Monday, September 19, 2011

A Montreal Misadventure

Today was a perfect early fall day, still green, cool, dry and sunny. I planned to take the number 24 bus all the way east on Sherbrooke Street to the Botanical Garden. I was all ready to go around 1:30 when I had to go down to the basement to put something away first. What I met down there was a strong wet smell and water on the floor in the large back room. There are no mops, buckets, cleaning rags, (cleaning tools of any kind – but that’s another story) in this house. I could only find the home phone number of the property manager. I called and left a message – 3 times. I rummaged around and found his office number, called him and he came over immediately. The water was seriously dripping from the ceiling in this room; all the pipes seemed to converge here. Fortunately his plumber was available and he came right over. By 4 PM he had fixed, temporarily, whatever the problem was. But it is not solved, major plumbing is needed.

It was still nice and warm out so I decided to walk downtown. I could still make a five o’clock movie. It was at the AMC. Now, the last time I was in Montreal, the AMC was on St. Catherine Street beside the Future Shop. I walked quickly and made it in plenty of time – except, of course, the AMC Theater was no longer there. I went into the Future Shop to ask where it was. The girl told me I was standing in it! OK…then I remembered that there was a movie theater at the Eaton Centre so I rushed off there and made it just on time. But that theater was also gone. At this point, I don’t remember how I figured out there was a theater complex in the next mall over, but off I went in search of Scotia Place. I found it eventually after going in circles around the corridors, shops, and boutiques. A nightmare. Shopping in Montreal is horrible. Now I missed the start of the movie, and it was 2 hours before the next showing. Should I hang around, shop, eat? Yes. I went to Reuben’s and had an expensive, not very good smoked meat sandwich (this is another story). I walked around the shops a little, sat outside the theater, went in early and gratefully sank into soft deep seat and had a nap in spite of the million-decibel soundtrack of the pre show trailers.

I saw “The Driver” an excellent movie. If you like dark movies, I recommend it. ,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the discovery journey never ends as it seems to me too. lucky H&J had you there.