So, if there is one thing I have noticed about Montrealers – or perhaps it is the group of Montrealers I spend time with - it is that they love to talk romance. It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue. On a regular basis, people who barely know me grill me about my love life and then turn their attention to the next victim sitting sheepishly just across the table.

A couple nights ago a friend of mine squirmed a little in her chair when she was asked why she doesn’t live with her boyfriend and if she expected to marry him. I felt badly for her as forehead crinkled while she searched for the words to explain herself and the relationship. I felt badly for her but as long as the attention rested on her it meant I was safe.

We are kind of like a sport, those of us who are single or just starting something. I think we are fun to talk to and gossip about. One of us just had a date, another is still working things out with her ex, yet another has started a long distance relationship with a South African mother of two. It is all conversational fodder and no one seems to mind the gossip or consider it an intrusion. It’s like we all know it is the business of humans.

I have to say that I enjoy the discussions. I mean as long as they are not about me. I like that people talk about things that I am – and I think a lot of people are - a little sensitive about but should be perfectly normal. It’s like people are more naturally interested.

During one such discussion I was called “Charleuse” (I have totally written that wrong). The word, when said properly, means both warm and passionate. After that I could talk about romance all day.
- posted by Debbie @ 11:59 AM