Voices in the Fog

Where’s the pot of gold?, originally uploaded by D u n c a n.

I recently moved. My new neighbourhood straddles the frontier between Outremont and Mile End.

I used to think of Outremont as being quite snobbish, and while there is an element of that, I find that it’s also quite relaxed and family-oriented, which is a nice change from the noise and frequent rudeness by drivers on the Plateau. Here, they actually stop at designated crossings that don’t have lights! (Which, in Montreal, is practically a miracle.)

Another reason I love this neighbourhood is the crazy mix of people. Hasidim, students, hipsters, artists, politicians and intellectuals all cross paths here. You never know who you might bump into.

Then there’s the general friendliness and six-degrees-or-less element. The other day I was at my new fav grocery stop on Avenue du Parc, when I bumped into an old friend who I hadn’t seen in years. We got into the what-are-you-up-to-these-days schtick, and she announces that she’s now married to the musician she was dating the last time we spoke. “Wow, congrats! What band is he with these days,” I ask, and she (somewhat shyly - Montrealers are too damn modest) mumbles the name of, ahem, a relatively unknown up-and-coming group known as … the Arcade Fire. “Oh,” I reply, feigning perplexity, “the name rings a bell.” We chuckle and I marvel silently at how fast life can change.

A few minutes later, I am fishing Greek feta out of a vat and this tall surfer-looking guy sidles up to me and starts mumbling something while cradling a bunch of asparagus in his hands. Oh-oh: crazy alert. But no, he was mumbling because a store employee was right behind him and he wanted me to know that there was a much cheaper place to buy feta right around the corner… While I enjoyed living on the Plateau, I don’t remember this sort of random act of kindness happening there.