Friday started well. I went on an organized excursion to the Carrefour Laval mall. Three patients (myself included) escorted by three occupational therapists went in taxis. Arriving at the mall, the occupational therapist who had ridden with me, asked if I was ready to go shopping for what I needed. I surprised her by saying that I didn’t need anything. However, there were several things I wanted!
It was my first time there, and the grandiose atmosphere of the place put most of the malls I’d been to to shame. Unlike several I have been to recently, I saw no empty store fronts. My first stop was a bookstore where I bought a couple of recent BDs, including a new Gaston Lagaffe. The latter was written and illustrated not by Gaston’s creator, the late Franquin, but Delaf, the Québecois co-creator of Les Nombrils. I hadn’t been aware of the new Gaston’s publication, but the presence of cycling gag noticed a cursory thumb through sealed the purchase.
Lunch was butter chicken wrapped in nan bread from Spice Bros. Quite tasty it was too. I washed it down with a Thums Up cola in a bottle which the legend “Bottle for beverage use only.”
A good outing.
Just before super time, I got a phone call from the RCMP. It seems the Driver had finally entered a plea before the court. Unfortunately, the plea was “not guilty”. So the affair will go to trial. The gentleman from the RCMP informed me that I would be served a summons to attend the trial as a witness and that some of my expenses would be paid by the Crown. I responded positively to the request, but noted that I could not identify the suspect by sight. He said that they knew that. Given the assorted backlogs in the justice system, the trial is set for the 10th, 11th and 12th of March of 2025!
After I hung up, my initial reaction was to check Via Rail’s website to see how the dates would fit into the trial’s schedule. However, it is not currently possible to book tickets for March 2025. I then thought of what my testimony would be, which proved to be a mistake. I began reliving the events including the drudgery of staying in hospitals for the last five months along with the pains I have suffered. An orderly came in with supper and saw me staring out the window. She asked how I was. I told her, then began crying.
Various people have since commented about the injustice of the Driver pleading “Not guilty”. I must admit, I think I had been expecting such a plea. I don’t quite know why, but something in the little I know about him (which is say next to nothing) suggests someone who doesn’t admit to responsibility. And, by law he is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. I really hope that by wasting people’s time and money, he will get a much stiffer sentence, including jail time and being banned from driving for life.
That was Friday. Today (Sunday), I looked at a calendar for March 2025 and then looked at how much a return ticket would cost for the necessary stay in Moncton. I then tried to get an idea of how much a plane ticket would cost on Air Canada. There is something odd with Air Canada’s website as I got the impression there are only irregular flights to Moncton from Montreal. Rather interestingly, the cheapest economy tickets on Air Canada seemed to be a shade more expensive than the most expensive Sleeper Plus tickets on Via! A subsequent rechecking, revealed this not to be the case, but otherwise apart from the low frequency, the Ocean seems a better deal on the whole.
On a brighter note, I managed to put a sock on my left foot without the help of the doodad this evening. A small but useful victory.
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