Here are a lot of my charming neighbours, at a get-together we had this last Tuesday (July 17, 2012) to work on building planting boxes for the Ruelle Verte (“Green Alley”) around my corner in Montreal. The folks from the Sainte-Marie Eco-Quartier built the boxes, and then everyone celebrated with a BBQ in the alley. The Eco-Quartier is a community organization which starts these projects with neighbourhood volunteer help, and it also does other green things such as recycling, setting up gardens and composting.
It was a pleasant evening, even though my conversational French was rustier than even its usual sad state. The kids were cute, and as I was leaving in the dark, all of them mobbed me for a spontaneous group hug, which was surprising, to say the least.
I also managed to leave behind my bag, which had watercolour junk in it. That was returned the next day. My neighbours are great, and the ruelles are a great idea. They prettify things, and bring people together in a positive way.
(BTW if there are pictures you’d rather not have up on the web, please contact me and I’ll take them down).
Looks like it was a great afternoon.