Lateral Thought...

I was thinking about the year when I was on a bursary trip to Montreal for a month and a half to "learn to speak French". Really what I learned was "how to get into bars underage". All in all a great life lesson. I was thinking in particular about the odd adventures I'd get myself into. I'm all about experience, both good and bad, as many of you who know me well can attest to, and I thought I'd post here one of the better ones I had while on my trip.

I was about 16 and fully developed by that time, I was never small, but I still had an hour-glass figure and flowing dresses suited me well. We were on a day trip from Montreal to Quebec City, and I was down to literally my last dollar. I had brought some fruit, and a sandwich from the cafeteria back at the college we were staying at. I had a thin coat with me, and wearing one of my favorite dresses, a princess cut I think it's called, where it's tight around the chest area, and then flows from that.

When we arrived in Quebec City at 8am, I was preparing myself for a long day of wandering on my own, as I was about the only person who did not have money to get into the museums that the rest of the group would be going to. I was perfectly fine with that. After all, some of the better adventures started off with me left to my own devices. I spent the morning sitting in a park under the leaves of a tree, as it was raining. I saw an old lady digging through the trash bins looking for either food or recyclables. When she got to the bin by my bench, I handed her my sandwich and my orange (the only thing besides crackers that I had to eat the whole day). So now I was down to my last dollar, had little to no protection from the on again, off again affair the rain was having with Quebec, and I had the very basic grasp of the french language to get myself around. But I was still enjoying myself greatly.

I guess I looked a little out of place, because this is when I was approached by a fellow who was handsome in his own right, but spoke about as much english as I spoke french. I soon realized that he was asking me to supper. I was, of course, hesitant, but he pointed to an expensive looking Italian place just across from the park I was sitting at. I had some of the best pasta I've ever had, (and a couple glasses of wine) along with garlic bread and cheese cake for dessert (yes all before noon. When offered a quality meal, do not quibble about the timing). Much better than crackers, I have to say. We talked for a couple of hours and then we went for a short walk through what he called "art alley". It was an alley, filled with artists and their paintings. This, of course, made me wish I was not so broke, as there were several that I would have loved to bring back with me. We wound up back at the park, where he pulled out from his pack sack a sketch book, and a very elaborate looking pencil set, and set work to sketching me. Once he was done, we chatted for a while longer, then he took his leave of me.

When I met up with my friends later, I told them what hap pend, and none but my fellow Yellowknifer's believed me. Then one of them asked what his name was, and it was then that I realized that we had never even introduced ourselves to each other.

I haven't told this story to may people, as the majority of the responses I receive are more of concern for my safety then of enjoyment of a lovely occurrence. To each their own.

I have a couple of other Montreal stories to relate, but I think I'll save them for other posts. So for now I shall leave you with the answer from the last riddle:

Peanut, sorry but balcony was not the correct answer. He was tired of what he was doing in life, which was washing the windows of high rise buildings, so he opened the window on the 22nd floor and jumped inside.

A black dog sits in the middle of the intersection of a town which is painted black. None of the street lights are working due to a power outage caused by a storm. A car with two broken headlights drives towards him, but turns in time to avoid hitting him. How could the driver have seen the dog in time?