Heat wave on the way
Monday morning, it’s mostly about the impending heat wave and what to do about it.
The Gazette has a list of five beaches accessible by public transit. Catch is, there’s no water access at three of them. Not listed is the beach at Cap St‑Jacques, which I suppose is fair, because although technically accessible by transit, it’s a long ride from the centre of town plus a hike through the woods to get there. But at least you can get into the water.
Sweatyyy 10:35 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
All the city seems capable of offering is ‘splash pads’ and a couple of ‘misters’ here and there there’s ‘cooling centres’ were folks can’t spend the night, sent back to oven hot apartments since the nights are hot too now , we have even *less* outdoor pools open than ten years ago, *less* trees, no plans to build more outdoor pools, no plans to increase or make safe access to the fleuve indoors pool aren’t covid safe feels like the city is being run people who never leave their AC’d SUVs
jeather 10:35 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
Gotta love the Time Out post, which suggests going to the Time Out restaurant, or maybe a beach an 8 hour drive away.
Joey 10:51 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
I think Laurier Pool is opening exceptionally this week due to the heat wave.
Ian 11:06 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
Yeah I get the newsletter.
“Ouverture devancée de la piscine Laurier
En raison de la canicule annoncée dans les prochains jours, la piscine et la pataugeoire du parc Laurier ouvriront de manière anticipée du mardi 18 au vendredi 21 juin avec un horaire spécial, de midi à 20 h 30. L’ouverture officielle avec l’horaire habituel de 10 h 30 à 20 h est prévue pour le 22 juin.”
Perhaps also of use:
https://montreal.ca/articles/se-rafraichir-cet-ete-sur-le-plateau-5702
Blork 11:20 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
…and don’t forget TimeOut’s helpful reminder to wear deodorant if you go to a library.
walkerp 11:24 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
*fewer* not *less*
Fewer is for quantity of discrete items that you can count, less is for collective nouns.
There is less water in the pool. There are fewer pools in the city.
And I’m not sure about there being fewer trees than 10 years ago. There has been lots of planting.
And if you are worried about covid in indoor pools, you are just creating a blocker for yourself. The Y has free family hours and free lane swims and I never caught covid there doing it non-stop since they re-opened.
AMF 11:36 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
Other city pools are open this week, from 4-7 PM. I know Confederation is for sure. Longer hours start next week when school is out.
EmilyG 12:16 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
Cap St-Jacques isn’t too far from me. It’s just a part of a bus ride away. I guess it seems far from downtown/the city.
Blork 12:18 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
When it’s 35C the back yard seems too far away for me.
CE 13:24 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
There are definitely not fewer trees in the city than 10 years ago. The city is greener now than I’ve ever seen it.
We absolutely could use more pools. Losing the pool in Parc Baldwin means a big and very dense part of the city doesn’t have access to a pool. It’s also a part of the city where very few people are going to have their own pools or AC in their homes. They really need to get to work on rebuilding it and putting pools in more parks.
MarcG 14:05 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
I know this is obvious to anyone with a brain but someone has to say it: all of this stuff is just putting bandaids on the hemorrhage that is climate change.
Ian 17:22 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
Hey in the 80s we were all certain we were going to die any second in a nuclear holocaust – or be really unlucky and survive the intial blast only to slowly die of radiation poisoning in the ruins, in nuclear winter. And yet here we are. Maybe just go to the library if it gets too hot out tomorrow, ok? Drink lots of water.
Kate 17:32 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
EmilyG: I did write that Cap St‑J is “a long ride from the centre of town” because I know some people reading this might live in the West Island!
I did the trip once – metro to Henri-Bourassa, then two entire bus routes end to end. Then the hike through the woods. I don’t even swim, but I felt an urge to go splash around in some natural water. In fact, what I remember most from the excursion was that for some reason I thought I could start on my way back by walking down Chemin de l’Anse à l’Orme, which turned out to be a) hostile to pedestrians and b) a longer way to the next bus stop than I could have imagined.
Now I just run some cold water over my person when the weather turns scorchy.
Ian 17:47 on 2024-06-17 Permalink
For free shoreline stuff easy to get to by STM, there are options.
If you take the Sherbrooke bus out to Mercier just past the east terminal port facility there’s a nice “beach” for a couple of kilometres that is basically rocky shoreline/ demolition landfill, the shoreline of Honoré-Mercier and Promenade Bellerive parks. It’s actually quite pleasant, quiet, and shady. You can watch the birds flying out over the water and see the lakers coming in. Lots of people fishing. There’s also the ferry if you want a river cruise.
There’s also Parc de la Merci in Ahuntsic right at the north end of Acadie, or Parc de la Visitation at the north end of Papineau, both with nice little quiet beaches. Both have lovely islands and bridges, and you can see ducks and geese and other birds. I’ve seen otters in Parc de la Visitation.
MarcG 09:50 on 2024-06-18 Permalink
Big sleepover at the library Wednesday night! With friends like this who needs Koch Industries?
Ian 17:42 on 2024-06-18 Permalink
Hey if you want to be miserable, nobody’s stopping you. Climate change is real but so’s heat stroke.
MarcG 20:31 on 2024-06-18 Permalink
I have AC at home, I’m not miserable at all, but I’m not going to pretend it’s a long-term solution.
Ian 20:44 on 2024-06-18 Permalink
I don’t have AC – why do you hate the environment?
I mean I really don’t, I have a shady first floor that stays cool – but /s, let’s not make this place into a more-righteous-than-thou arena.