Moving Day Feature

Moving Day:
One man’s burden, another man’s treasure

While the majority of Montrealers celebrated in Canada Day festivities this past Wednesday, others were taking part in another yearly tradition: moving day.

Verdun’s 4th Ave., between Wellington and Verdun streets, was lined with four trucks from the early morning. The temperature slowly rose as impatient residents lugged their heavy boxes up and down their second-or-third-floor apartments. By four in the afternoon, all four trucks were gone, leaving cars to drive freely along the street.

The sidewalks were another story. Not only was it ‘moving day’ in Verdun but garbage day as well. Garbage bags and broken furniture were piled on both sides of the streets, almost like a barricading wall from a war movie – forcing people to walk alongside parked cars and oncoming traffic.

But there were two particular soldiers who ventured out into the overflowing chaos. One called himself Monsieur Chou-Chou, 65, and the other, his trusty side-kick, Madame Café, a 10-year old white – haired Shih Tzu. “The only reason I love moving day is because I can go shopping for free right in front of my house,” Chou-Chou said.

It was film director Woody Allen who said, “In Beverly Hills, [people] don’t throw their garbage away, [but] make it into television shows.” In Montreal, some people turn it into new – found treasure. It has been three years since Chou-Chou started the tradition of roaming the streets of Verdun on moving day to find new additions to his apartment.

“I would say that a quarter of the furniture in my house was found on the street” said Chou-Chou. Last year, he found a fully functional television that was three times bigger than the one he already owned. “There is nothing wrong with owning used things,” he said.

With pride, Chou-Chou explains it all started three years ago when he found a small stuffed animal lying upon a garbage bag that he wanted to give to Madam Café. Along the same way home, he found a rug, a lamp, and an old frying pan. “I was so excited to find things that were better then I already had” he said, “and I never owned a rug.”

Passers-by often stare at Chou-Chou. “He looks homeless,” one citizen said. First impressions of Chou-Chou can be stereotypical. An elderly bearded man with greased back hair, wearing slacks two sizes too big and a stained button-down shirt scrounging through trash.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” said Verdun resident Helene Boudreault. This year, Boudreault threw out a bedside table, which Chou-Chou gladly took. “He’ll get better use out of it then me,” she said.

Although moving day can be stressful for many Montrealers, it is also a day for one man to feel like a king. Like Chou-Chou, many Montrealers cannot afford the things they really need. If it means finding it in other people’s trash, why not save that extra bit of cash? “It’s like boxing day” he said.

Every year, as tradition holds, Chou-Chou’s day of searching for new treasures is never complete until he finds a toy for his beloved Madame Café. “She benefits from it too” he said.