Relocation and Transformation
We’ve lived in the plateau since we moved here. I fell in love with the plateau as much as I fell in love with this city. There’s a common stereotype of plateau residents that I at least partially fit into – I rarely, if ever, want to leave my bubble. The plateau has not only been my home, it’s more or less been my womb, for the last three years of my life.
We’re currently residing in a loft on St-Laurent boulevard, “The Main”, one of the busiest parts of the city, but I feel an incomparable level of safety here. Midnight definitely has a different atmosphere than noon, but at any time of day or night I feel free from harm.
What I’m especially drawn to is the accessibility of everything, and by everything I suppose I mean food, since food is everything to me. I like a neighborhood where everything is within walking distance, where a vehicle isn’t required for daily routine. I’m within blocks of some of the most touted restaurants in the city, some of the best cheap eats, a wide variety of non-corporate grocery stores I find it difficult to spend more than $30 a trip at. On top of that, there are specialty shops, butchers and a selection of European charcuterie; fishmongers, a volonte sushi galore, patisseries/bakeries and a bunch of little eateries that keep popping up that I haven’t been able to eat my way through. On top of this, we just received our own farmer’s market (Marche Duluth). The plateau is sort of what Sesame Street must’ve taught me to aspire to, filled with parks, different people, different cultures and bustling streets.
What attracts me to this neighborhood also attracts many others, and for this reason space is at a premium. Real estate is certainly cheaper than many other urban areas, especially for what is in many ways a utopia for me, but it is still fairly expensive. So, in the name of progress and expansion, we’re starting a new lease in NDG as of September first.
Our new neighborhood is nothing to scoff at, but there are certainly many things I will miss about this one. The biggest perks of our new location will lie in our new home itself, featuring a yard space and garden nearly 50% larger than our entire apartment, a place to barbecue and a kitchen with a stove large enough to actually accommodate a turkey dinner.
I don’t normally post a great deal of personal information here, as it hardly seems relevant, but since this will affect the content of the website to some regard, I thought it important.
Expect…
- Nostalgic plateau posts over the next couple of months.
- NDG/Westmount/West-centric restaurant reviews once we move.
- Grilling, barbecuing and gardening articles in the future.
In other related news, Charlie and I (mostly him, since I’m more or less incompetent in such matters) are trying to implement a few features to make this site more user-friendly again. Hopefully this will be actualized one day. In the meantime, I have little way of knowing who is actually reading this thing and whether or not it has any value to anyone but myself.