Montreal tap pot parade

Av du Parc

Av du Parc

Montreal has been vibrating with nightly tap pot parades. At 8 PM you can hear the pots and pans. People go out on the street. Soon a whole lot of people are marching in neighbourhoods all over the city. You can read about it in the newspaper of your choice. Rising tuition fees sparked the manifestations over a hundred days ago. The government responded by pouring oil on the fire. A law was passed to impose limits on manifestations. The law is being contested in court. A few days after the aggressive law was rushed through, about 250,000 protestors marched through the city centre. Confrontation backfired. Now the government is finally negotiating with students.

Meanwhile, every night at 8 PM, many Montrealers get out pots and pans and start banging.

heavy rain

a lake flowed up to the front door

water ready to flow over the door step

time to unplug the drain

A severe storm struck Montreal yesterday, about 5 PM. I was surprised to open the door to this basement apartment and see water up to the doorstep and a lake outside. Water flowed down the driveway. I jumped into rubber boots and cleared debris away from the drain holes, just as the water was about to start pouring into my apartment. The water quickly went down the drain outside the garage door. I saw on the news how some basements and a few metro stations and stores were flooded. The orange metro line was shut down for a while. The Montreal sewer system was maybe not designed to handle tropical storms.

thunder storm

 ink on paper

A few thunder storms passed through Montreal, dark clouds, strong wind, rain, thunder and lightening.

phone

phone

This old phone, judging from the amount of dirt on it, was used a lot in its day. Now this phone is destined for trash.

OOO CHA

small OOO Cha painting

white teeth are in style

Like many people, I spent years living in cramped quarters, with paper thin walls. I currently live in a small basement apartment. Here, the neighbors are courteous. By common agreement, we're quiet. Silence is good medicine.

In the past, I wasn't so lucky. I was subjected to the noise of other people's stereos. I had to cope with the thump of bass and drums, the OOO CHA rhythm. In the nineties, stereo systems created super bass, so loud, it would cause windows to vibrate and deep, disturbing vibes that went into the bones of anyone within range. The amazing thing is that some people liked it.

What bothered me most was the moronic rhythm, the dull, machine-like thud as the stereo bludgeoned the ears. If you were trying to sleep, it would wake you up. If you were trying to focus or concentrate, it would create irritating distraction.

more fun with food

pickled cabbage

grass jelly

More photos of food that sat for about ten years in the cupboard, long past expiry date.

dandelion pictures

 Follow the above steps to make dandelion pictures.