The snow comes
in giant drifts and, since the Casino never sleeps, is disposed of with
remarkable speed. Blizzards screen us from the city and the lone search light on
the top of Place Ville Marie sweeps through periodically, illuminating the
Cubist construction set of interlocking buildings in the foreground.
The Habitat bus breaks down and
its replacement looks unsettling, with the cramped seats of yellow school buses
too tight for us. The giant red sign 'Farine Five Roses' begins to
drop frozen letters like dead leaves. The Habitat solaria take on a fishbowl
appearance and long loops of Christmas lights are strung across the lawn. This
is the most silent, the longest, season.