Commuter Sights

The past few days have been strange in terms of changing place and starting a whole new routine. Along the way, I've seen some funny/strange things...

- My sweetheart of a mother dropped me off close to where I would begin work yesterday and I had a half hour to kill so I walked up Ste. Catherine. Seemingly all of a sudden, the street cleared and a noticed policeman after policemant mounted on motorcycle forming a sort of motorcade down the street. And in the distance I heard blaring. A parade? A protest? The noise approached and there I saw it, a float in what must be a parade. No wait, just one float. No no, not a float at all but 20 people in rows pedaling the 'float' along for some sort of fundraiser. Way to stop traffic.

- As I walked by the fountain in the park near my house after my first day at work, I heard noises. I looked up and saw a guy playing a sitar. Weird. Walking a little further I saw he was accompanied by a friend on a guitar. Ok, cool. I thought nothing of it until I walked even further. There, next to the sitar and guitar player was another guy. He was playing what I believe to be called the mouth accordion (my roommate Susan had one and it consisted of a pipe you blew into that led to a piano that you played). An unlikely trio.

- This morning I auditioned for Kaplan (went well but they need a 12-month time commitment) and once again, I had time to kill. I decided to pop into the Bay, that big ol' department store downtown, to browse around. I wasn't completely wary and found myself in a place few people want to go. I found myself in the gauntlet of perfume saleswomen. You know, those middle-aged or downright old-aged women all dressed the same, made up as if in warpaint, ready to sell and spritz and hand out. Those women, always ready to pounce. I gasped (on the inside) and kept my eyes low to the ground. I escaped unscathed and unscented.

- As I walked to the bus stop from the McGill library, I came across a broken fence. Not only was it a broken fence, but a damaged car and a blocked road. A tree had come down in the storm earlier that day. I had been sitting in my office at work tracking down books and articles when it went dark outside and a vicious rain started. This was the type of storm that made me want to curl up into a blanket and snuggle, if with no one else with my stuffed bear Henderson. The storm came complete with the orchestral theatrics of thunder and lightning. And I saw later what it had done. This tree was massive and felled. Luckily the house was intact and the car's windshield was only minorly damaged.

- This afternoon on the sweltering busride home the doors opened at one stop to the sounds of laughter. I saw two Jewish boys (earmarked by the tallis and yamacha each was wearing). One was pushing the other in a wheelchair. And the kid in a wheelchair (who was slung into it, not a usual wheelchair rider) was laughing, laughing laughing. Laughing so hard you could still hear it after the doors closed. Mirth.

Just a few sights along my daily journeys so far...