A city is only as great as its sleaziest men and only as healthy as its public transportation system. Knowing this you now know that Montreal is one of the greatest worldwide. Men like Westley and public transportation systems like the Montmorency/Côte Vertu Orange Line subway will teach you that if you live by this rule, you will never go wrong in choosing a city to love.

Side note: My small town mind is pleased easily by skyscrapers, subway systems, ethnically diverse restaurants, buildings that aren’t stucco and cheap beer.

Riding on Public transportation, reading transit publications. That is a dream in my mind. Kolkata, Seoul, Montreal subways. Delhi, Vancouver, Rangoon buses. Sitting next to souls I will never see again, as we all float off into the shady tunnels of the metropolis underground. It is the circulatory system of any city, the blood flowing between major arteries and organs. An unhealthy system is an unhealthy city. Montreal seems to have healthy blood flow. We were riding to the finals of the Rogers Cup. Place St-Henri to Snowdon, transfer at Snowdon to the Blue Line and ride to De Castelnau. But before we could transfer, as the doors opened to pick up more commuting souls at Villa Maria station, a lady’s scream was heard. The train powered down and everyone got out to see what was going on. A lady had fallen onto the tracks and couldn’t get up. Thankfully all the Orange Line trains stopped so no one was decapitated. We walked to Snowdon station to arrive at Uniprix Stadium seven games late.

A friend of mine works in a small pub called Primetime. She gets paid cash and serves Moosehead to old Francophones. We went in there a few nights to keep her company amidst the drunkards and the coke dealers. We met a man named Paul, a steel worker that enjoyed telling jokes and drinking at Primetime and he gave me the best advice I have ever heard. “Hit like a truck, come back with the puck.” As well as, “Open the window and fuck the world.” this was after he told us the real meaning of Juan Martin Del Potro’s last name. It had to do with sodomy.

I usually rate a new place on three things. Girls, food and the intangibles, but in finding a new home, or to fairly judge a city, I may have to include its dingiest men, its dirtiest station or a combination of both. Although it may not have seemed like a wholesome week, it was. Live tennis is one of the worlds greatest pleasures, along with other French delights such as mustaches and poutines.

Montreal
Girls- 4/5
Food- Awesome
Intangibles- French