montreal!

i walked down the street to get a coffee.  

i pass through the middles of a bunch of conversations in the amazing version of french that exists here and which i associate, strangely, with being at "home".   

old men on a balcony smoking and talking about things that, from the sound of it, they talked about yesterday and will talk about tomorrow.   

there's street work being done.  it looks like a war zone.  it's hard to know what's "finished" and what's not, because most montreal streets look like war zones most of the time.  

i pass a bike shop with a sign that says "lesbian haircuts!  15$ (and bike shop)"  

I pause entranced by a row of badass multicoloured biking hats. you know those little brimmed hats. 

walking back with coffee, a guy ahead of me drops something that he'd been inspecting back onto a pile of garbage.   i feel bad that i might have disturbed him.  he's about my age.  his pants are higher than your average pants, but he seems to be wearing a suit, minus jacket.  ahead of him is a kid maybe 12 or 14, in a hoodie.  ahead of the kid are two guys in green combat pants and black death metally looking shirts.   we're walking along the sidewalk like a little caravan. no one speaks except the old men on the balcony.

the kid reaches up and slaps the bottom of a no parking sign as he passes, and the guy in the too high pants follows suit.  i smile.  the kid in the hoodie smiles.   i still like montreal.  

(i realize i've neglected to talk about any of the process of me getting back here..   i'll write about that soon! i think i have (a little) time now!)