Greetings,

It’s a cold rainy day in Ottawa, the type that makes you wish you were on some exotic island and makes me wonder what I’m doing with my life. All joking aside, Montreal was a special city and one of those few places on the planet that makes you “change your ways”, for the better…

Montreal is where Europe meets North America. Granted there are some other old cities as well but Montreal really has a European feel to it and much of that could be attributed to the fact they speak French. Life is just a bit different there and that bit makes a big difference.

Are you a single man? Well would we really be “SHABL” if I didn’t make it clear that the women in Montreal are some of the most attractive and friendly I’ve met anywhere in the world? It’s like Eastern Europe meets Canada, add some French and VOILA you have Montreal. I actually considered looking for a job and relocating there, I KNOW!

Was there during most horrendous weather, the weather in this part of the world is now the worst I’ve seen in the last two years. The only thing that comes close was when I arrived in Amsterdam in May 2010 with a pair of shorts on. That said, I was in Amsterdam and “wildlife” wasn’t my main goal so who really cares anyways?

Woke up today and did what anyone inspired from a trip to Montreal would do, went for a jog in a blue blazer with a ski hat that had a walrus on it.  While jogging past random people wearing spandex that I found strange, they looked at me as though I was strange, then narrowly avoided getting hit by a large yellow school bus and deciding to turn home as imminent collapse was on the horizon.

Not having a job and living in Ottawa or most cities in North America is like observing people as though they were in a fish bowl, you’re there but not really part of the whole scene, flip side is on vacation most people see the local people there through a fish bowl like lens and typically through a fence of an all inclusive. That was a really long sentence but I’m cool with it.

To conclude the thought above, one must either take a pencil and pole vault back into the aquarium or keep moving. Simply sitting here looking into the fish bowl as a cold rain hits the roofs and the stock market crumbles is not a productive place, I assure you.

In other news, spent the weekend hanging out with old friends – it was good to see all of you. Please take this advice though readers, if you’re going to visit friends – ask  if they are moving. Glad I could help but considering I loathe moving and have no possessions, moving someone else in the cold rain wasn’t a grandiose affair.

What to do what to do, Montreal has seriously changed my perspective.

So you’ve read this far!?

Question: Has a city ever changed your perspective on things?

Tips hat,

P.S: Photo above was taken while lost on way to the train station in the pouring rain.