7.08.2025

On July 1st all the renters in Quebec have to move. A tradition started out of sympathy for serfs so their evil landlords couldn't evict them in winter. So you get evicted in summer instead. Far as pain in the ass traditions go this one's pretty impressive. Traveling for Thanksgiving, for instance, sucks for everyone. Shopping around the big monotheist holidays is rough too. But this one mandates, not even by law but by convention, that every poor sonofabitch renter in the entire province has to find a new apartment and move by the same date every year. You can imagine the strain. Think about the most crowded neighborhood you know in the densest city. Now think about it with moving trucks and appliances and everything being in motion all at once. I mostly stayed inside that day but what I saw was harrowing.

One July is also Canada Day, which no one cares about here because they're moving. Not renters anyway. Homeowners may feel more patriotic about things. The lady I'm renting from attends and teaches Latin dance classes five nights a week. This and battling groundhogs in her garden are her passions. On Canada Day they went to find a place to watch fireworks. I did not join them. Nor did I look for other Americans to blow things up with on the 4th. Reckon there's a time and place.