#015: The Start of the Second Half

So I´m on the other side of the Atlantic right now. I´ve come to Canada and, more specifically, Montréal, to attend a music festival of all things. My pop-leaning in recent years has swayed toward North American psychedelic pop, especially that of this city, so the International Festivale de Musique ´POP Montréal´ seems as good a place to go as any. The 300-strong line-up features a sizeable chunk of up-and-coming local talent, alongside more notable mainstays from around the world. It also comprises film, art, talks, fashion, record stores and the like and lasts for five days, so there is plenty to keep me occupied.
Highlights were...
YUCK - a very classy band
Plants and Animals performing live in a studio
Think About Life closing the festival in the hall of the sweatiest church I´ve ever been in

In Montréal it seems like its me DJing everywhere I go...Plants and Animals, The National, Sparklehorse...they even played an obscure Here We Go Magic song to a crowd of over 50,000 just before Arcade Fire took to the city centre stage for a special free gig they did marking the 10th edition of the festival. Montréal is very cosmopolitan and is situated on an island in the middle of the St Lawrence river. It has a chain of vegetarian buffet restaurants called Commonsal, where you pay for the weight of food on your plate. I ate over a kilo one afternoon. It took me an hour to drink my coffee afterwards. I occupied myself by seeing if anyones stride pattern prevented them from stepping on the cracks between the large paving slabs on the street below. No-ones did. Every single person stepped on a crack. I think I might be slightly autistic.
The toilets in Commonsal automatically flush as you get up. God knows how stand-up wipers cope with this. I had no problems, of course. Just a pleasant surprise.

I´ve seen more female construction workers in Montréal in one week (2) than I have seen in the UK in my entire life.

I booked my cross-Canada train tickets today. The ticket guy was unbelievably excited about my trip; I was quite taken aback. Once we had finished the transaction and I was putting the tickets in my bag he insisted I wait while he rushed off to get me an envelope for them. He gave me a timetable as well. The Toronto to New York train goes through Schenectady...those whom I subjected to Synechdoche will know how tempting that is. There is also a train route that literally goes: Windsor > Chatham > Glencoe > London > Woodstock > Aldershot > Toronto, and does it all in under 5 hours. My trip is in four legs. QC to ON, ON to MB, MB to AL and AL to BC...I start the journey to Winnipeg tomorrow (Tues) and arrive on Thursday morning.

Something else I did today...I helped a guy with no legs to close the boot of his car. It was nothing really. He couldn´t reach.