November 14 - to Montreal

For me Sunday morning began very early, the events of the previous evening having made it almost impossible to get to sleep, and then actually impossible to go back to sleep once awakened. The curtains had remained open since there was little chance of anyone peeping in, up there on the 12^th floor, and so I watched the sky take on its morning colours, going from dawn's early grey light to a beautiful sunrise.

It seemed like an eternity, but 8.00 am eventually arrived and we checked out of the hotel, which was still thronged with folk trying to release their inner genies. Some of them looked as though they had put an inordinate amount of effort into raising their inner genies the night before.

Once in the 'truck', what we would call a people carrier at home, we set off in search of breakfast, which turned out to be a Cora encore. The restaurant, which was in a residential area not far from the hotel was quite busy – Sunday morning breakfast at Cora's is obviously a popular and regular event. For me it was a fruit cocktail smoothie, followed by the Cora Special and a couple of mugs of coffee.

[Those of you who have just begun reading this blog could refer to an earlier posting, in which the Cora Special is shown in its full glory.]

Well.... thank you. That was almost helpful.

We had clearly arrived at the right time, because having finished our meal, we almost had to fight our way past the queue of folks waiting to enter. The early bird catches the worm, as they say.

From Cora's we went to a couple of Archambault stores, since Louise wanted to buy some books and albums, Sylvain wanted to look at some musical instruments, and I wanted to buy two albums ('Luce', which I had downloaded from iTunes, and 'Les Filles de Caleb' a recently released folk-opera featuring several well-known quebecoise artistes, including Bruno Pelletier and.. ...of course, Luce Dufault). I ended buying two or three more albums including Steve Hill and the Majestiks, Lucky Uke (you're not going to believe that one when I play it at home) , Ian Kelly and The Kings of Leon. [That was four more, actually]

We didn't manage to get the Luce album at Archambault – the first store didn't have a copy and the second had a rather battered one at a very expensive price. Now at this point I should add, just in case, by some strange chance Luce herself reads this, that if that had been the only copy available, I would have been prepared to pay more than the $24.99 they were asking, but Louise convinced me that we should try the Wal-Mart next door. I did, and there was the same album for $12.99.

[ He still feels slightly guilty, in case he has contributed less to her earnings than he should.]

We had a look at some beautiful guitars and amazing drum sets before once again setting off in the truck, which Sylvain pointed down the Autoroute 40 towards Montreal. It was an interesting journey through thickly forested areas, the silver birch trees shining in the morning sun. There were warning signs for orignals/moose, but we didn't see any. We stopped at a Tim Horton's for a comfort break about half way to Montreal, and took on our own refuelling – for me coffee and a roussette de miel, I think it was called. The young lady behind the counter was a bit sour-faced, not quite accepting that her enquiry as to whether I wanted anything in the coffee had remained unintelligible to me. I had to turn to Sylvain for help, such was the speed of her vocal delivery.

Then, it was back on the road. We had a swift detour through Trois-Rivieres, which wasn't the most attractive of towns, and then left the autoroute again at Repentigny, where Sylvain, louise and their two sons live. Louise wanted me to play a trick on Alex, the older of the lads, who works in a Dollarama (equivalent to our Pound Shop, I guess). She wanted to test his customer service skills, and in particular whether he would make use of his English. So in I went, stood in the queue, at the check-out where he was working and when it was my turn, asked in him in my most correct English if there was a dog section in the store. He looked at me slightly puzzled, and replied something like:

Yes we have. It's over there and how are you?”, because he had recognised me as soon as I had entered the store. [Once seen, never forgotten!] Louise was peering in through the shop window behind him, and soon realised that the game was up. I did at least buy some Dentyne Fiery Cinnamon chewing gum.

We then went on to Louise and Sylvain's home where they kindly showed me around, and where I met son number 2, Felix again. Music is clearly very important in the household, with a wonderfully decorated and set up music room in the basement area. Brilliant – my grand-daughter Lucy would have loved it, as would my great-nephew James.

I had a nice cup of tea and we watched a bit of the NASCAR race from Phoenix, Arizona, not too far from where my big bro Peter will be reading this blog (Alamogordo, NM) Alex arrived back from work, and then Sylvain and Louise brought me the rest of the way into Montreal, to my temporary pied a terre in the city. Thank you for everything!

Perhaps at this point I might digress [that wouldn't be too unusual, now would it?] My plea, ( attached to the end of the last posting), for those reading it to confirm it by adding some form of comment, has been fruitful. At least I now know that there are people in the UK, Quebec, New Mexico, Belgium and Russia having a look! Thank you to Louise, Bill, Lawrence, big bro Peter, Frauke, Iraida and Daria, and to any one else who is reading it. (If you''d told me, you would have got a mention too!!)

Having settled in to my hotel room, I ventured out into the city – not too far as it happens, because just around the corner, 3 minutes walk, is a micro-brasserie called BENELUX. I knew that just the night before it had been the venue for a beer festival and the launch of a book about the grand-crus des bieres. I was hoping that there might just be something left of the dozen or so real ales which had been on offer, but sadly, as the young lady behind the bar indicated, each beer on the long list written on the blackboard had been crossed out. My goodness, they must have supped some stuff on Saturday night, I saay, they must have supped some stuff on Saturday night.

[ How many people are going to be aware of that 'catch-phrase', as perpetrated by Coronation Street's Fred Elliott?]

Now it's you who's causing problems – I didn't mention Coronation Street or Fred Elliott – I doubt whether Louise, Iraida and Daria have heard of either, and I don't think Bill watches ITV. You've just complicated matters!

[Oooo, sorry, I'm sure!]

As I was saying, they must have drunk a considerable amount of beer on Saturday night, but although the list on the blackboard was crossed out, that didn't mean there wasn't any beer to be had. On the contrary, there was a second black-board, with a second list. The only problem was that they weren't cask ales but keg beers. It is at this point that I surreptitiously glance around me, to see whether there are any members of CAMRA lurking about, just in case I am accused of heresy. Oops, there's at least one member reading this, ( I'm supposed to be writing an article on locally brewed beers here in Quebec for our CAMRA branch newsletter – and Lawrence is the editor!)

It was the same story as that at La Barberie. Just look at this list:

Jack / ale à la citrouille : 4.9%
 Psyclo / pale ale au seigle : 5.5%
 Magnum / pilsner : 5.0%
 Abricot / cream ale : 4.6%
 Armada / american brown ale : 6.0%
 Novis / pale ale belge : 5.3%
 Yakima / american Pale Ale : 5.5%
 Okto / marzen : 5.5%
 La Marge / stout : 4.8%
 Moisson / "wet hop" bitter :4.5%
 Lux / ale blonde : 5.0%
 Barley Wine 2010 : 10.0%

Now I know it's in French, but if you walked into a brewpub and saw 10 beers on offer, all made on the premises, you would be interested in tasting some of them, wouldn't you? I did, and I have to say that that I thoroughly enjoyed them, those that I sampled that is. I introduced myself as a member of CAMRA to Guillaume, a knowledgeable guy behind the bar, and asked him to explain the difference between his cask and keg beers. Sadly I asked him in French. He launched into a long but passionate exposition of the work they do at Benelux, and of the market forces which play upon the sale of beer in Quebec. In essence, I think it would be fair to summarise his statement by saying that the major part of the market in Canada is controlled by the big brewers – Molsson, Labatt etc, and that whilst there is a market for real ale, it is a small market of real ale enthusiasts, who are not the mainstay of the clientèle using establishments like Benelux. To be able to experiment with the brewing process, to be creative in the same way as our smaller breweries in the UK, they need to be able to sell enough to make it worth their while. Their sales are not sufficient to move cask ales quickly enough, and therefore they have cask ales as specials, supplementing the same ales which are supplied from kegs. Enough of this, or I won't have anything to write for Lawrence. Suffice it to say that I sampled Terre Ferme, a flavourful light coloured grand cru, and then a tasty black IPA (6.8%) the name of which escapes me, before wandering back to my hotel.

Zzzzzzzz!