| Author | Message | ||
     Mr_grumpy |
Mrs G & myself are having a wee breakette in Canada end of April early May. Flying in & out of Montreal. Anybody on here from there? We'll be looking to rent a car to get about, going to go to Quebec as well. Any thoughts & info gratefully received. | ||
| Fahren |
Let me lurk in the shadows of this one, as my wife and son will be in Quebec next week, and anything I can pass on to them would be welcome. It has been far too long since I was last there, so my memories are dim and out of date (therefore of no use :-) | ||
| Fahren |
For example, great whale watching memories, east of Quebec, in the St. Lawrence, where the whales come to feed in the oxygen-rich brackish water near the Saguenay fjord. Be prepared for your wife to be thrown back in time, as the accent quebecois is closer to old Norman and Breton dialects than anything else. I love it up there. | ||
| 46champ |
Grumpy are you and the little woman checking out your new home? | ||
| Kenm123t |
Thought you wanted a warmer Climate Besides why Montreal now? no one is home they are in Florida till the snow melts ! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Oh all right you've got me. A couple of months back you may remember I posted up about a transport company a friend of mine is interested in. Well the upshot is that he bet me that I was too much of a wuss to send them my CV, so I did, & they emailed me right back saying that I'm exactly the sort of person they're looking for, fluent in both languages, experience driver, etc etc, & that they're prepared to offer me a 2 year renewable contract & also take care of most of the paperwork. The thing about the job that interests me most is that I won't have to go away for weeks at a time as it's double man timesaver runs to Cali (1 trip = 1 week) & I can work more or less as much or as little as I want. So this little jaunt is to go check it all out, emails & pics on the net is one thing but the reality needs to be looked at too. It's a huge step to take so we need to be sure of a lot of things. Mme G is sick to death of her job after over 20 years with the same firm, & all the young'un thinks about is being a fireman & playing video games. At first it started out as a bit of a joke but all the planets seem to be lining up on this one. Status has gone from, "yeah right", to "unlikely", to "possible", to "maybe", & is currently at "probable" (barring a problem with the paperwork). | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well if anyone is in Canada and returns to the states...pick up some 222 for me before you come back. I'm running low, and my titanium is being really bitchy these days. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Joe I didn't understand any of that. | ||
| Fahren |
Montreal is cool, cosmopolitan yet neighborhoody at the same time. A mix (not always necessarily a blend, though) of French Quebecois and Anglo/American. Skiing not too far to the north, Countryside all around and easy to get to, 8 hours from NYC to the south. I know the french areas better than the anglo areas, my wife, from Normandy via Paris, is very comfortable there... except maybe for the cold. The cold is not like the cold in the alps or in the Rockies. It's east coast cold. But the city is geared up for that. And summers are glorious. Oh, and avoid camping during black fly season. | ||
| Ratbuell |
222 is an over the counter pain reliever that's not available in the States. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
What's it based on? Nanny Europe won't let me buy more than 2 std packs of any pain killers at any one time. In case I try to take them all at once I suppose, but it helps keep the packaging industry afloat. When/if this all comes together & I've got a bike to ride I'll bring you some down on a Dinosaur weekender. | ||
| Crusty |
A Dinosaur Weekender?! That's a good Idea. Syracuse is closer to Montreal than it is to Boston or New York City. Syracuse is my favorite of the three locations I've been to, though the food is equally good at the others. It's just that Syracuse is the original location and has its own ambiance. It also is two blocks away from the Mohawk Power and Light Building; which is a truly magnificent example of Art Deco. | ||
| Britchri10 |
Welcome to the America's.  Before you know it you'll be snow birding down this way for winter. 222 contains codeine. Good luck bringing that into the USA from Europe! Chris C | ||
| Ratbuell |
It can be "brought" into the states...just not sold. It's 375mg aspirin (ASA, actually), 15mg caffeine to speed it all into your system, and 8mg codeine. Johnson&Johnson/Merck product. When the titanium in my legs starts in really bad...this is the only thing I've found that touches it. One of these does what eight or ten Tylenol / Advil can't. I take one, the pain and throbbing stops, I'm still lucid and fully-functional. Only happens once in a blue moon...but nice to be able to quiet it down. Unbelievable pain when it kicks in. Syracuse is a bit of a hike from MD, but if it's on a weekend...could be a nice trip regardless of pain relief | ||
| Teeps |
Sounds like a great gig, from your description. But, I'm not sure I would uproot my life for a 2 year contract... just say'n. | ||
| Britchri10 |
I was thinking about the restrictions on liquids you can take on a plane these days. Chris C | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Teeps, it's a renewable contract, with a work permit resident visa, not permanent immigration. But that's one of the questions that this trip has to answer, there's lot's of work in Quebec for drivers, & if they don't renew the contract what's my position? We'll be keeping a French base too in Brittany so there's a lifeboat if things don't work out. As the saying goes though "He who attempts nothing, achieves nothing." | ||
| Fahren |
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| Teeps |
grumpy, At least you have an exit strategy, should things not work out. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Well that's the thing, I always like to have options. I also like to do my research as much as possible, to avoid unpleasant surprises, but there's no such animal as a "sure thing" these days so I'm hedging my bets where possible. | ||
| Buellish |
Innes,PM sent. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Received & replied Mike, thanks. | ||
| Jaimec |
Montreal is one of my favorite cities in the world. I haven't been there in a very long time so I don't know how much it's changed. I need to get back. My wife's father was born there, and my best friend in High School attended McGill University (I made many trips up there to visit him aboard AmTrak back in the day). Love the people, the restaurants, Mount Royal Park... just about everything. I wish I could recommend places to visit, but I don't know how many of them are still around (though there is a Six Flags Amusement Park right outside the city at the old Expo67 World's Fair Grounds). | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Right then, I'm looking at car rentals & I can get a Toyota Camry for near enough the same rate as a Yaris, or a Corolla, they all say "or similar" so it'll probably be a POS Hyundai or somesuch. I'm not a midget so don't fancy the econoboxes much, question is; What sort of gas mileage am I going to get out of these things? they don't list any model specs except that they're all automatics. I know a fullsize is going to use more but there's the comfort/economy equation to be worked out & I just don't have enough data. | ||
| Jaimec |
I can tell you that whatever mileage you get, it'll be better than we get here in the States. They don't dilute their gasoline with that ethanol crap like they do down here. Guess they don't have as strong a corn lobby as we do. Gas is also sold by the liter, and distances are measured by the kilometer, so mpg figures aren't terribly useful anyway. | ||
| Jaimec |
OH! One other thing: The blinking green light. If you're at an intersection and the light turns green, but continues to blink, it means the oncoming traffic has a red light, so you can go straight or turn left safely. The other thing I remember is that, unlike here in the states where you'll have arrows circled in red telling you what you CAN'T do at an intersection, in Montreal they had arrows circled in green indicating what you CAN do. |
