Travels to the East of Montreal

For the past several weeks Val has been putting together an application for graduate funding. Just days before her trip basically everything was together, proposals written, letters received, forms filled, that is all except for one letter. As she was going on a trip and the deadline would pass while she was a way she was eager to have the letter as quickly as possible. The original just did not come so a second copy was sent, as back up, by courier to ensure that a copy would arrive before the deadline. As of Thursday, Val’s departure day, this letter had still not arrived and it was left to me to keep checking on the mail and then drop the letter off as soon as it arrived.

When I checked the mail yesterday morning I finally found evidence that the couriered copy was in the province. It seems that they had attempted to deliver it at 9:37 AM and that because no one was there it would be sent back to the distribution centre in deepest East Montreal.

(One has to wonder if anyone is able to receive their domestic packages as this delivery schedule has clearly not been designed with the working person in mind. Evening deliveries in residential areas, or a local pick up spot, would seem like reasonable alternatives)

As Val is not in Montreal it fell to me to head out to pick this item up. My first step was to ride my bike over to Val’s place to pick up the delivery slip that I stupidly left on her kitchen table. I then walked to the subway. As I was going down the escalator I realized that I did not have the directions to the Political Science Department that Val had given me but I didn't want to turn around add time to what I already knew would be a long trip. Pretty soon I was on the Green Line heading east. It wasn't that long and I was all the way to Honore-Beaugrand, the end of the line. From there I needed to take the 28 bus.

It was pretty obvious from the station where the buses were, though there seemed to be a north or south choice. As I couldn't remember the area all that well from my examination of a map the night before I checked a nearby map on the wall and found that I needed the north bound bus. I went outside to wait and was pleasantly surprised to find that the bus arrived in a few minutes. Once on the bus I was able to get directions from an STM (public transit) employee who was not then working. At the right place I got off the bus and walked around the (rather large industrial park) block and found the courier centre. I think that I was just about the only person walking in the industrial park, there were not even sidewalks that I could take advantage of.

Once inside the courier centre, I was quickly able to get the package. I just gave the employee a letter that Val had written that gave me permission to pick up the package and showed the employee my ID. Soon I had the package in my hand. It was pretty easy, at least much easier than I thought that it would be. From there I walked back to the bus stop, though this time I picked up the bus on the corner of Jarry (instead of Grenache) and Ray Lawson. This was a good choice because the bus came about 2 minutes later. It was actually the same bus and bus driver that I had taken on the way there. Once at Honore-Beaugrand I then hoped on the train and headed back to civilization.

While on the train heading back to town I decided to get of at Berri-UQAM and deliver the letter, even though I did not have the directions. I thought that I would be able to find the spot anyway. Unfortunately, after getting off of the train I realized that the office would be closed for lunch, I would need to come back at some point after 1:30. I then walked up to Val’s place to get the directions to the office, stopping to buy a baguette on the way.

Once I reached Val’s place it was almost 1:00 PM, so I went out and picked up my bike and rode down to UQAM, this time with directions in hand.

As I was parking my bike on the corner of St. Denis and St. Catherine a photography student asked to take my picture for a project. I agreed, and he did this in about 30 seconds or less. This is a first for me. On the whole I would say that it was a pleasant experience, though it might be nice to know what, if anything, becomes of my photos.

Once I arrived UQAM I was pretty quickly able to find what I was looking for, though it seemed that they were late to return from their lunch break. I sat around for a few minutes. Shortly thereafter, I noticed that people had returned so I went down and was able to hand in the letter.

All totaled, it only took me about 4 hours from the time that I set out until that I returned back. This isn’t so bad, especially considering that I expected to get lost in the industrial park and then not be able to find the bus back. With this expectation in mind, I purposely didn’t take any cash with me so that I wouldn’t wimp out and take a cab back to the Metro station, as it turned out it was quite easy to find the bus back.