Home Sweet Home

Hi all,

Just a quick update to let you know that I’m home. I came in last night on the greyhound bus – always an adventure. Montreal, though I love it more than anyplace, has been stricken with torrential rain over the past couple of days. This relentless rain led to an unfortunate series of events Friday evening when the cab I called did not come.

I was gunning it to try and catch the 6pm bus and becoming increasingly panicked about the cab. Eventually I said “f%#$ it” and charged out into the street with my backpack and two big suitcases. I felt empowered for about 20 seconds, and then I just felt cold and wet. It is a 15 minute walk to the bus station from where I was staying, sufficiently long to get soaked through. There I was, pathetic and drenched, frantically dragging 2 giant suitcases as they bobbed up and down and smashed against the uneven sidewalks of Mtl. I wanted to cry.

I burst into the bus terminal only to realize that I had missed the bus by about 2 minutes. Good grief. But….I made a new friend and we chatted the whole way home, so that was nice. Plus I was dry by the time we pulled into Ottawa.

All of the moving around lately has me totally wiped out, but it’s been very re-energizing being home. I slept like a baby last night in my bed, and my right hemiplegia was totally gone when I woke up this morning. Futons were invented by satan.

It is also great to be out of the ghetto I was staying in. My allergies were out of control and the mildew growing everywhere had a definite toxic mold vibe. Not good.

Some highlights of my 3 weeks in Montreal: four blocks of delicious cheese (2 Roqueforts, 1 Saint Aubin, 1 Camenbert Le Rustique). Excellent bread, great shopping, the ballet.

This week I witnessed an argument between the bus driver and a rider on the 535 bus I was riding. I had just left the psych emerg after a long day. The driver and this guy got into a huge argument and the bus driver had a temper tantrum and stormed off the bus, leaving us all there. I've never seen anything quite like it. Everyone was screeming at the bus driver to shut up and do his job. The police were called. It was total mayhem. I loved it.

Dr. X and I had lunch together the other day and it was perfectly lovely. He seemed astonished when I mentioned that most of our prior interactions had left me in acute distress. He said he thought everything was peachy keen. Go figure.

So I am home for the next 2 weeks, and then off to Benin. I have to finish all of my residency applications between now and then. Yuk yuk yuk yuk. I have bought groceries and am looking forward to quietly milling about my house all weekend, eating good food, and working on CARMS. Next week I start a child psychiatry elective with a preceptor that I absolutely love.

I hope you are all doing well. I saw a cat at Tristan in Montreal who looked exactly like Proscuitto. It was uncanny. I actually walked right up to him, stared at his face, and then slowly backed away with nothing but complete disbelief on my mind. That’s freaky shit man.

T