A lesson of geography

Today, one of my colleagues was thinking aloud, mumbling something about Montreal and Vancouver, I think she was tired as she said in her mumbles: "Vancouver's in Montreal?" I am always surprised to see how people can confuse East and West of Canada, although this time it was due to a busy day. Anyway, I thought it was a moment to improvise a quick crash course in geography so I said: "Vancouver is not in Montreal, or even nearby, Montreal is on the East side, Vancouver on the West. Do not confuse Vancouver Island , where Victoria (the capital city of British Columbia) is, and Vancouver the city, which is not on Vancouver Island, but opposite to it, on the continent. Montreal, however, is both an island and a city, the city of Montreal being on the island of Montreal." Pretty good I thought. I made her and other colleagues laugh anyway.

And I know it is more a soliloquy than a single sentence, but I still consider it worthy of a great unknown line. So I am adding it to the list.

Une photo pour illustrer le temps qu'il fait

Bon, il ne pleut pas tant que ça, mais il pleut souvent, régulièrement et j'ai en tête cette comptine enfantine. Comme dans mon billet de juillet 2011 sur exactement le même sujet, j'ai pris cette photo à l'Aquarium de Vancouver. En regardant dans mes vieux albums, j'essaie de trouver des clichés qui font jolis sur le blogue. Une façon comme une autre de le colorer. Enfin bref, il fait un temps de grenouilles, j'en vois d'ailleurs parfois sur la route. À moins que ce soient des crapauds. En Angleterre, il y en a quand il pleut comme il y a de vers de terre au Québec. J'exagère à peine.

Poisson d'avril

Je ne sais pas si ça se dit, mais joyeux Poisson d'avril tout le monde. Cette photo a été prise à l'Aquarium de Vancouver (ou Vancuuuuuver comme ils disent), je ne sais pas si c'est un poisson exotique ou un vulgaire poisson rouge, mais j'ai pensé qu'il illustrerait bien le sujet de ce billet. C'est donc le premier avril, donc le jour du Poisson d'avril. Je ne suis pas du genre à faire des poissons d'avril en fait, mais c'est le premier avril, le mois de ma naissance, alors je pensais que je devrais le souligner. Avril est un mois traître, dont la température peut changer soudainement. Ca a été le cas aujourd'hui. En fait, c'est tout le mois d'avril qui est un Poisson d'avril.

Je tiens de l'ours

Cette photo a été prise à Vancouver, ce serait plus approprié d'avoir une photo d'un ours noir, mais ça fera l'affaire pour illustrer le propos de ce billet. Ca m'est venu à l'esprit hier alors que je mangeais des bleuets: je tiens de ce sympathique plantigrade qu'est l'ours. Pour plusieurs raisons: je me nourris de baies (ces temps-ci des airelles bleues), mon régime est majoritairement végétarien, je suis friand de poissons, surtout du saumon, j'ai une dent sucrée (ils se nourrissent de miel), je suis également velu et il m'arrive d'être asocial. Je crois donc que l'ours est un très proche cousin de l'homme, du moins du Saguenéen. Au Saguenay, on a surtout des ours noirs. Je me demande si je ne fais pas partie de cette famille.

Un temps de grenouilles

"Il pleut, il mouille,
C'est la fête à la grenouille.
Quand il pleuvra plus
Ce sera la fête à la tortue."

C'est une comptine enfantine, par ailleurs complètement stupide, que je mets en préambule. Vous vous en rappelez sûrement. Je l'ai eue en tête ce matin lorsque j'ai dû me rendre à la gare sous la pluie battante. Dix minutes de marche, quinze tout au plus, et j'étais trempé jusqu'aux os. Je me serais senti très amphibien si ce n'avait pas été aussi désagréable. Mes souliers en sont encore humides. Morale de cette histoire: mon manteau d'été n'est pas très utile pour la pluie battante. Lorsque je revisiterai l'Écosse, il m'en faudra un autre. Autre morale: je n'ai pas l'âme d'un palmipède.

La photo de droite a été prise à l'Aquarium de Vancouver, soit dit en passant.

Japa Dog

Warning: absolutely trivial post ahead. This is a Japa Dog, which I tried and enjoyed in Vancouver. A japa dog is basically a hot dog with Japanese kind of condiments: seaweed, teriyaky sauce, Japanese mayo, soy sauce, plum sauce, etc. I wonder if they have it in Japan or if it is pure Western exoticism. It tastes weird but delicious. I had it only once, but it was memorable. Maybe it is because of the recent riots in Vancouver, but I started thinking about them again and I am in the mood for one. It is one of those little attractions that makes this city different and very Easternised.

Vancouver, a riot and a kiss

I blogged a few days ago in French about the recent riots in Vancouver, caused by stupid, over excited hockey fanatics because their team had lost the Stanley Cup (in the seventh game!). I was both baffled because I love Vancouver as a city, but almost relieved to see that the citizens of a great city can be just as thick as us Montrealers. The Habs partisans did smash things down and behaved like hooligans too, but in our case it was when the team had won. Try to understand this for a minute. You can't? Neither can I. That is why I don't care about hockey too much anymore, and never got into football here: team sports just make people thick. It is one thing to love a team and want them to win, it is another to think they are any good or think they deserve to win against a better team.

And there was this picture released, about this young couple lying down in the street, kissing, seemingly oblivious to the rioters and police around them. I first saw them on Stéphane Laporte's blog, who made this stupid comment "probably they were Boston partisans". Laporte can be clever, but when it comes to hockey his brain shuts down, just like many of my compatriots (and myself too, when I was a teenager). He shows it here with such an idiotic comment. Of course, there is a lot of speculation about the kissing couple: was she wounded, who are they (this is a mystery that now appears to be solved), was it staged, etc. From what I read it appears that it was a genuine moment of tenderness. And for some reason, this picture gives me a bit more hope in mankind.

Une émeute à Vancouver?

Je veux dire, vraiment? Dans une si belle ville? J'ai lu ce titre et je suis tombé à la renverse. Je ne me sens pas Canadian du tout, tout ce qui est coast to coast me laisse de glace, cela dit Vancouver est une ville charmante que j'ai beaucoup aimée. Je me faisais l'illusion que c'était une ville civilisée, dont la prospérité devait la rendre imperméable aux accès de rage infantile dont font preuve certains partisans, même dans la victoire. J'ai toujours aussi honte de la débile partisanerie de certains amateurs de hockey montréalais, encore plus honte de la profonde incurie d'un certain ex chef de police, mais je dois avouer, comme Richard Martineau l'a dit sur son blogue, que ça fait du bien de voir qu'il y a du monde aussi épais que nous.

Les mouettes

Alors que j'attendais le train sur le chemin du retour, j'ai entendu un cri familier. J'ai cru un instant que c'étaient un des chats qui geignait, puis je me suis rendu compte de ma stupide erreur: c'était des cris de mouettes. Il y en avait quelques unes qui volaient. J'ai eu une impression d'étrangeté, parce que nous sommes loin de la mer et que bien sûr les mouettes sont associées à la mer.

Leur présence est un signe que, malgré la température pas particulièrement estivale, l'été s'en vient. Enfant, j'associais mouettes et goélands aux vacances d'été, surtout quand on passait du temps à Tadoussac. Ca et au vol de frites: ces oiseaux sont particulièrement gloutons. Quand ils volaient l'été à Chicoutimi, ils formaient le bruit de fond de nos aventures marines (les jeux que l'on jouait autour de la piscine).

Oh, et cette photo a été prise à Vancouver (ou Vancuuuuver). Il y en avait plein.

À mon frère et ma belle-soeur visitant Vancouver

Je crois que je peux le dire ici: ma famille voyage ces temps-ci. Après le cadet qui est présentement à Paris, mon autre petit frère et sa femme vont se retrouver à Vancouver (ou Vancuuuuuuuver). Je leur souhaite bon voyage. Je profite également de l'occasion pour faire une confession: j'ai préféré Vancouver à Paris.

Une bonne nouvelle brassicole

Je voulais utiliser cette photo de la sélection de bières que j'ai dégustées à Granville Island Brewing (remarquez le jus de pommes que ma femme a bu s'est retrouvé dans la photo) depuis un certain temps. Aujourd'hui, une bonne nouvelle sur le monde brassicole québécois me donne l'excuse de l'utiliser. D'accord, Granville Island Brewery est basée à Vancouver, mais tout de même.

Donc, les microbrasseries québécoises prennent de l'expansion dans le marché, en occupant maintenant 7% des parts, alors qu'ils étaient à 5% il y a cinq ans. Ca semble peu, mais dans un marché où la concurrence est aussi féroce, c'est une excellente nouvelle, surtout que nous revenons de lui. En un peu plus de quinze ans, le monde de la bière a changé radicalement au Québec et pour le mieux. Je le sais, j'ai été témoin de ces changements. Depuis que j'ai l'âge légal de boire (toux sèche), j'ai eu une préférence pour la bière. Or, les microbrasseries ont donné aux Québécois un vrai choix de bières, une vraie culture brassicole. Avant leur arrivée, on buvait de l'eau terne en guise de bière. Les microbrasseries ont amené (ramené?) le souci de la qualité dans le marché de la bière, ils ont introduit une véritable libre concurrence et le consommateur est en bout de ligne le grand gagnant. Alors je vais sans doute prendre une pinte cette semaine pour célébrer. En espérant qu'un jour les microbrasseries québécoises percent le marché anglais...

The bats are back!

Well, maybe they never left, to be honest, but I hadn't seen them in a while, since yesterday that is. By seeing them, I mean of course getting a glimpse of their movement at sundown. They are elusive creatures, too fast when they fly for our camera, very small and barely perceptible. They are just shadows.

There was Batman Begins on television that night, fittingly enough, so I thought I would blog a bit about our nocturnal neighbours. It is also an excuse to put here those pictures of fruit bats, taken at the Vancouver Aquarium. What were they doing in an aquarium I have no idea, but there were a number of non-aquatic animals there, including the bats. I didn't complaint, the more animals the better, especially those you can barely see in normal times. Since they were in an enclosed environment, I could successfully take a few pictures of them.

Bats are basically flying rodents, so I don't know why I love them. I think it is partially due to their somewhat sinister reputation, their associations with vampires (I am a big fan of the original Dracula novel and of old horror stories in general), Halloween, horror in general and their mysteriousness. Batman is probably my favourite superhero, maybe it is a reason for me liking bats or my liking of bats a reason for this preference. Anyway, I also see bats as shy creatures, frail looking and vulnerable. I don't feel the same for mice and other rodents. And the bats we have here are most likely insect eaters, so they keep the flies level low during those hot summer days. But overall, I love them because they are so cool.

Longing for a swimming pool (and a quote from Moby Dick)

It is hot here, enough to feel that it is a heatwave. I don't know if it is accurate, but it certainly feels like it. Days like this one makes me long for the old family swimming pool. I haven't had a dip in one in years and I sorely miss the feeling of water surrounding me in a hot day like this one. The worst thing is that there are some public swimming pool around here, but I have never really visited them. I need new swimming trunks anyway. I guess it could be the weekend's activity: find some swimming trunks, then find a pool.

As I once said here, swimming is one of the few sports at which I am naturally good at. Not great, but I can do more than float, I can dive, I can crawl and I can hold my breath for long enough in the water. So My Haitian aunt once told me that swimming is not a real sport. She had such contempt with water and fittingly enough she couldn't swim. Ironic as she came from an island. But she was wrong, I think: swimming is probably one of the best, healthiest physical activity, as it is a complete one. It is also a pleasant activity, maybe this is why my aunt said it couldn't be a sport.

I mentioned last year that I have some kind of love story with water and sea life. Maybe not like Ishmael in Moby Dick, but I have always been fascinated by it. And I associate sea life with the many afternoons spent in the family swimming pool. Talking about Moby Dick, there is a quote from the novel that sums up perfectly my longing for a swimming pool: " The more so, I say, because truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself." There, I just quoted what is maybe the greatest American novel (maybe even the greatest novel in English) in a post about a tank with chlorinated water! I just shocked myself. But the quote explains what I am feeling right now: one can enjoy warmth when one knows cold, the reverse is also true: feeling cool is pleasant when one knows how unpleasant hot can be. I don't like heatwaves and hot weathers much in and by themselves. A hot day can quickly become unbearable. I have only really appreciated hot summer days in a swimming pool.

Last note: the picture was taken at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Compter les heures

Bon, cette photo date de notre voyage à Vancoooouver, c'est une horloge à vapeur, elle n'a donc rien à voir avec le Québec, mais je la mets ici 1)parce que j'aime bien mettre de jolies photos de temps en temps, ça brise la monotonie, 2)parce que j'aime bien l'horloge en question (les vielles horloges en général, en fait) et (surtout) 3)parce que ça reflète bien mon état d'esprit. Nous allons au Québec bientôt, ma femme et moi, et comme à chaque retour au bercail, surtout quand celui-ci devient imminent, je commence à m'impatienter et compter les heures. Ca me fera du bien de changer d'air. Surtout que ce sera l'air du pays. Alors plus le jour approche, plus le temps me semble long, même si j'ai de quoi me tenir occupé. Et là je dis des banalités.

Addendum: L'introduction de ce billet est peut-être plus longue que le reste.

Where could I live?

I thought about this yesterday: I have seen a number of places in my life, towns and cities, both as a resident and as a tourist. I was wondering in which one of them I could live and be happy, if I had the opportunity to move there. Loving a place depends of emotional factors much more than objectives ones. I thought I would make the list here of the places I would most gladly move to:

-There is Montreal. Well of course. This is where I feel most at home and where I feel most local. Even though I am from Saguenay, which a Montrealer easily identifies the moment I open my mouth (it appears that I kept my accent), I feel Montrealer. It is true that many Bleuets expats end up in Montreal, so it's like a second home for us. Strangely enough, I do not feel the need to go back and live in Chicoutimi.
-There is also Liverpool, my city of adoption (albeit for a relatively short period of time). It might not be a beautiful place, but neither is Montreal and Liverpool, probably more than Montreal, has character. I never felt local, but I never felt like a stranger either. Maybe it is because Liverpool has a long tradition of welcoming immigrants, which makes it a city where one feels naturally at home, maybe it is because there are cultural similarities between the Scousers and the Québec Northerner I am, maybe it is because Liverpool was the city where I got my favourite job so far. I probably idealise it more than I should, but there you go.
-Bath I think I could appreciate living there, although I might find the history of the city a bit heavy on a daily basis. But it is just so beautiful a place, I wouldn't miss the chance of trying it as a resident.
-Same thing with Cambridge, which I find beautiful, but maybe with too much history. I would certainly try it if I had the chance. I might feel intimidated by the presence of its university, but I would sure spend lots of time in its bookstores.
-Dublin. I have been there once, ten years ago, and for only one week, but I loved it to bits. I did not feel the presence of history at all, even though I saw many tourists. I had a thing for Ireland before I went there, it only got stronger after I left. And I could live on Guinness easily.
-I always thought I would feel comfortable living in Bergamo. But then I would need to improve my Italian. Bergamo is another city I really loved. It is heavy with history, but I did not feel the tourist's presence much, if at all. I have a thing for Italian culture and a personal bound with the country, which I blogged about often. I could develop this relationship in Bergamo. The fact that it is in the North of Italy makes it a natural choice. Like in Liverpool, I would be a Northerner there too. I have one vivid image of Bergamo: I was at the top of a tower (can't remember the name, but it has a history) and I could hear a baritone singing Mozart from the Music faculty of their university nearby. Idyllic. There are one or two other anecdotes about me and the place, which I might blog about one day.

The jury is still out for Vancouver and Manchester, which I loved but as a tourist (and in Manchester as a pilgrim) and I am not sure I could apppreciate these particular cities as much as a resident. Anyway, where could you, my readership, live, if you were given the choice?

A Greek feeling

I don't know if it's the fact that we ate in a Greek restaurant last weekend (it was average), my wife and I, or because some of the characters of season 2 of The Wire are Greeks (and well, there is also Pelecanos), or maybe it is because there are the winter Olympic Games right now, but I have been in a Greek mood these days. We were talking about it in the restaurant last time, and we thought it would be nice to go to Greece together one day. We have a special connection with Greece, so it would be a natural holiday destination. I am in the mood for spanakopita, authentic feta, ouzo, Mediterranean climate and some serious rediscovery of Greek myths, history and culture. This state of mind might disappear before Saint-Patrick's Day. It better be, because where I am, it looks like everything but Mediterranean climate.

On the left, you can see a picture taken in the Butchart Gardens on our last trip to Vancouver. Actually, to be more precise, the gardens are in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, not the city, which is on the mainland. Still with me? It is a statue of Hermes, and yes, it is also a cheap excuse to put here a picture from our latest holidays. Since I don't have any authentic Greek sculpture, this one will do just as well.

La loutre

Ce billet peut sembler trivial ou même un peu arbitraire, mais je me suis promis d'écrire un billet plus léger après les sujets sérieux et franchement déprimants que j'ai abordés récemment. Je regardais ce matin des photos de notre voyage à Vancouver (c'est étrange que les Jeux olympiques me laissent aussi indifférents cette année alors que j'ai beaucoup aimé la ville) et j'ai trouvé cette photo d'une loutre (loutre de mer pour être plus précis), vue à l'aquarium. Même si l'aquarium avait bien bien d'autres animaux et des mascottes plus spectaculaires, je crois que c'était la loutre que je préférais.

Je ne sais pas exactement pourquoi, mais j'aime les loutres. À noter que lorsqu'on aime quelque chose, on ne sait jamais trop exactement pourquoi. J'imagine que c'est un peu à cause de son apparence, qui rappelle vaguement le chien labrador, d'ailleurs c'est dommage qu'on ne puisse pas les domestiquer. C'est sans doute surtout que j'aime les mammifères marins en général. J'associe aussi la loutre avec la légende de Sigurd, parce que le prélude de cette histoire met en scène, notamment, un changeur de forme qui se transforme en loutre. Et bon, j'aime la mythologie viking, alors c'est toujours ça de pris pour la loutre.

Winter Olympics and Vancouver

I might as well blog about it now as it is coming. There will soon be the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (or Vancuuuuuuuuver as it seems to be often pronounced). I am not that much into the Olympics, but my wife went to Athens in 2004 ans we visited Vancouver last Summer, when the city was getting prepared for the games and we loved the place quite a lot. So we might follow the games a little bit this year.

Apart from the mascots that were omnipresent in souvenir shops (quite nice, I might add) and the countdown clock pictured right, the city seemed pretty indifferent to all the fuss of the Olympics. I can't blame them really: it's not like the city has nothing else to offer to people. And Olympic Games often come with their truck loads of problems, Montrealers know a thing or two about it. Still, the clock was kind of cool.

What I like most of the Olympics is actually the animation made by the BBC to advertise them. Here is the 2010 one, showing much more snow that there is in British Columbia. Because it is maybe the least snowy province of Canada, especially in Vancouver (which, from what I read, has caused some concerns).

The picture that makes you go "awwwwwwwwwww"

I know, I used this title once before. I thought that since for the next month my posts will most likely be Halloween related, I could put a bit of cuteness around the blog. I have been wanting to put this picture for a while now. It was taken in Grouse Mountain, during our holiday in Vancouver. The deers came out of the woods when we were waiting for the lumberjack show. I guess we were lucky they weren't bears. Anyway, those two deers were not shy at all and I was lucky enough to get a few snapshots from a very close range. I would have got closer had I not been asked by one of the staff there to keep away, as the deers are not supposed to interact with humans. Still, it is amazing how close one can get to wild life.

Les belugas sont parfois trop mignons

Aujourd'hui, lors de mon cours de français, j'ai décidé d'apporter une baleine blanche en peluche achetée à l'Aquarium de Vancouver, histoire de développer leur vocabulaire sur les animaux. La présence du beluga en peluche n'a pas eu tout à fait l'effet escompté. Oui, elles ont appris un mot de plus, mais ont également passé beaucoup trop de temps à caresser le beluga en peluche. J'aurais dû m'en douter. Je crois que ce n'est pas seulement dû à la matière dont l'animal était fait, mais aussi à l'apparence du beluga: il a un air particulièrement adorable. J'ai lu quelque part que les humains et particulièrement les enfants sont attirés par certains animaux parce que leur silhouette ainsi que leurs yeux rappellent celle du bébé humain et parce que leur fourrure/peau donnent l'impression qu'ils sont doux (même si dans les faits ce n'est pas le cas). D'où la popularité du nounours, même si le modèle original peut vous arracher la tête d'un coup de patte. Cela dit, les belugas ne sont pas mignons qu'en apparence, ils sont aussi très sympathiques envers les humains, ce que j'ai pu constater moi-même. À gauche, vous pouvez voir voir une photo de deux membres de la famille qui loge à l'Aquarium de Vancouver (et avouez que leur blancheur se marie parfaitement avec le fond noir de ce blogue). Vous pouvez également les observer en vidéo ici. Cela étant dit, ils ont peut-être été une distraction inutile pour ma classe aujourd'hui. Ma femme m'a suggéré de ramener le beluga la semaine prochaine. Je ne crois pas que ce soit une bonne idée.