On Monday, my ‘net, phone and cable – all provided by the same company – were all knocked out by a big fire that destroyed 2 fairly popular bar/restaurants 2 blocks away (‘A’ is my place, ‘B’ is fire) from my place. I live in a part of Montréal called ‘the plateau’, which is a somewhat trendy part of town quickly being gentrified and getting expensive. The vast majority of buildings in the plateau are at least 50 years old, many are more than twice that, and all are fires waiting to happen – there have been 5 fires like this nearby in the 6 years I’ve lived here. Even the newer buildings are still at risk due the proximity and density. Now, my place is insured, so if it were to burn down, it wouldn’t leave me in the situation as some of the 50 newly homeless people mentioned […]... Read More