The early spring has “complicated” the spring city cleanup because all the parking signs indicate that street‑cleaning is in effect from April 1st, so workers can’t get down to it in March.
Item says there will be snow accumulation Tuesday and Wednesday, but I’m not seeing it in the forecast yet.
The St Patrick’s parade attracted a good crowd and went off without a hitch despite less than ideal weather.
Interesting to note that they now call it the oldest in Canada. I guess we can’t say consecutively running anymore because of covid.
I don’t have a cite, but I recall reading that the parade has been cancelled occasionally in the past – a smallpox epidemic, World War I, various reasons. I recall reading of some instance when the parade was shut down officially for a reason, but some men walked anyway – so the parade could be considered to have continuity, even if it was a smaller affair, like the one held in 2022.
When my grandfather walked in it, it wasn’t the flashy affair it is now, but mostly consisted of men from Irish Catholic parishes putting on their good winter coats and walking along Ste‑Catherine together. At most, some may have carried banners identifying their parish, and groups like the Knights of Columbus or the Ancient Order of Hibernians might walk together. So they probably considered it a parade if a few dozen men walked along a major street with shamrocks in their buttonholes.
The organizers are bound to consider this parade is still consecutive on the technicality that it’s not as if it was ever cancelled from lack of interest, but that people still had intentions to continue, but could not.
I don’t think anything’s going to stop them claiming next year’s is the 200th anniversary.
CBC considers how to cope with wild turkeys, the short version being not to approach them and not to feed them. And no making Wild Turkey Surprise, either.
This is egregiously unfair to Tasmanian Devils.
Atsa matta for you?
Too bad they’re not as tasty as farmed turkeys because that would take care of the problem right there.
Yes and no. You could say the same thing about the surplus deer, but we can’t have people popping off shotguns in the city streets, even if it gets them a free dinner.
A turkey is a lot easier to take down and butcher than a deer. All you need is a machete from the hardware store. Lop! There’s dinner!
Stuff it? It was already full!
Joseph Facal gets bent out of shape about the Université de Montréal plan to create a room for prayer (although the limited hours mentioned are a little odd). He calls the university “une institution lourdement financée par les fonds publics” – so I was curious to find out what other publicly funded institutions do.
The CHUM doesn’t seem to have a chapel, but it does offer soins spirituels. The MUHC says that in all its facilities a prayer and meditation room is open 24/7.
McGill has the rather posh Birks Heritage Chapel.
UQÀM doesn’t have a chapel as such, but has a page for the Notre‑Dame-de‑Lourdes chapel on Ste‑Catherine. UQÀM’s association with the Lourdes church is, if anything, the most objectionable, since it’s clearly not nondenominational and nobody would expect to do their salah there.
Concordia inherited a chapel from the days when Loyola was a Catholic institution. They also list a prayer and meditation room downtown.
These are all publicly funded institutions and nobody is fulminating against them. And it’s only realistic for universities to recognize that some observant Muslims are among their community, and so – unlike adherents of other major religions – they will want to do at least one set of prayers in the daytime during the week. Other religious, or even nonreligious people, might even want a quiet place to pray or meditate or commune, in an institution where things can become stressful.
And this isn’t a sly attack meant to return Quebec culture to the Grand Noirceur, which seems to be an obsession with some commentators.
Wait until he finds out all of Montreal universities teach religious studies and have theological programs.
To add to your list the Concordia Chapel on the Loyola campus (where I was baptized, received first communion, was confirmed, and served as an altar boy).
https://www.concordia.ca/students/spirituality/loyola-chapel.html
https://www.concordia.ca/offices/archives/buildings/loyola/chapel-building.html
H. John, just before you added your comment, I realized I had left Concordia out, and added it in. But thanks for the links.
The chapel at the old Vic was basically an unofficial place for nap time. The prayer room at the MUHC is tiny in comparison and is used by some folks. They’re usually in a hurry and pray quickly. It’s almost invisible and you’d never know it was there. Don’t know why it’s such a big deal to some.
Oh and Facal shouldn’t worry about the cost since that room will be paid for by out of province McGill and Concordia students lol
The Muslim Students Association at Concordia has a prayer room on the 7th floor of the Hall Building for Muslim students (also one at Loyola). When I was with the GSA we tried to get the Faculty of Engineering to provide another one in the EV building because students were praying in the stairwells (the trek to the Hall building takes 10-15 minutes). The Faculty was extremely stubborn about it even though we found a suitable room (a “study room” that bore no evidence of ever being used). Eventually the students asked us to drop it. MSA McGill also maintains a payer space downtown.
Uatu, I used to be a study subject at the vision lab in the old Vic. The lab was at the end of the hallway where the chapel was. I went in once to have a look, and some Muslims were doing salah. So I know it got some use for that.
Just a quick note about “the days when Loyola was a Catholic institution”. Loyola is STILL a Catholic Institution: https://www.loyola.ca/about. It’s just not in that building anymore.
OK, but that’s the high school. I was thinking about the part of it that melded into Sir George Williams to create Concordia.
La Presse’s François Cardinal explains how some fake news vendors have not only circulated false news stories but have got money from credulous readers convinced they’re supporting La Presse – while the money goes into the pockets of crooks.
There are also fake obituaries created to collect clicks.
A new book is out with photos and descriptions of the city’s alleys, some history and some vintage photos as well. I bought and downloaded a PDF version of the book, and it’s a nice production.
Following up on the discussion about Time Out declaring St-H as such a “cool street,” how long before these now-exposed ruelles become enshittified?
Before you know it there will be kiosks set up selling precious little jars of overpriced tasty things, then the organized festivals will start with the same donut and fried potato chip trucks that appear at every festival. Committees will be formed and rules put forth. There will be in-fighting and corruption within the committees, and non-committee people will start to picket the alleys and boycott the activities. People will retreat to their balconies and tiny yards, where a counter-ruelle culture will emerge similar to the ruelle culture that was ruined by exposure and success. Then the cycle will repeat.
BTW, if you want to publish a novel, just put the above into ChatGTP starting with “write a100,000-word novel in the style of Zadie Smith…” and there you have it.
Although you’ve made some good points about cool streets and festivals, Blork, I don’t think the alleys will face the same problem. They’re scattered around town, and you need to make an effort to find them – few of them are shown on Google Streetview. Most alleys are still bland paved rear accesses to rows of houses, and most of them are constricted in size, so you can’t hold big events in them. Most ruelle events are small, and held by and for the local residents. But nobody wants a lot of noise going on out back of where they live, or not very often. They’re self‑limiting.
There’s also no commercial angle. Now, if people start charging admission to the best alleys ….
They should do a photo book that’s just contractors parking their trucks in alleys.
More notes on the St Patrick’s parade and what happens downtown.
Ian 18:52 on 2024-03-17 Permalink
I’m seeing overnight snow on Wednesday but at this time of year it won’t stay. I’m still surprised the city doesn’t take advantage of snow clearing rules for ealry street cleaning – I wonder if there is a contractual relationship with the street cleaners that only runs from April?