HOCHELAGA STYLE !

I love my neighborhood, I really do.

There's always street parking. Even in winter, there are no Plateau-Style fights over the spaces someone de-snowed with the sweat of their brow. Although there are parking meters on Ontario and St-Catherine, the authorities rarely ticket if you don't pay.

Should I happen to walk my dog without a leash, none of my neighbors gives me the stink-eye. Off-leash pits are a regular sight. Ditto for side-walk pooing when you forget the baggy.

Come to think of it: I have a hard time imagining what my neighbors give me the stink eye for. As long as you're not selling drugs or sex, or talking to yourself in the street, you pass pretty much unnoticed on the streets of Hochelaga.

I like that.


These things are major pluses for me. It's part of how I think of enjoyment of life. Being left alone to live in your own way without people bothering you - well, its one of life's little pleasures. The absence of annoyances is actually extremely pleasant.

As the French say: "On me fait pas chier!" (No one bothers me).

Money can't buy that.

On the other hand, opening my front door on Friday and seeing the following :

Not a major plus !

After some snooping (because the people were actually in the process of making this mess when I opened my door), I discovered that my BS (welfare recipient) neighbors got evicted this week. I had no idea until I found this trash heap in front of my house Friday morning.

What I especially like is the fact that the city just changed the garbage days. I have no idea when the truck will come to take this stuff away. Minus one (or two) parking spots.

The humor of this situation is not entirely lost on me. I have a soft spot for the extravagantly disorderly. One trash bag = annoying. A spectacular accumulation of trash = well spectacular.


I suppose this is why a lot of people may prefer not to live in Ho-Ma.

But then maybe that's a good thing !

Clean this up and maybe we'd also be fighting for parking and giving our neighbors the stink-eye.

With such wildly anti-social behavior going on, who has time for the silly and petty feuds that neighbors in other parts of the city get into: encroaching hedge-rows and the snow someone carelessly piled onto the neighbors yard.

Here in Ho-Ma we pair things down to the basics: can I park my car in front of my house, or has the sidewalk been turned into a garbage dump overnight?

At least this way, you can have no illusions about pettiness!

Anyway, happy trails to my evicted neighbors. Thanks for the mess !

And who knows : perhaps their old apartment will house Plateau-refugees !