HANGOUTS!

 

Freaks & Geeks

The Deeg

Yesterday was a good day. It started off with the last bit of an awesome hang out with Chris from Ottawa,  breakfast with a bunch of good people at Astral Deli and finished off with 8 hours on Angus’ couch watching nothing but Angel.

I came across the Vice guide to Montreal while going through Angus’s shit (he has about a million books and toys, it’s impossible to be at his place and not go through something). When I saw it, I was pretty nervous about looking through it. I LOVE MONTREAL. I was pretty nervous that whichever gang of hipster fucks wrote it, were going to trash anything that wasn’t in Mile end or the Plateau.  However, in the end I was impressed with it. I was only a little frustrated with the review on NDG. Other than that, it was bang on and fucking hilarious. I was stoked to be proved wrong in my judgmental ways. I’m not going to go through it or anything, you can just go here and see it all for yourself, BUT I am going to say a thing or two about NDG.

“NDG

This is a burb west of downtown where Russians, blacks and white-trash wannabe gang-bangers cohabitate. Every hip-hop act in Montréal seems to big-up NDG like it’s some kind of Montréal equivalent to the Bronx or Compton, but we’ve been there and it’s just a suburb. It’s a place where you can easily buy ganja, and if you use the word “ganja” you probably belong here. Cosmos is the only hole-in-the-wall worth mentioning here, try the Mish Mash omelet: four eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, salami, tomato, onion, cheese, and toast. It will literally kill you.”

So that’s the review. It’s not ALL wrong, for the most part it’s pretty right, except for the part where it say’s it’s just a burb. Fuck no it isn’t and there are way more things to mention about it than just Cosmo’s.

In the five – six years that I’ve lived on my own, I’ve never stayed in an apartment for more than a year. Not until NDG that is. I’ve lived in Verdun, Downtown and the East End. Granted Verdun and the East End are comparible to a nice pile of hot shit, they still have their charm. Not nearly as much as the deeg though. It’s close to downtown (walkable if you’re not lazy), it has so many trees, an AMAZING park with a dog run, and great eating out options. It’s a perfect little community and you won’t feel like a leper for speaking english to anyone. Even it’s ‘crazies’ are charming. The little old lady who walks around sherbrooke screaming at people “DON’T WALK HERE, GO TO CHURCH” it may not sound charming.. but really, she’s a sweatheart and anyone who lives there knows it.  I can go on and on and start sounding like an NDG promo video, but I’m starting to get lazy and contrary to popular belief, I have work to do.  All in all, I really just wanted to touch on the fact that the review didn’t give the deeg the credit it deserves. Like any place there are the bad points, but the good far outweighs the bad. Until I get hitched and start popping out the babies, I’ll be happily living there. Everyone else that does, knows it’s charm and is probably as protective of it as I am.