home from the hills, or something

[redbird]

I don't exactly need a day off to recover from my vacation, or even from the trip home (although the train's heat failed somewhere in upstate New York, and never got fixed, even when we sat in Albany to change engines). But Rafiq has our project on hold, and while I emailed Robert to ask if he has any immediate work, it's the middle of the night in Tokyo, so I haven't heard back from him. It's gray and chilly out, the sort of weather you can go out in but isn't any fun, and it's easier to sit here and listen to London Calling and do cryptic puzzles than work on the novel or clean my desk.

I can get by in French, at least on the "rosbif avec fromage, si vous plait" and "tirez/poussez" level, but it's nice to be back where I can read the signs and know enough verbs to get by in the two commonest languages. Still, as I told papersky, I'd be happy to shop in French if I could buy pastries as nice as she can get in easy walking distance at the patisserie on Sherbrooke. But cattitude volunteered that he's not moving to Montreal while I was burbling last night and hadn't even suggested the idea, so I guess I'm buying Jewish rye bread and fancy sourdoughs in English, and pointing and smiling at the dim sum carts. It's good to be home. I just wish more of my friends lived closer.