Little things, big smiles

Firstly, happy birthday to my beautiful Mum. It was wonderful to talk to you this morning and have a laugh together. Mwah!

Secondly, I found something today. Something that made me really happy. I found really good coffee. A French bakery has opened on St Denis, very close to where I get my films developed. Apparently these people own another but not in an area I visit often.

Karine and I were walking back to the metro when we spied a window full of amazing looking breads and pastries. We twisted each other's rubber arms and found ourselves at the (only) table there, with blueberry flan and apple crumble (I can never resist a crumble). When I ordered a latte, the very lovely and quite gorgeous young guy asked me whether I'd like one shot or two and I answered "one and a half", and he delivered the best coffee I've had (out) since I moved here. And there was just something so comforting about that...

It turned out that he is from Paris and has been in Montréal for only two months. We laughed about the terror of facing our first winter here with Karine - who can't wait for the first snows. When I told him I was from Australia his face lit up. He said he'd spent a year there and it was, I gather, a fantastic year.

Little things, big smiles. Yummy pastries.