It\u2019s \u201cHot Time, Summer in the City\u201d in Montreal these days, but I\u2019m not just talking about the weather.<\/p>\n
Our often feverish outdoor temperatures reflect\u00a0the fever in our streets in recent weeks, because both are sizzling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What are the signs of Montreal\u2019s summer?<\/p>\n
Sizzling weather. After a long, cold winter<\/a> and soaking wet spring<\/a>, someone clicked\u00a0the switch from OFF to ON\u00a0and we changed climates faster than flying to Miami.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not complaining: I definitely prefer 33 above to 33 below. But with climate change, 30 degrees is the new 20.<\/p>\n When we\u2019re not living in a \u201cheat dome\u201d \u2014 the latest weather buzzword \u2014 it still \u201cfeels\u201d like it. Whatever the temperature,\u00a0there are Environment Canada warnings\u00a0that the \u201creal feel\u201d is 38 degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n So\u00a0we\u2019re told to drink twice our weight in water,\u00a0wear sunblock 227 and hide in a dark room with the curtains down.<\/p>\n Air conditioners are becoming as essential\u00a0as heating here, with 60 per cent of Montrealers already owning one. Some people\u00a0cool their whole house, some just have one cool \u201csafe room,\u201d while others find shelter in the nearest supermarket walk-in beer freezer.\u00a0<\/p>\n In sweltering Europe, this summer has been described as \u201chot as hell.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n But most people there disdain\u00a0air conditioning, partly for ecological reasons but also from winter-hardened stoicism.<\/p>\n Few Europeans heat in winter.\u00a0They just dress warmly, eat under three blankets and make a \u201cnice fire\u201d while heating is viewed as\u00a0an unnecessary American luxury.\u00a0<\/p>\n But in Canada, if you don\u2019t heat in winter, you die. Climate control is a fact of life here, so it\u2019s easy to slip into cooling our houses, too.<\/p>\n Unlike Americans, at least we don\u2019t air-condition\u00a0our stores, malls and homes so furiously in summer\u00a0that we freeze and have to wear parkas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sizzling streets.\u00a0Head downtown and\u00a0you\u2019ll see\u00a0crowds of people everywhere filling streets,\u00a0sidewalks, parks, terrasses and festivals.<\/p>\n There are six major festivals going on this weekend alone.<\/p>\n Quebecers are desperate to make up for eight months of snow, ice, rain and\u00a0nice-day forecasts of: \u201cCloudy, with occasional sunny-with-cloudy periods.\u201d<\/p>\n To accommodate our solar addiction, Montreal routinely closes streets for festivals, street fairs<\/a>, book fairs, bike races<\/a>, parades<\/a>, protests<\/a>, movie shoots and Moving Day. Whatever streets are still activity-free are then closed for construction<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our city shuts\u00a0down streets as routinely as other cities\u00a0shut their street lights each morning. Just call Montreal festival headquarters\u00a0to book your own street,\u00a0if there\u2019s still any room left.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is festival traffic control. Sorry, but you cannot have Rachel St. for the Festival of Moldavian Urban Shepherds next Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s already reserved for the Festival of St-Eustache\u00a0Sudoku Wrestlers followed by Bhutanese Yak Whisperers and High-Wire Knitters.<\/p>\n \u201cBut would you like to reserve a street for October?\u201d<\/p>\n Sizzling crowds. Our city handles some of the continent\u2019s largest, most crowded outdoor events as effortlessly as other towns host a\u00a0four-person\u00a0string quartet.<\/p>\n All open-air events are free and everyone\u2019s invited, because Montrealers are always eager\u00a0to gather ensemble. Quebecers\u00a0love a mass festival, the more crowded the better.<\/p>\n Why? Perhaps it\u2019s our winter hibernation that creates a need to celebrate each moment it\u2019s not snowing, raining, drizzling or freezing.<\/p>\n Or maybe it\u2019s the history of the church here, which created a strong sense of community?\u00a0<\/p>\n It could also be our roots in Europe where festivals go back to the ancient Greeks. Or maybe we\u2019ve all just gone gaga from the heat?\u00a0<\/p>\n Or because there\u2019s too much lead in our drinking water.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sizzling safety. The recent mass show by Quebec\u2019s new global rock duo sensation, Angine de Poitrine<\/a>, was the apex of this year\u2019s summer fever.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 100,000 people flooded\u00a0the\u00a0jazz fest site<\/a>. Tens of thousands more tried\u00a0to get in or\u00a0else escape the site in a staggering two-way people jam.\u00a0<\/p>\n