My son was a homeless hitchhiker/walker, cutting a wide swatch across America for most of 2002 to2010. He said El Paso was the friendliest and most generous place he passed through.
Somewhere you made a comment about how it would be impossible for some cities to allow street patios. Toronto went through lots of regulatory nonsense over the patios that were introduced during Covid but somehow survived multiple attempts to kill them by over-regulation. But lots of drama along the way:
Airlines, to save money and fuel, only put a certain amount of fuel on a plane based on the length of the route and other expected considerations, plus a safety margin.
Problem is, flying westward, it's somewhat common to encounter headwinds that raise fuel consumption. We were flying nonstop from ATL to HNL (not recommended*) and had to make a pit stop in LAS before venturing out over the Pacific due to headwinds. This caused us to almost miss our connection to KOA.
*Next time I go to Hawaii I am going to LAX or SNA and make a day or two stop and see the Mouse.
In Denver where I live the city government is slowly taking away parking by putting up ugly white poles everywhere, blocking what used to be legitimate parking spots. They also passed a new law that does not require developers of huge high-rise apartment buildings to put in any underground parking. In a metro area like Denver where mass transit is not extensive, unsafe, and inconvenient, this amounts to a kick-back to the developers who put up all these ugly buildings. It's also social engineering of the worst kind -- forcing people to conform to a climate change religion that is not beyond dispute. It would be nice if we could get rid of cars, but if you're going to force people to give up their cars, you should provide something better first. All we hear about in Denver is Density, Density, Density. That's their shtick.
I am literally in Montreal as I write this. Its a great city and I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. We live near Boston and go every year. Are there people who don’t like Montreal? I’ve never met one.
P.S. I believe your third deck photo is Ibericos on Rue St.-Denis. I ate there a couple of years ago and it was excellent!
You also see bureaucratization and lack of responsibility in education. When was a kid in Ontario, the teacher would eat a sandwich during lunch with the kids, chat, keep an eye on things. Now, the union tells them not to do anything beyond their collective agreement, so the teacher disappears and you are literally left with an unsupervised classroom with the odd part-time lunch supervisor dashing from class to class while the TV blares.
Similarly, the teachers get around 10 paid sick days a year, so they treat it like a chance at a holiday and you automatically lose 10 days of instruction a year.
Echoing Dewey's comment below: I've never been to Montreal but always wanted to go, so it would be great to read a longer post from you about the city.
A couple years ago my kids and I put together a worm hotel in a large plastic bucket on our terrace. (Maybe this sounds weird, but they're fairly common in the Netherlands...) I got a calm and uplifting feeling from feeding them scraps of fruit or vegetables, since each time I could see that the worms were doing well and growing. As you wrote, it's irrational since I wasn't getting anything back directly (other than some compost), but it was nice to know that they we could help them to flourish.
I'm looking forward to the longer Montreal post. I know you don't like picking out restaurants in advance, but, you should make an exception for Café Kahwa. Affordable, low-key, with delicious sandwiches for take out.
We have a white naped crane that lives near us. It (I can't tell which sex it is) has been around for at least a decade even though it isn't supposed to live here in either summer or winter. But we don't see it that often especially during winter, so we worry sometimes that it has died. We were very glad to spot it a month or two ago so we know it's still going strong
My son was a homeless hitchhiker/walker, cutting a wide swatch across America for most of 2002 to2010. He said El Paso was the friendliest and most generous place he passed through.
Somewhere you made a comment about how it would be impossible for some cities to allow street patios. Toronto went through lots of regulatory nonsense over the patios that were introduced during Covid but somehow survived multiple attempts to kill them by over-regulation. But lots of drama along the way:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/sticker-shock-over-new-caf-to-fees-and-rules-has-city-looking-to-soften-the/article_8cad1f85-d274-54b5-9397-0c16cce55ef5.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/i-don-t-think-it-is-going-to-survive-new-costs-for-caf-to-patios/article_c326f915-3c6d-5301-9f5f-08596164dce7.html
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/we-are-slowly-but-surely-killing-the-caf-to-patio-program-shame-on-us/article_896aedf7-3849-585b-b2ee-f0d81054c297.html
https://www.thestar.com/business/smoother-sailing-restaurants-say-as-city-says-it-s-on-track-to-have-majority-of/article_93b7f1be-0252-11ef-bae8-1f6216605848.html
Airlines, to save money and fuel, only put a certain amount of fuel on a plane based on the length of the route and other expected considerations, plus a safety margin.
Problem is, flying westward, it's somewhat common to encounter headwinds that raise fuel consumption. We were flying nonstop from ATL to HNL (not recommended*) and had to make a pit stop in LAS before venturing out over the Pacific due to headwinds. This caused us to almost miss our connection to KOA.
*Next time I go to Hawaii I am going to LAX or SNA and make a day or two stop and see the Mouse.
In Denver where I live the city government is slowly taking away parking by putting up ugly white poles everywhere, blocking what used to be legitimate parking spots. They also passed a new law that does not require developers of huge high-rise apartment buildings to put in any underground parking. In a metro area like Denver where mass transit is not extensive, unsafe, and inconvenient, this amounts to a kick-back to the developers who put up all these ugly buildings. It's also social engineering of the worst kind -- forcing people to conform to a climate change religion that is not beyond dispute. It would be nice if we could get rid of cars, but if you're going to force people to give up their cars, you should provide something better first. All we hear about in Denver is Density, Density, Density. That's their shtick.
I am literally in Montreal as I write this. Its a great city and I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. We live near Boston and go every year. Are there people who don’t like Montreal? I’ve never met one.
P.S. I believe your third deck photo is Ibericos on Rue St.-Denis. I ate there a couple of years ago and it was excellent!
You also see bureaucratization and lack of responsibility in education. When was a kid in Ontario, the teacher would eat a sandwich during lunch with the kids, chat, keep an eye on things. Now, the union tells them not to do anything beyond their collective agreement, so the teacher disappears and you are literally left with an unsupervised classroom with the odd part-time lunch supervisor dashing from class to class while the TV blares.
Similarly, the teachers get around 10 paid sick days a year, so they treat it like a chance at a holiday and you automatically lose 10 days of instruction a year.
The turtle videos are worth the price of admission!
Loved the observation around airline travel and how it resembles a conveyor belt process with a lack of memory tissue from one crew to another.
When the opposite is true, it’s a delightful experience.
Echoing Dewey's comment below: I've never been to Montreal but always wanted to go, so it would be great to read a longer post from you about the city.
A couple years ago my kids and I put together a worm hotel in a large plastic bucket on our terrace. (Maybe this sounds weird, but they're fairly common in the Netherlands...) I got a calm and uplifting feeling from feeding them scraps of fruit or vegetables, since each time I could see that the worms were doing well and growing. As you wrote, it's irrational since I wasn't getting anything back directly (other than some compost), but it was nice to know that they we could help them to flourish.
Going to miss the sock-sandal combo photos
I love Montreal. I love El Paso too.
I'm looking forward to the longer Montreal post. I know you don't like picking out restaurants in advance, but, you should make an exception for Café Kahwa. Affordable, low-key, with delicious sandwiches for take out.
I’m reading a wonderful and eye opening book by Sy Montgomery about turtles and turtle rescuers. Of Time and Turtles. The Turtle Rescue League is the most incredible group. You might be interested. https://turtlerescueleague.org/celebrate-two-big-releases-with-turtle-rescue-league-sy-montgomery-and-lightstream-associates/
thank you. I had no idea there was such a thing!
I hope you are enjoying Hokkaido. It is nice and cool here in Kitami. How is the weather "out west"?
Those “deck” things placed in the streets of Montreal have been coined “parklets” in American urban planning parlance.
We have a white naped crane that lives near us. It (I can't tell which sex it is) has been around for at least a decade even though it isn't supposed to live here in either summer or winter. But we don't see it that often especially during winter, so we worry sometimes that it has died. We were very glad to spot it a month or two ago so we know it's still going strong