We realised last night that this is the very weekend we stepped off a plane one year ago from England and began our life in Montreal. Signed the lease for an apartment the day after landing (spent the night in jetlagged shock at Motel L'Oiseau Bleu on what was then an unknown highway just outside of town) and haven't looked back since. We feel tremendously lucky to live here. Montreal had always been a city of 'wouldn't that be nice if we could...' until we just thought, screw it, let's move here.

We came without the usual trappings - jobs, money, loads of friends, ambition. Even stuff. At that point our wordly possessions were crammed into 100 square feet of boat space floating somewhere on the Atlantic. Anything else was scattered around in friends' houses in a couple countries. We didn't have much. But that didn't last for long. The generosity of spirit, openness of discussion, and the spidery network of kind folk connecting us with other kind folk made for an urban plentitude the likes of which he had/have never seen.

This is all to say that we have been quite nostalgic over the past couple days as we have (...read more...)