Rent a bicycle in Montreal if ...

• ... you think you'll find an automatic-bicycle-rental stand that works.

• ... you don't mind being told you can't rent a bike because you already have the maximum number of bikes out.

• ... you don't mind wondering how many bicycles you'll be billed for when your next credit-card statement arrives.

• ... you enjoy talking to customer-service people.

And, most important of all, make sure you have good walking shoes or plenty of change for the Metro.

***

To be fair, the bicycles were sturdy and smooth-riding and, when their balky distribution stations granted me the benediction of transport, they took me first to the Paragraphe bookstore downtown and then to Vieux-Montréal.

The day's purchases included Paul Auster's New York Trilogy and Histoire d'un mot: L'ethnonyme Canadien de 1535 à 1691, which ought to interest all Canadian words guys who occasionally try to read French.

© Peter Rozovsky 2011