I've been having a fairly quiet time in Montreal - hopping around Old Montreal, sitting in cafes, feeling relieved that they serve good coffee! It's snowing here this morning (only lightly) and my plan is to find another cafe, and hole up there for the afternoon. I should listen to The Tragically Hip. "It's pretty snowy in Montreal. Snow is so merciless." More to the point, I should listen to some Leonard Cohen and Julie Doiron, wrap myself in a scarf and read and write over a good cafe au lait.

I went to the Atwater markets here yesterday - quite a long walk down Rue Notre Dame in the rain. Just grocery shopping really - but some fancy groceries! Also bought one of the best chocolates I've ever eaten - it cost $1.50 for a tiny piece, but it was worth it. One of those extravagant treats that I can always remember...

After that I walked up Greene ave - again quite a long way - to a bookshop specialising in Canadian authors. Heaven - all the books of Margaret Atwood's poetry I've never been able to get in Australia, the Brick books edition of Anne Carson's Short Talks, Jane Urquharts poetry... Got talking to the lovely people who ran the place, and they made me a cup of tea, and gave me information about all the literary events happening while I'm here - just in time for the Quebec literary festival. Looks like some interesting writers on the program. As I was leaving, it was still raining, and they felt bad about seeing me wander out into the wet again, and so they gave me a free umbrella.

Walked down Rue St Catherine until I reached the Forum, which is their major cinema complex - both blockbusters and arthouse. Went to see "Far From Heaven", which I loved. Hoping to go back sometime during the week and see a few other films I've been meaning to see. When I got out I was very glad of the umbrella as I trudged home. Getting bck to the Auberge Alternative I put on a load of washing and made a simple risotto, settled down with a glass of white wine and ate a lovely meal. Stayed up reading, and talking to two girls from Munich, before finally collapsing into bed after my long day of walking.

I think Vanity Fair is going to take me a while to get through, but I am loving it - oh, how much I've always wished for a Becky Sharp to whirl through the pages of a Jane Austen novel, and show them all how it's done! She's at Queen's Crawley at the moment, negotiating the awful Sir Pitt.

Montreal