ensemble, and then a sort of free-for-all where all the musicians were on stage (and then on the dance floor) jamming. And then we went out on the street and played and danced there until the police decided it wasn't such a good idea (no doubt prompted by the neighbours). It was fantastic, and I took about a hundred photos or something ridiculous, and I will post them here as soon as I can! Including the one of me playing a bassoon. I had met the bassoonist a few times here, and tonight she let me play hers! It's been about 9 years since I last set lips on a bassoon - and that was only for a few minutes on Sean's bassoon one evening - it's actually more like 11 years since I played regularly. And I discovered that my lip piercing doesn't really get in the way at all, which is good to know, and also that I can only remember how to play about one octave worth of notes - enough to play a decent bassline in the key of F, which seemed to be the favourite key for the brass bands, luckily, and to play the flintstones theme, but sadly not enough for baby elephant walk. I also learnt that my lip muscles are seriously out of practice and my lips fell off after about 10 minutes. and I also also learnt about a 'bassoon day' that will be at one of the universities here in March, which might be interesting, though possibly less so without my own bassoon!

Also waiting to be uploaded are the photos of last night's Red Party at L'Appart Laurier, which is where I've been staying lately. They have new flatmates moving in now though, so I'm going to stay here at the Rhizome (a co-op) for a while - possibly until Thursday when I can move into my own new flat. This is what the kitchen of the Rhizome looked like in the morning the last time I spent a night here. This is an excellent photo of the Rhizome, and conveys much about the place! It's great!

Right. It's 4am. Better see if I can find a bed...

Mmmm

The sun's back, on my back. I've spent the morning fielding phone calls either for jobs or social events. And I have marmite. Ok, so it's not vegemite, but it's a decent substitute, and I have found a supermarket that sells it, for a reasonable price.
And just to balance all this positivity stuff that there is way too much of around here lately, here's something negative. For some reason Auld Lang Syne is playing on my ipod, and I can't be bothered getting up to change it...

I like it here.

So, if you hadn't noticed from the last few posts, I'm rather enjoying Montreal. I was walking home from interviewing another school this afternoon (that's not a typo - my serious blog explains) and it was -11 or so, but with such a clear sunny blue sky, just on dusk, with a nearly-full moon rising over the lovely Montreal architecture of Rue Laurier and the snow-covered park, in the pale blue and faintly pink-streaked sky. I had spent the early afternoon doing my cat-impression in the sun in my flat again, and was now just as warm outside in my wonderful yellow coat and winter boots, I was listening to my music, I had just had a whole job interview in French - and been offered the job on the spot, and will reject it by email this evening.
Tonight I have the all-girl bluegrass jam again, tomorrow I work a whole two hours, then plan to visit a friend and then go to choir rehearsal in the evening. Wednesday I might have people over to dinner. Sometime this week I've got an interview for a possible ESL management job. On the weekend, I become homeless for a few days, but I already have enough friends here that I can stay at a different person's place for each of the 4 nights if I want (yes, I know at least 4 people!) and then I move into a lovely flat right next to a metro stop.

My life isn't all perfect, of course. I'll still be short on cash for a month or so until my work builds up and I get paid, but I can live extraordinarily cheaply here, if I try. And there's a little matter with my previous sublet person I need to sort out. And a few other things I'm trying to ignore, but overall, I'm pretty content at the moment!

A Kat and a Cat in the Sun on a lazy Sunday

So it`s -13 degrees outside, with windchill it`s -22, but wonderfully sunny, and I`ve just spent the last 3 hours sitting stretched out decadently in the sun in the comfort of my own flat.I`m supposed to be at Food not Bombs, helping cook for a velo-rutionaires something-or-other, but the sun was too seductive.It`s beginning to disappear now, though so I might manage to go to FnB soon. Maybe I`ll make it to the serving. I`ve helped cook or serve several weeks here now. It`s a bit chilly, but fun, serving soup to the homeless outside a metro station in town (they don`t usually let us inside).
The other reason I`m being lazy is because I worked most of this last week - my first week of work since October, so I`m not allowed to complain. It was almost interesting to be back in the rat-race.But it`did serious disrupt my sleeping pattern, so I needed to catch up. The reason I didn`t catch up on sleep on Friday night was a potluck at L`Appart Laurier on Friday night. Despite being `only` a potluck, it was wilder and better-attended than the actual party I went to there last month. It was great to realise that despite being here only 6 weeks now, there were only about 5 people there that I had never seen before. And I`m beginning to be known and recognised in this cosy little community. I love it! AND the food was fantastic, as always.And the reason I didn`t catch up on sleep on Saturday morning (afternoon) is because I went to see Sweeney Todd with Rosie. The first half was much better than the second half, but overall it was a great movie. Tim Burton`s imagery is, as always, utterly brilliant, and the beach-fantasy scene was just genius. And you`ve gotta love a musical with a body count! (I could post a pic of this, but I`d just have to steal it from google images, and I think you can all do that for yourself if you want).

But yesterday evening I had nothing on (in a different sense to this morning, when I also had nothing on), and just enjoyed hanging out with Basho the Cat, absorbing internet time and listening to music on the wonderful speakers here in this warm, cosy and elegant flat. I`m only here another week, and I will be sorry to leave. But the next flat is going to be just as good!

Musical Outlets

I just spent the evening at the first jam/rehearsal of an all-girl bluegrass jam band that I seem to have joined. It was so much fun. I haven't sung with only women for years and years, and forgot how much I enjoy singing the bass line! And making it up as you go along is always good. AND I got to play a Baglama, which was also fun. Next time I might even work out how. I also tinkered on the recorder, but of course, you can't do that so well while singing, and I'm rarely willing to not-sing. For this reason, I'm wishing I had more aptitude for string instruments. But I'm such a crap string-instrument player that I tend to have to concentrate on the playing, which also means I forget to sing. Maybe I'm just incapable of doing two things at once. I will have to work on it.

I get more singing tomorrow - I've auditioned for and joined Choeur Maha, which is, by coincidence, also an all-girl choir. I didn't mean to exclude men from my singing outlets. It just happened that way!

Statcounter Stats

So I just clicked on my Statcounter link for the first time in months, and discovered that my numbers have gone up in the last few months. While a lot of my hits seem to be dedicated readers (Hi Mum!), I also have a lot of people wandering in either from google searches, or from this Digihitch website, where I seem to have got myself listed as an interesting sort of blog. It's a pity it's not really relevant now that The Beast has bitten the dust (I miss my Beastie!) and I'm a leading a slightly more sedentary life for a few months. I'm still toying with the idea of buying another van when it gets warmer and spending another month or so travelling north and west. I was very happy living in my Beast-of-a-Van. And, of course, I've made it most of the way across canada - it would be nice to make it to New Brunswick or even Nova Scotia and be able to say I went coast to coast. And after that there's all that wonderful nothingness of northern Canada to explore...
But that's months off yet, or possibly years. I do have to stop travelling sometimes. And I have to earn money sometimes. And if I never did anything but travel, this blog would be entirely inappropriately named.
And just for those people who have come from the digihitch site and are looking for the living-in-a-campervan stories, start here - a few entries down the page - and work your way through the archives! Or try the 'campervan' label.

Getting into Flickr

So I've had a flickr account for almost 6 months now. I have rather a lot of photos uploaded to it, I've made slideshows and sets and links and generally used it as a personal photo album and backup of my photos. But I hadn't explored the flickr 'community' and the possibilities it brings until this evening. And I hadn't really understood tags until now, either.
I've been thinking for a while now that some of my photos might be worth a wider audience. I have a huge collection of photos from my travels, and have quite a few really good shots among them. I've been saying for a while that I need someone to 'curate' my collection - I'm too close to it to make unbiased opinions and, as a look at my photostream attests, like photos that document my life about as much as those that have artistic value. So I think I can use the flickr community as my 'curators'. Tagging photos in detail (and tagging what's in the photo, rather than when it was or anything else) and 'geotagging' them - pinpointing on a map where they were taken, I think will attract more of the general public to see them, and hopefully either comment on them or make them a 'fave' which would tell me which pics others find are worth seeing.
I've also discovered photo pools that you can add your photos to. For example, I could join the Travel Photography Group, one of the many Montreal groups, a group just for pictures of the sky, or something more thought-provoking, like this 'Beyond Stereotypes' group. I realise it's basically all in the name of self-promotion, but it would be nice for some of my photos to have a slightly wider audience than you lot!
And ok, so I fancy myself as a bit of a photographer on occasion, and want the praise and ego-rubs!
So I've started putting more work into my flickr collection. Starting with organising the photos properly into collections and sets. And I've picked pretty thumbnails for all the sets, so even if you don't look at any other photos, have a look at my collection of set-icons here!

I have also declared 'finished' the collections on West Coast America (left) and my Trans-Canada Adventures (click on the picture mosaics to go to the photos).

Yay for for the wonders of technology in the digital age!

Diary of a Really Crap Ice Skater, Part 1

Saturday.
Hours spent on ice: about 2.5 in 2 separate sessions.
Number of falls: 1
Time spent crossing the 10m of treacherous trampled lumpy icy snow from locker room door to ice: 10 minutes (not kidding - I had a 10min podcast on that finished before I got there - my knees wouldn't stop shaking, so I had to keep stopping for them!)
Progress Made: questionable.
Phrase of the day: You see, it's all about muscles and balance, and I have neither.
New Jargon Learnt: Patinoire Decoratif' = the pond/puddle/fountain froze, so you can skate on it. Don't mind the holes, lumps, trees etc in it... Patinoire Sportif = we put a wall up around our other pond so children of all sizes can attempt to kill beginner skaters who venture onto the slightly better ice with their pucks and hockey sticks.

Took my new skates out for a spin today. Or rather, for a shuffle. I went to the park just one block from here first, and discovered the 'decorative' skate rink there should remain just that. I wasn't the only one complaining about the quality of the ice. And it really did appear to just be a largish frozen puddle, with several trees in the middle. Which at least are something to hold on to occasionally. A kind lady took pity on me and held my hand to get to the 'sportif' rink, which was at that moment only half-full of children brandishing lethal weapons. I shuffled up and down one end of the rink, soon learning to stop or turn when a puck crossed my path, as it would be very quickly followed by a child who, despite being able to literally skate rings around me, always seemed to want instead to skate through me.
Once I got a little more used to the ice, I was able to upgrade my shuffle to the next level - a technique that seems uniquely my own, and which I am calling 'skateboarding'. You see, my right leg seems to have a really difficult time believing my left leg is capable of anything beyond a support role - or rather, a non-supporting role. I think there are trust issues between them. Right leg is extremely reluctant to leave the ice, and prefers instead to stay firmly planted while Lefty pushes me along. After a while like this, the next half-step is to actually transfer at least my weight to my left leg on each 'step', even though Righty still refuses to leave the ice. I'm sure I look like I'm limping or something.
I only fell once - and was picked up by the nice lady, who also pointed out that I needed to have a tooth removed from the toe of my skate, which is what caught on the ice and caused me to fall. She was surprised to see I had 6 teeth there, where there should only be 4 or 5. I promised to get the de-burred and sharpened at the earliest opportunity.
Now, having recognised the same progression of techniques occurring as the last time I skated - on Christmas Day, I was hoping to get up to the same level I did then, which was Right leg actually able to leave the ice at least half the time, as well as beginning to get over the constant feeling that I'm .02 of a second away from having my tail bone hit the ice with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, today my toes began to freeze before I got to this point. You see, my feet get very very tense when I skate, and break into a cold sweat. Possibly at the thought of what Right leg would actually do to Left leg if Lefty was ever given the chance to lead and failed...
So I inched back over the horrible patch of ice to the locker room (I think it only took me about 5 minutes to cross the 10m this time) and put my boots back on to come home and thaw my feet. I was so incredibly tense that I decided to go to the pool for a relaxing swim. Before I left the house again, I called my friends Romain, Leyla and Rosie who live just near the pool, and got invited to... guess what... go skating. With Romain. So I went for a half hour swim, then walked the one block from the pool to Parc La Fontaine - where we had gone at Christmas. They've opened up the rest of a lake since then, so there is a huge area for skating - a long narrow squiggle of ice that currently has small pine trees (Christmas leftovers, I think) and park benches arranged in little islands periodically down the middle. I got my skates sharpened and 'de-burred', as I was told I needed, and which did seem to help, as did the slightly better ice and the lower density of hockey sticks. It only took a few minutes to get from locker room to ice, thanks to a very helpful passer-by who offered a hand, and then I was on the ice again, and apparently back to square one. I shuffled. I wobbled. I was half way around the lake before I got up to skateboarding. And I didn't really manage to get to the next step before I got back to the stairs, and, as I hadn't found Romain ( it was really crowded, and everyone looks the same in their dark coats and winter hats) I decided I had done enough for one day, and clawed my way back to the locker room. Once inside, the first person I saw was, of course, Romain, now quite recognisable without his hat on, who had also just come off the ice. He introduced me to his friends (more comprehensible people from France!) and we all walked back to his place for hot chocolate and toast, which is a fantastic thing to do after skating.

I will continue this diary of my skating progress - and I do hope to make progress, really I do. Now that I have sharp, de-burred skates that are beginning to realise my feet aren't as narrow and pointy as they want them to be, I plan to get out on the ice whenever I work up the courage. You see, skating utterly terrifies me. It's something to do with my deep-seated fear of slipping on ice, I think, which, given my lack of balance, is not entirely unfounded. And of course, at 6 feet tall, I have a long way to fall. While I rarely do fall over, that probably has more to do with the extreme care I take (and my slowing to a snail's pace) on any slippery surface than with my balance skills. But I have all winter here to get over this, and learn to skate as well as those irritating kids with their hockey sticks. Or at least, to get from the locker room to the ice unassisted in under half an hour...

I *heart* Thrift Stores

Guess what I bought today! Ice skates! Now there is something I never thought I'd ever own in my life. But the rinks (ponds in parks) are free here, and the dirt-cheap thrift store skates I bought, plus sharpening (who knew skates needed sharpening?) cost about the same as two skate hires. And as there is a rink (a real rink! with a wall to clutch on to!) about 300m from this house, I think I should manage to go more than once...
I was also in the Salvo's shop to hunt for a coat, as my $5 one from the last Salvation Army store I went to (in Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan) has served me well, but it's not really suited to the depths of winter. And I think it makes me look like a homeless person. So I tried on about half the coats on the rack, and found a beautiful green one that would have been perfect if it were about 2 cm bigger around the middle. Once I'd ruled out every coat on all the racks, and given up, I spent another hour in the shop trying on skates and boots and hats and looking at the books and generally poking around. And then on my way back to the register, I had one last look, thinking I might have missed something. And I found this:I can't imagine I missed a yellow coat, so I can only assume that it was put on the shelves after my first look. Now, yes, it is oh-so-very yellow. And this caused some hesitation on my part. Not least cos I'm going to have to make an effort to keep it clean. But it's made of down and wonderfully soft micro-fibre type fabric, so it feels great. And it doesn't leave down on everything like my other down jacket. And it has an excellent hood. And in general, should get me through the worst of winter!

I also bought a pair of winter boots - slightly too large and rather ugly, but the brand is 'Dry Ice', which sounds promising. My wonderful Bulgarian Boots are good, and will probably do most of the time, especially now that I've dubbined them again and added some thermal innersoles that resemble car windshield shades. But the new ones should be better when I want to walk or stand about in the snow for any length of time on those -20 days. Clear days like this, which are the coldest: I also upgraded my 'toque' while I was there. My $2 black beanie that I bought in NYC a while back is fine, but nowhere near warm enough (although when I think about it, now that I have the hooded coat it will probably do! Ah well). But I got this, which should help:And finally, I bought a crappy backpack that will help me move to my new sublet on Sunday. The idea is that I use it in place of my old backpack (the landing module of my mother-ship pack) and thus prevent the latter from getting even older and crappier than it already is.

And all of these purchases I got for the princely sum of $35. Which was mostly due to the fact that I got talking to the lady, and she was really nice to me, and she's the one who decided the prices! And she may have not noticed the backpack... But anyway. Just another reason why I *heart* thrift stores!