On the way home from a film, R and I took the Papineau bus across the street from the store where I bought a futon sofa a few years ago. At that time, the store was called Elvis Meubles. It's not called that anymore.
When I bought the futon, I thought I was finished with futon sofas. Futons were all I could afford when I was a student, but now I was a grown up. I wanted proper furniture.
But as we soon discovered, a futon was the only kind of sofa we could get up the narrow twist in our stairs, and I wanted a sofa in my study. Somewhere I could fling myself when writing got too much for my head. So I bought a futon on Papineau at Elvis Meubles.
Except for two people giggling a few seats away, nobody else on the bus was talking. They were texting. You gotta stay in touch, eh? What happens if you don't? You have to know what all your friends and family are doing. Keep up with the latest.
I was looking at the way people dressed. Today was sunny but still sock and jacket weather, but Montrealers can be schizophrenic when the seasons are changing. People are either eager to bring out the woollies before they're necessary or pretending it's still balmy when it isn't.
I wonder who is receiving all the text messages that are being sent.
Do people have any sense of privacy or aloneness left?
Why do you think Elvis has left the furniture business on Papineau? http://ameublementelvis.ca/. The King ain't dead. You should mention the name of the film. Someone on the Net called it CE SENTIMENT DE L’ÉTÉ, LONG ET CHIANT COMME UN JOUR D’HIVER.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's time for a walk down Papineau to see where Elvis ended up. And the comment about the film pretty well sums up why I didn't bother to say what it was. Though I should add that winter days don't bore me as much as the film did.
DeleteI love this post! Hands and feet and faces. Amazing what they say. Also fascinating how we've completely tuned out and in the process have essentially given our privacy away, in more ways than one. (I have NOT made a note of the film title...) (:
ReplyDeleteI suppose we give some layer of our privacy away whenever we're out in public. ??
DeleteI love this post! Hands and feet and faces. Amazing what they say. Also fascinating how we've completely tuned out and in the process have essentially given our privacy away, in more ways than one. (I have NOT made a note of the film title...) (:
ReplyDeleteYes, I suppose devices have simply replaced books and newspapers... that there were always people who tuned out in public. I find it strange because, like you, I'm always watching.
ReplyDeleteEavesdropping too? (Just realized what an odd word that is. Will have to look up how it came about.)
ReplyDeleteAn eavesdropper was someone who stands at the eavesdrop (where the water drops, i.e., next to the house) so as to hear what is said within. The PBS documentaries, Inside the Court of Henry VIII (April 8, 2015) and Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace (June 30, 2013) include segments that display and discuss "eavedrops", carved wooden figures Henry VIII had built into the eaves (overhanging edges of the beams in the ceiling) of Hampton Court to discourage unwanted gossip or dissension from the King's wishes and rule, to foment paranoia and fear, and demonstrate that everything said there was being overheard; literally, that the walls had ears.(From Wikipedia)
ReplyDeleteMerci! I'll have to quote you.
ReplyDelete