Fish and chips...

....Montréal style!
Gave myself a nice little break at the Jean Talon market, in between several errands.

 

Already you can guess what this is gonna be about...

Yep baby, good old greasy fish and chips, except there was no chips and I prefer calamars and shrimps anyways... Along with this spicy cholesterol loaded mayonnaise. Heat attack guaranteed!

Finally I found the poster I have been looking for the entire summer. Every time I came upon it, I didn't have the camera on me.
The Atwater and Jean Talon market were actively promoting cycling this summer by encouraging patrons to come to the market on bicycle.

They even held events, that I missed unfortunately, including free fix-your-own-bike workshops etc.
Doesn't this dude look totally happy and fulfilled? Look at that smile!

Yeah man, we're happy for you too.
As a matter of fact, people were so happy and fulfilled cycling to the market that if you arrived past 11 am on the weekend, you can't find damn parking anymore!

Well, I guess that's a good problem to have.

Traffic calming tools

  
I cannot remember in which post I mention these. Bornes escamotables in French.

Random picture from the Internet

 They are awesome traffic calming devices. In parts of Europe, neighbourhoods will put these all around their entry points. Only area residents would be equipped with special cards/laser devices that are scanned directly on the thing. They then disappear into the ground to allow those residents to proceeds.

Marché Jean-Talon

Others walk or bike.
How come they are not more widespread? A perfect area to implement them is the Old Montréal with its narrow Nouvelle France streets.

A closer look. These ones do not look magnetic. Still...

Keeps off unwanted traffic, and especially, prevents any rat running in residential streets!
These are a cyclist's best friends, even more than cycle lanes. This is how Bordeaux became a cycle friendly place (from the mess it used to be), along with other adjustments, of course.

If we have them in Jean Talon, we can perfectly have them all around Montréal!

At the market

The other day, on the last stretch of my run, I got to Jean Talon market and noticed this sign:

This is what the sign is referring to: bike parking.

Of course, this parking has been there for a good while now. But it is always nice to see it officialised and institutionalised.

And then surprise! What do I see:

Geez... change is creeping on me!
Are the days of the rattling clunkers counted? NOT!