some Irish...

You don't ever wanna go to Hurley's on Crescent on the day of a hockey game - it is close to the Centre Bell, home of the Canadiens and after the game you have a whole lot of hockey fans storming just about any bar, but what better fun than a good ol' Irish bar that is named after a stick that looks like a hockey stick... :)

This night was not a game night (oh but the Canadiens won yesterday their home opener against the Boston Bruins - gooooo Canadiens!!). The music was good; Dave, Bill, Liam and Ashley - three middle aged men and this really cute 20something girl.

However, it was the ambiance that warrants a blog entry. It was 10pm and there were all these men dressed in executive office garb. What makes a person work till 10pm? Someone suggested there must have been a conference and the locals brought them to this bar. I thought of all the conferences I've been to and remembered the times people got totally wasted and acted out. There's something about being an outsider in whatever town, that allows so much freedom, to act out pretty much however you want to. It is fun though, as long as it is somewhat under control...

Tonight I was told "well this is still better than a whole bunch of anglophone teenagers in here - they are so loud and rude". In my mind kids are kids - they are loud and rude, and actually I am not that bothered by their attitude... But because I have never distinguished kids of a specific nation as being louder and ruder than the rest, I immediately asked "so you think Francophone kids are not like that?" and they proceeded to discuss in earnest and finally decided 'no Francophone kids are not like that; they are more calm and sweet' yeah riiiight... how adorable... Oh the person who actually said this in the first place is Greek; other than when she says things like this I think she's a nice girl actually - in general she totally re-writes my notion of them Greeks!

I must say, I have not experienced an across the board difference between Francophone and Anglophones...

In case news about the Canadian election beat the US election coverage to you and you heard that Quebec was taken (2/3rds!!) by the separatist party, Bloc Quebecois - yes all of my Quebecois friends voted for them. It was very interesting to see all the immigrants, the German person, the Ukrainian person and the Chinese person in the building either voted NDP or Liberal. All my Quebecois friends, who still swear that they are not for separation, voted for this separatist party. But it is not that simple - the Liberals, the major opposition party was very weak this time, in fact this is why the Conservative prime minister called an election. And the Liberal leader, Stephane Dion, even though a very nice and grounded person, had no personality at all. Then I heard the Liberals had some issues with taking bribes or so a few years back. Most people that I know, didn't like the current Prime minister, Stephen Harper, who is btw a wacko like Bush, sooo... and then the NDP was too small a party... so anyone who wanted to make a statement and keep a healthy opposition to Harper, voted for the Bloc. Well anyone who wanted that and the separatists!!! Just last week, when I was in Sudbury, I was told by an Onatrian, that just about every Francophone Quebecois is pro separatist, even though they might not want to admit it... Now I think, even though not entirely true, it might have a grain of truth to it...

Eh... how people try so hard to differentiate themselves from the rest...