Getting to Montreal

Kerriann took Prish, Sue, Steph and me to a club in Kingston last night. It was retro night so the music was all very 80s. Kerriann seems to know about half the patrons of the club so she kept darting off to go talk to different friends that had just showed up.

We went skating on the canal in Ottawa today afternoon. The only other time I'd been skating was a few years ago. Steph pulled me around for the first little while, which was fun but rather passive and strained my back. Then Sue tried supporting me as I attempted to propel myself but that didn't work too well as I only had support on one side. So I tried again with with Prish & Sue each holding one of my hands, which worked somewhat better; enough to get me to the point where I could try skating on my own. I had a lot of trouble with my balance, although by the end I was able to skate in short bursts, albeit in a rather crude manner. It was a very tiring experience for me, since I was putting enormous effort into moving forward while staying on my feet.

The drive into Montreal was fairly straightforward, although we got lost after missing a turnoff just a few blocks from Alex Somma's house on the South shore. I got directions from some random Francophones in a gas station dep and we eventually made it to Somma's place, only to discover that he wasn't home! Prish & Sue were tired & hungry by this point so I tracked Jer down instead & arranged to hang out with him instead. Then we went to the hostel where Prish & Sue are staying to check them in, followed by a hearty dinner - I had bifteck - at Nickels, which has fantastic broccoli.

Once we'd eaten, the girls dropped me off at the apt. where Jer's friends Chris & Esther live. Two other friends, Julie & Jaime were there too. It was absolutely wonderful to meet some of the people about whom I have heard Jer tell stories. I discovered that Julie knows Alex Somma, Andrew Jones & Shannon Headland from high school! It was a lot of fun hanging out with them, although we could only stay so long as Jer needed to be up at 6am in the morning.