Girouard Avenue: The Living Room

To the right of these two doors is the living room at Girouard Avenue. There was a maroon couch, springs to the floor, and covered with white sheets on the left as you entered the room. To the right was an old upright piano. The room to the left was my Auntie Mable's bedroom.

You realize that this used to be a really nice flat. The word "flat" is British, so it is ironic in largely French-speaking Quebec that we use this word. I don't believe that these units are referred to as "flats" elsewhere in North America. A flat is a self-contained unit with its own front door to the street, unlike an apartment that has a front door leading to a hallway of other people's front doors, and a lobby and door to the street. My grandmother's flat was surprisingly large, around 1000 square feet, and has a very nicely laid out floor plan. Living room in the front, large eat-in kitchen in the rear, large dining room in the middle, and a foyer and door to where stairs lead to her second floor flat. It is a very liveable living space.

Here we are in the living room, the windows facing Girouard Avenue. On the left, against the wall, was the maroon couch and just to the right of he couch was an old cabinet containing sheet music from the 1920s and 30s.

If you face the living room windows, and then turn to the right, there is this "pretend" fireplace." To the right was a television set, black and white, for hockey on Saturday night. The fireplace was across from the maroon couch.

Another view of the living room entrance from the foyer. You know, I remember my grandmother's cleaning lady, Bella, on her hands and knees, nylons rolled down to her ankles, maybe chewing Dentine gum and the smell of floor wax in a can, that you applied with a rag, waxing these floors. The work that was put into this place! Or, my aunt or grandmother running a carpet swiper across the carpets, or picking up bits of lint or paper from the carpets. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the flat, but I remember it always being clean and nicely furnished, although (appropriately) old fashioned. In this photograph the floors seem to still have some shine to them.