Montreal Day

Went to Montreal on Saturday, and I'm still up to tell
the tale.  Seems I got away with, without catching the dreaded
C-19. I have been quite reticent, refusing to go at all since the
outbreak. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Getting off the bus having reached the city was eerie, a true Science-
Fiction moment. The arrival complex is next to central station and usually
 a madhouse of human traffic, even on the week-ends. NOT A SOUL. Our
handful of bus travellers disembarked and we were ALONE in that huge space,
with roaring escalators. I had never seen it like that, except maybe very late
at night.

I was happy to make it outside and finally take off that mask. I had found
myself gagging a few times on the bus up, not used to wearing a mask for an
extended period. One needs to adjust one's breathing to relax mode, and picture
oneself snuggled to the pillow in bed. it was windy and brisk out there, and I
could breathe.

Did some light shopping. Lyse tried on sweathers and coats while I napped
on my feet holding her things.  Found a lovely nylon backpack, in a fall brown.
It was 400$ and I demured. I made a pest of myself and insisted we go to a perfume
emporium; I wanted to test what the Gucci perfumes were like, because they
are well loved on YouTube. Ended up with Floral on the right wrist and Guilty
on the left. Both are quite close but Guilty took it as the afernoon wore on.
(Looked for it in St-Jean drugstores the next day, and nowhere to be found).
Maybe I can order it for my birthday, in December.

I think I actually outwalked Lyse (she was wearing her new heeled booties, and I was in
summer runners). We stopped in at Starbucks and drank our Pumpkin Spice Lattees.
It says 'that first sip feeling' on the cup; and they were right. Bliss. Thinking about what
kind of latte I could make myself today, alone on Labour Day.

In 2015, Starbucks added pumkin to that product. Because the copycat recipes
all used it. This is a semantic shift as well, if not recognized. A pumpkin spice
latte was initially a latte flavoured with the spices one normally uses on pumkin
desserts: it was a PUMPKIN SPICE lattee. The current product is a PUMPKIN lattee.
Just saying. I've got brewed coffee, whole milk, cream, spices and maple syrup.
I think I'll stick with black.

A rock ban went buy, playing  in a glass truck...

We wandered to the UQAM district, and the few folks there all seemed to
be older folks, sitting in the sun. The restaurant/bar where Lyse once worked
is temporarily closed. She shuffled us into the metro for a split-second link-up
with a bus back home.

We'll be back, Montreal!