Had a meeting in the city today and I was afraid to get stuck in traffic on the bridge so I decided to have lunch on Mont-Royal and then try to work at the Biblioth�que Nationale du Qu�bec on Berri until Blork gets out of work.
I have a hard time working in cafes. It’s hard for me to work with music and when I do work with music, I’m very picky about the kind of tunes I can handle. Also, I love to watch people and listen to their conversations so I never really manage to fully concentrate on my work or even on a book. Plus, I make funny faces when I write so it can be a bit embarrassing.
I thought the library would be a better public working space for me. It’s working ok so far, but still, I feel a little weird. Most regular tables were occupied by noisy groups of students and readers so I’ve gone to a quieter area on the southern side of the library, near the entrance of the Collection Nationale (la chambre de bois). It’s a strange spot, with long tables that 5 people can share, and the tables are layered like giant stairs, leading to the upper floor of the library. (It’s kind of hard to explain – picture to come here’s a picture.)
Anyway, this layout looks like the set on Genie en Herbe (old quizz show on Quebec tv) or that giant tic-tac-toe quizz show that used to play in the U.S.. There are a lot of first time visitors slowly walking by and looking up at the layered tables where I’m sitting. I feel like every single visitor is about to ask me a quizz question. Who wrote Gone with the Wind? Who was the first prime minister of Canada? What is the fastest animal on the planet? Yikes!!!!!
I better get back to the screenplay.
Whoa! That is WEIRD! As I was reviewing this post before publishing, a woman sat next to me. I had a vague sense of recognition and then I realized that she was also sitting next to me at the restaurant where I had lunch 2 hours ago. You think she’s stalking me?
Double whoa! As I was reviewing this post once more, an old friend from Quebec City – a terminologue at the Office quebecois de la langue francaise – just walked by and we had a lovely chat. It’s one of his coworkers who came up with the term baladodiffusion for podcasting. (We whispered, of course. This is a library after all.)
I’m not sure working in a public space is such a good idea for me after all…
