I had to go into the “office” and do some work early this morning. I saw this guy sound alseep at/in the bus shelter. Must of been a good night.
Work went better than I expected and before I knew it I was on my way home at 11 am. The start of another strange and interesting Montréal day. The sun was shining brightly but there were also intermittent clouds. This kept the temperature outside at the Goldilocks zone. That’s to say the temperature was just right; not too warm, not too cold.
I hadn’t been to my favorite asian grocery store in several months and I try to go every month or so. It’s a nice little Korean/Japanese grocery store. So I took the bus over to my asian grocery store, did my shopping and then took the bus back to the nearest metro station. The interesting part was what happened on the bus ride back to the metro station:
I sat down near the back of the bus. There was a young man talking on his cell phone. He held his phone with his right arm and was talking to someone. I could see 2 letters clearly tattooed on is bicep. The outline of a “J” and an “A”. The interesting thing was that I was certain I recognized the shape of the J & A on the tattoo. None the less I convinced myself this had to be a coincidence.
Because he was talking on the phone I didn’t want to interrupt him. As we arrived at the metro station, I heard him say “Babe, I’m going to have to go, I’m stepping into the metro station” and he ended the call shortly afterwards. I was directly behind him as we stepped off of the bus and said to him, “excuse me, that tattoo: Are you a writer or is that piece in memory of someone?”
That was a loaded question.
If he didn’t know what I was talking about he would of said “excuse me”? but instead he said “He was a good friend of mine” and immediately asked “How do you know him?”.
You see he had a tattoo on his bicep of “JAYS”, outlined in the style that the graffiti artist had used to write “JAYS” all over the city of Montreal. Jays was one of the three young individuals killed when they were hit by a train that was running behind schedule while painting graffiti late at night. This is a picture which belongs to the artist in question:
I told him that I knew of “Jays” enough to recognize that his tattoo belonged to the artist and was written in his style. We had a brief 30 second talk between getting off the bus and entering the metro station. That was just the start of a strange and beautiful day.
I dropped off the Asian groceries at home and crossed the Island to see a friend which lives in the east end of Montreal in what’s called the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve area. I’m told that at one point in time this was the poorest neighborhood in Canada. I’ve never bothered to verify this, so don’t hold me to it if this isn’t correct. I’ve spent enough time in that part of town to take accept it as truth. As I walked from my friends place to the nearest metro station I crossed an alley.
It was an otherwise nice neighborhood. If you didn’t know which part of town you were in, you might not have thought anything of it. I mean it was sunny out and it was 2 pm in the afternoon on a beautiful Tuesday. Small colorful houses lined the street I was walking down.
However in this particular alley there was a junkie. A woman to be precise and she was doing the “Asian squat”: Think of when you go to use the washroom in the woods (poop/defecate) and you’re trying to sit down without touching the ground. This individual was rocking back and forth, cradling her shoulders in her hands all the while mumbling to herself. It was a very surreal image and I was tempted to stop, offer her some money or food in exchange for hearing her story and taking a picture (À la David Boots). But I’ve never done anything like that in the past. I wasn’t certain how she would react and how I would handle her reaction. I just kept walking.
As I was walking I could clearly see her there crouched, rocking back and forth. The tooth decay around her teeth was clearly visible from several feet away as she appeared to be talking to herself. I didn’t mean to “stare” at her per say, but as I walked by the alley I kept looking her way and she kept shaking her head at me in a “Yes I’ll do anything you want for my next fix”. Anything you want so that I can get what I need.
It left a bad taste in my mouth as I continued to walk towards the metro. I had a few hours to kill before I met up with my friend around supper time. As I approached the metro I was still haunted by this image of this worn down woman, squatting while rocking back and forth, the whole time mumbling to herself and shaking her head at me in a “I’ll do anything for money” motion. Somehow I felt as another human being, as a group or society we had failed her.
I did a quick stop down town, needing to visit a local store on Sainte-Catherine and St-Laurent street. Every summer there’s a local graffiti event called “under pressure”. It has been held in different locations but over the past few years it’s been held off of Sainte-Catherine. Below you can see one of the many sidewalk advertisements for the event:
I’m also including pictures of the local businesses which kindly allow the artist to pain on them from year to year. They’ve painted over last years work in preperation for the upcoming event on the 10th and 11th of August. I’ll be stopping to capture the finished buildings later this week and will update the blog at that time.
My errand downtown accomplished I jumped into the metro and headed towards Mount-Royal in order to kill a few hours while I waited for my friend. I found myself at Mount-Royal (Jeanne-Mance) parc, sipping on the one beer I had and taking a quick puff from my joint. I sat at a picnic table by myself and watched as three policemen men (well two men and one woman) passed by on their bicycle. I watched as the young couples walked by hand in hand and dogs chased balls or pulled their owners along. Some groups worked out, yet another played soccer/football while other individuals just laid in the sun. This being the plateau on a nice sunny afternoon there were many beautiful Montreal women about as well. It was truly a nice lazy afternoon to be in the park.
I thought to myself how lucky I was, to be sitting in the parc on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon enjoying the moment. The weather was nice, I had my bottle of water and had just finished a beer.
Before I knew it, It was time to meet up with “rockstar” at Plan B, which is a nice little spot near de Bullion and Mount-Royal. We got there just before 5 pm and it appeared like we just beat the crowd. Shortly after we sat down the outdoor patio quickly filled up. We sipped on beers while we enjoyed the patio and talked everything and anything. From alcoholic and troubled friends to how privileged we were to be living the life we have. A few hours later he had to head off to band practice/rehearsal.
I headed over to Maïs, had a couple of tacos and a beer and then took the metro home. It was another one of those Montreal days that make you look at life with new eyes: It’s not always easy but it is always interesting.
mtl_dokkaebi
