Moving Day

We just moved to Montreal and had our own quiet little moving day - one month late, it seems. The great majority of Montreal's (Quebec's, for that matter) leases end on July 1, which means that day sees a lot of action...

Over 100,000 Montrealers moved on July 1 alone. The July 1 Canada Day holiday gives folks a chance to pack up and move out, but it also means if you're looking for a new place to live, it's much more difficult during the rest of the year. No wonder our landlord was so hesitant to allow us an August 1 lease date.

This is how it all started and these days, some see it as a free-for-all rummage sale in the streets.

Photos: Spacing Montreal and Flickr

Comments (12)

Heureuse de voir que Montréal se retrouve de plus en plus sur ce site!

Does that say something along the lines of "Happy to see that Montreal can be found more and more on this site"? Because if it does, I should call my high school French teacher and thank her.

OUI Laura! Call your teacher!
When I saw the picture, I went: wait a minute, that's a typical Montreal staircase! Welcome, hope you enjoy your stay here!

Welcome to Montreal! Hope you likes it! :-)

Eve puis-je savoir ou tu as commandé ta chaise Eames?
Merci!

I saw a great Canadian movie about moving day a few years ago. I can't seem to find the title but if you run into it, its worth renting!

aghhh those classic Montreal stairs! make me hungry for some poutine. Great city.

Paulinet: I guess you're not really a Montrealer until you've tried to climb stairs like that with a fridge! (check!)

Hextsatic : j'ai commandé ma chaise chez Gabriel Ross. (I'll continue in English so that all can know about this, hee!) I've ordered my Eames chair online at www.gabrielross.com. It's a great store located in Victoria, BC and ships everywhere in Canada for free. The price is right and I save the Provincial tax since I live in Quebec. It's also where I bought my Saarinen table, but for this purchase I splurged for the white glove delivery since it needed some assembly and I didn't want to chance it (that tabletop is heavy).

I have to say that I have a few things in my loft that I grabbed from the street on July first. The red étagère in this pic is one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabouteve/2336358216/in/set-72157600297829837/

I just repaint it every time I change its use or my color scheme.

CallinFrance: I bet the movie is Philippe Gagnon's "Premier Juillet".

There is also a BBC documentary about this annual event.

Welcome to Montréal! This is definitely the busiest day of the year and the only day where pizza places can't promise you a 30-minutes delivery! Scars from moving appliances in those staircases are a badge of honor! haha

yes! thats the one!
I really loved it.