the whoosh downstairs

on living near the metro

“What on earth is that sound?!”

We live downtown. Our condo is on a metro (i.e. “subway”) line, and if you listen carefully, in the basement, you can hear the faint whoosh when a train goes by. It’s one of the things we love about where we live.

But suddenly, the faint whoosh was being followed by a louder mechanical sound, causing us to wonder if the train was actually being re-routed *through* our basement.

Or maybe it was aliens, setting up their base in Montreal’s metro system. I’ve seen enough movies to know that’s a possibility.

Anyway it was loud, and at peak times, it was every few minutes.

So … I filled in an online form, describing the situation, and suggesting that the STM might have un problèm in one of their tunnels.

I didn’t mention the aliens.

I expected zero response.

Actually, I expected that my message - complete with the word whoosh - would be a joke at the office Christmas party.

“crazy anglo-lady and her ‘whoosh’ sounds!”

Imagine my surprise when I received a response! En anglais, no less!

“Dear Madame Miller -

Could you please note the exact times of five of these sounds in a row, so we can investigate? Could you please record the sound and send it to us? Usually it sounds like TOK … TOK-TOK … TOK-TOK … TOK.

Thank you for your help and have a nice day!

Monsieur G-B”

And so it began. The back-and-forth of pinpointing an unusual sound in a random metro tunnel running along our basement wall.

“Our team went into the tunnel last night … is the sound still there?”

“Oui, yes it is, sorry!”

Until last week.

“Mme Miller, our team was in there again last night and found a piece in need of repair. We will fix it tonight. I am confident this will solve the problem. Can you let me know tomorrow if the sound is fixed?”

It was!

We are back to the usual gentle whoosh in our basement, but only if you know what you’re listening for.

And honestly, in a world of outrage and complaining and general snark, I was completely stunned by the friendly, competent, communicative service of the STM, and I told M. G-B that. His response?

“Thank you for the nice words, but I’m just doing my job!”

And so I write this post:

#1: To assure you that, for now, any alien attacks will not be coming from the Montreal metro system.

#2: To offer a public shout-out to the Société de transport de Montréal, who is doing a pretty great job at maintaining our transit systems.

And to state, here and now, that if M. G-B ever decides to run for office, he’s got my vote.