- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
- Messages
- 159
Montreal's weird/awesome. You must come. I moved here in 2004, and I claim that the longest and most passionate love affair of my life is with this bizarre and amazing city.
Okay, history teacher hat on. Unlike most of North America, the downtown core of Montreal was laid out before the car was invented. New York and Boston have parts of that. But then, when the post-war building boom happened, we also had some tax law that favoured multi-bedroom apartments over single-family homes on each lot, and the subway system going in because of the World's Fair and the Olympics. This led to a very anti-car culture that holds true even now. I only know one person who owns a car, and that includes my doctor, who is married to another doctor. They rent a car when they go up to their cabin on the weekends. Instead, most Montreallers take public transit most of the time, and a taxi or uber occasionally when they need to carry a lot of stuff.
It changes how we shop, though, preferring to grab fresh groceries several times a week on the way home from work in a couple manageable loads, from specialty bakeries and fresh fruit and fromageries and butchers, instead of weekly big shopping trips to the big box stores for large loads. This is also what allows Dollarama to flourish in the economy, because you'll nip in to grab a thing of dish soap today, sponges tomorrow, garbage bags Friday, instead of weekly getting all the cleaning supplies you need for the week. There was a massive disruption with the pandemic, bigger than a lot of other places, because the way you shop when you're getting things once a week for delivery changes what's in your cart drastically from this prior model. More frozen, less fresh, more bulk, fewer small businesses.
I never, ever want to live anywhere else. This city is perfectly suited to me, and how I want to live and be. Please, if anyone ever wants to vacation here (especially after the border is open) let me help you fall in love with this incredible place!
Just don't rent a car. If the roads don't kill you, the drivers will. See it like a local, from the buses, the Metro, and the back seat of our best rollercoaster, a taxi.
Okay, history teacher hat on. Unlike most of North America, the downtown core of Montreal was laid out before the car was invented. New York and Boston have parts of that. But then, when the post-war building boom happened, we also had some tax law that favoured multi-bedroom apartments over single-family homes on each lot, and the subway system going in because of the World's Fair and the Olympics. This led to a very anti-car culture that holds true even now. I only know one person who owns a car, and that includes my doctor, who is married to another doctor. They rent a car when they go up to their cabin on the weekends. Instead, most Montreallers take public transit most of the time, and a taxi or uber occasionally when they need to carry a lot of stuff.
It changes how we shop, though, preferring to grab fresh groceries several times a week on the way home from work in a couple manageable loads, from specialty bakeries and fresh fruit and fromageries and butchers, instead of weekly big shopping trips to the big box stores for large loads. This is also what allows Dollarama to flourish in the economy, because you'll nip in to grab a thing of dish soap today, sponges tomorrow, garbage bags Friday, instead of weekly getting all the cleaning supplies you need for the week. There was a massive disruption with the pandemic, bigger than a lot of other places, because the way you shop when you're getting things once a week for delivery changes what's in your cart drastically from this prior model. More frozen, less fresh, more bulk, fewer small businesses.
I never, ever want to live anywhere else. This city is perfectly suited to me, and how I want to live and be. Please, if anyone ever wants to vacation here (especially after the border is open) let me help you fall in love with this incredible place!
Just don't rent a car. If the roads don't kill you, the drivers will. See it like a local, from the buses, the Metro, and the back seat of our best rollercoaster, a taxi.
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