Monday, November 30, 2009

It's that Time Again ,Winter Tire Time

I remember this time of year well, as I worked in a Texaco Station when I was younger & we'd have the last minute rush of those who had procrastinated until the first sign of the white stuff.....then we'd work until the wee hours of the morning putting snow tires on for them,& they'd be lined up waiting their turn all night.......and we'd make money in tips....Yahoo.........hahahahah   Here's a story from the news in Montreal right now.

       

Slow start for winter tires

Mon, 2009-11-30 15:11.
Andrew Cartwright
 

Now that there's snow on the ground....the question you'll hear alot is..."Did you get your snow tires put on?"


For more than half of Montreal motorists the answer is...no.


Mechanics are worried that over the next couple of days...things are going to turn hectic...as people rush to slap on their winter studs.


December 15th is the deadline to get your snow tires on...and CAA says that close to 40% of Montreal motorists are currently without winter tires.


Many mechanics are saying that the procrastination comes from all the nice weather we've been having lately.

 

              Now here's why ,you may want to reconsider getting those grips on now.

       a Youtube Video of a December Snowstorm in Montreal 2007,.....

               tomorrow is December BTW:          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AQne0Qu-ek

Verdun Teen Pulled From River

Today's Gazette has a story of a Verdun teenager whose body was pulled from the river November 15th, Here's an example of his 'work' ......

MONTREAL – Brian Kachur had a pleasant family dinner at his mother's house in Verdun on Nov. 14 and then headed out to do something he loved.

"I am going out bombing," the aspiring graffiti artist told his family after they had eaten his uncle's seafood pizza.

Kachur, who left his graffiti tag, Razor, across southwestern Montreal, told his mother he loved her and headed off into the night.

When her 19-year-old son failed to return home by the next evening, his mother, Theresa, and his sister, Laurie Ann, began to wonder where he was.

Theresa, who didn't want her family name published, always asked her son to call if he wasn't coming home.

But this time, he didn't - and he wasn't answering his cellphone.

On the Monday, Theresa picked up a newspaper while riding the métro to work and shuddered when she saw the headline: "Body pulled from St. Lawrence River."

At lunch hour, she showed the newspaper to a friend at work. "I hope this is not my son," she said.

Later that day, two Montreal police detectives turned up at Laurie Ann Kachur's home in Ville Émard and told her that the body pulled from the river near the Verdun marina was her brother's.

Police don't know who killed Kachur or why he was singled out. He had no criminal record and was not involved in a gang.

A few hundred metres from where a pedestrian spotted his body in the water, blood was found beside a shed-size building that Kachur had started tagging, but had not finished.

Although his family doesn't know for sure that the blood is Kachur's, they wonder whether he was attacked there before his body was dumped in the river. They are asking the public to call the police if they know anything about the killing or saw him that evening near the river.

Theresa said she can't fathom why anyone would want to harm her son, whom she described as charming and sweet. She does wonder, however, whether her son's use of marijuana eventually led him to hang out with the wrong crowd.

"I have been worried about Brian all of his life," she said.

As a young boy, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He fell behind in school and dropped out in his early teens, around the same time he began using marijuana regularly.

Theresa said she tried to get help for her son. He was prescribed Ritalin and had several sessions with psychiatrists, but nothing seemed to work.

He eventually stopped taking his medication and refused to go into a drug rehabilitation program.

"He was struggling to find his way in life," his mother said. "The drug eased some of the pain. He felt he wasn't good at anything."

When he wasn't tagging, Kachur spent time sketching, hanging out with his dad, Walter Kachur, and writing rap songs about his life. He dreamed about recording his work, but he lacked the money and contacts to do so.

This year, he enrolled in an Emploi-Québec program that helps young people enter the job market, which he liked. But mostly he enjoyed hanging out with family and friends and smoking dope.

At the funeral home, several of his buddies tossed a few joints into his coffin.

"Brian wasn't ashamed of smoking," his sister said. "It helped him relax."

Anyone with information about Brian Kachur's death can call Info-Crime at 514-393-1133.

kwilton@thegazette.canwest.com

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Dr Norman Bethune Exhibit at Centre d'Histoire de Montréal Museum

 

Last thursday evening was held the inauguration of the Dr Norman Bethune exhibit at the Centre d'Histoire de Montréal in the old converted firestation at Youville square. I represented our society as a contributor to the eshibition. Our connection with the exhibit was due to the clinic that Dr Bethune held in 1934 at the YMCA on Gordon. Very few Verdunites are familiar with this fact and our society is in the forefront of informing Verdunites of this honor. The mayor of Montreal, M. Gérald Tremblay was there as well as a delegation from the chinese consulate. Our society as well as myself were invited by Stéphanie Mondor of the Museum to attend this important exibit wich will last till the 29th of August of 2010.

The museum is in the center of old Montreal and a walk around the area is a must to see where it all started at the beginning of the colony.

Guy

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Willibrord Park - Work in Progress

The new artificial skating rink is well on its way at the Willibrord Park. I am unaware of the timetable but one would think that it would  be ready for this winter. I will check it out from time to time. I thought I would throw in the 1950 photo wich I recently posted just to compare and bring back memories. This rink is funded by the owners of the Canadiens hockey team.

Guy

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Around Montreal via the CN archives.

There's a lot of great photos available through the CNR archives,from all over the country,but here's some from the Montreal area,I'll include the whole album from my page,in the first post/comment under this blog heading/topic. 

 I'll start with this one,then post the whole album,use 'Full Screen' to View .....& select whatever speed to view them as quickly or slowly as you like.                 HF&RV

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to our members in the USofA

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow & hopefully a few of you can stretch it into a long weekend,(take Friday off) and for our retired members,well what the hell another day,Enjoy your family & friends & have a great holiday .........................................only one month from right now (nov 25th) and we will be saying Merry Christmas .............  

              Remember ,now that Gas is more expensive than Booze--------

              ----- DRINK      DON'T   DRIVE .......                 Stay Safe & Enjoy Your Holiday

 

                                                                   HF&RV

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Onward Gospel Church

Here is another one of those small churches tucked away between 2 three story flats that exhist/exhisted in Verdun over the years since the foundation of Verdun in 1876. The Onward Gospel Church situated at 165 Galt Ave.was founded in 1922 and was rebuilt in 1960.

A member (Mario Parent) of our society (SHGV) is doing research on all the churches that exhisted in Verdun.

Guy

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A little bit of a Sherbrooke Street Tour

Montreal neighborhood tour -- Sherbrooke St in Westmount
 
My favourite way to get downtown from my place on a nice sunny day is walking down Sherbrooke St in Westmount. It's a fairly lively stretch of upscale retail, and the side streets are lined with some beautiful housing stock -- not the typical Montreal vernacular you usually see around here though. I hope you find it interesting.

Click on the pictures for higher res and exact location on a map -- flickr rocks

1. my neighborhood, Snowdon


2.


3. this is where we get on the 63 southbound for a short ride down Girouard Ave


4. on the bus


5. a mere 5 minutes later we're on Sherbrooke St, passing the Décarie expressway


6. don't worry, it gets much more urban two blocks east of here


7. passing Décarie Blvd -- time to get off


8.


9.


10. one of the side streets


11.


12.


13. "wait for the green light" -- only in Montreal


14.


15.


16. underground retail abounds on Sherbrooke. Intriguing given the amount of snow we get around here


17.


18.


19. urban cul-de-sac


20.


21. Bark & Fitz -- probably as expensive as it sounds


22.


23.


24.


25.


26.


27. Westmount Pulic Library


28.


29.


30. it gets more residential from here until we hit the city of Montreal -- might as well make a right and take a smaller street


31. notice the street signs -- the names are definitely anglo, and the vintage style confirms we're still in Westmount


32.


33.


34.


35. we're beginning to see downtown Montreal in the distance -- that's 1501 McGill College all the way down De Maisonneuve Blvd


36.


37. approaching downtown Westmount -- that's Westmount Square two blocks down


38, 39.
-

40. Westmount Square, a Mies van der Rohe masterpiece 10 minutes west of downtown Montreal


41. a fairly high class address as you can see


42. I told you those street signs were old


43. more Westmount Square


44.


45.


46.


47. Anglo newspaper boxes -- you definitely know you're in Westmount
(newspaper boxes are forbidden within the City of Montreal)


48. we're in Montreal now, next to the old Pepsi Forum. This is the Gleneagles condo building up on the mountain.


49. same spot, looking south towards the Montreal Children's Hospital.


Technically the tour is over, but I got a few more shots of downtown

50.


51. who doesn't love commie blocks (Concordia ghetto)


52. along Ste Catherine St


53. John Molson School of Business going up (Concordia University)


54.


55.


56.


57.


58. busy as usual


59.


60.


61.


62.




So this went a bit farther than just Sherbrooke St... hope you didn't mind