Monday, April 13, 2015

Spring sprang

Today is a beautiful day and it was a joy to get out for a stroll over lunch.

Much as we may sometimes curse the climate, on a day like today, there are nothing but good Montreal vibrations wherever you turn.

All is forgiven.
It looks deserted, because every square inch of sun drenched seating was taken.  The shade enjoyed no such popularity.

17 comments:

RichardM said...

Still looks too much like a city for me...

Is the Shadow ready to ride?

David Masse said...

Sadly, the Shadow lacks all its rideable bits and the gas tank. finishing the horn installation is up next.

I've got the metal stock for a new bracket, I've routed the wires to the front of the bike, and now I have to wire up the horn relay and stash it just behind the frame neck, tucked in behind the radiator cap.

Sonja has ordered the windscreen, and it should be here in a couple of weeks.

The warm weather is pushing me to get the bike roadworthy for sure.

VStar Lady said...

Gotta love the sun ... give us the first double digit day and half of the population strips down to their skivvies. Ain't it great to be Canadian? 12 hours of lovely weather and now under the first spring weather advisory. High winds and torrential down pours - nature's road sweeper - bring it on!

Bill Leuthold said...

Montreal is a beautiful city, but I sure do like our relatively warm winters in North Florida. I may be traveling to see Jim in the Adirondacks in late summer. An overnight to Montreal might be an option.

SonjaM said...

If I had to pick a city to live in Montreal would be high on my list. Such a beautiful place (well, at least the parts I had visited), with lots of cultural events, nice people and good eats.

redlegsrides said...

I like how fountains attract people on nice weather days.....kind of like bonfires on chilly Fall camping nights....

David Masse said...

We definitely need road sweepers. Lots of micro-gravel, sand, and yuck that needs sweeping and flushing.

If tomorrow the weather works, I ride :)

Damn the heated grips, and into the fray.

David Masse said...

Bill, I plan to ride down to meet Jim, though late summer is too full right now (son's wedding, annual conference, lots happening in the second half of August).

Stephanie Yue is going to be somewhere in up state NY, or Vermont come June. I think that Jim and I may meet up with her, likely in Lake George-ish... plus Jim and Sergei are working on a ride in the Adirondacks too. Lots potentially happening.

As for Montreal, we have done some extraordinarily good urban planning since the late 1960's. Some was dumb luck, some was inspired and visionary. That planning continues. As a result, we have some really nice urban spaces, we managed to preserve a lot of 17th, 18th and 19th century heritage, and have obliterated a lot of urban blight as well.

David Masse said...

Sonja it does have a lot to offer. To live here you need a thick political skin. Still, Montreal is much more laid back than Toronto in many ways.

Montreal has joie de vivre in liberal amounts.

David Masse said...

Dom one of the additions to public spaces here are those unstructured computer-controlled fountains that gush out of the walkways in public squares.

On a hot summer day, you kick off your shoes and cool your feet, it's simply delicious.

Deb said...

Those glorious first days of spring is why I don't choose to live in Florida, though I love the beach!

Never visited Montreal, though the thought of it enchants me!

Trobairitz said...

On days like that I understand why everyone is sitting in the sunshine, faces pointed to the sky absorbing it all in. Ahhhh.

Canajun said...

Yup. It was a beautiful day indeed and I even managed my first sunburn of the year. While the air might still be a bit cool, the sun most definitely is not.

David Masse said...

One day Deb, one day.

I was reading one of those Lifehack lists earlier today (5 things not to spend money on, 5 things you should spend your money on) and travel was in the spend list.

Then I stumbled on a Mark Twain quote in my thought-of-the-day e-mail. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off your bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover."

David Masse said...

Ahhhhh indeed Brandy. That sums it up nicely.

David Masse said...

... and with the pleasure, comes the pain.

I see construction workers on the many condos rising into the sky working shirtless. They should be nice and toasty, and sore to the touch.

Bill Leuthold said...

I have visited your fine city twice in the past 20 years. Once in 1997, then in 2006. Both were to see the Canadian GP. In 2006, I attended with my son Sam and we stayed in the Old Port area. We walked around each evening and enjoyed the city. It is a nice one that I would enjoy visiting again.

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