Not salubrious

"This area is full of drugs and prostitutes!"

remonstrated our taxi driver as he dropped us off at our hotel, Abri du Voyageur

This is not an auspicious start to our stay in Montreal. we have a studio flat for a week. The flat is ok, (I have internet access on my eeePC) but it's the sort of area I wouldn't want my son or daughter to stay, but they are not with me. Daughter is alone at home - again a tad worrying and son is staying on at uni on a grant to build a fusion reactor this summer - quite exciting. Husband will explore, and cycle while I attend an academic conference.

Voluntary work

I've got three days of voluntary work coming up, on one particular task. There's a lot of reading to do in advance as well. A lot of people are involved and it's quite a responsible job. Sometimes I wonder why I do it, but together with my colleagues we provide an independent view, so it's worthwhile.