Last Thursday for no real other than I had the time and I was slightly bored, I went to the Montreal Auto Show. As is often the case, the logic of various corporations seemed distinct skewed. One company, whose existence is likely designed to promote class warfare was displaying several dozen models of Ferraris spanning several decades.
These included a 308GT as driven by Thomas Magnum on the show Magnum P.I., and almost both models of Ferrari driven by Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice. I say almost as his first car in the series looked like a Ferrari Daytona.
However, it was in fact a Chevrolet Corvette modified to look like a Ferrari Daytona. When Ferrari heard about this, they offered the show a new Ferrari Testarossa on condition that the fake Ferrari be destroyed. This was done on screen during an episode. Possibly the one with Liam Neeson.
There was a relative lack of actual cars at the show, as companies prefer to sell SUVs. This was particularly true with regards to electric cars. I decided to approach the show as if I were shopping for an electric car. There was a depressing dearth of reasonably priced vehicles. One of my favourites was the Polestar 2. Polestar is the electric brand of Volvo. Another surprisingly affordable contender was the Dodge Challenger R/T which is an electric muscle car with a horsepower rating well North of 500!
During my first week off, I clean out a box containing things that I had on my ill-fated trip, including my watch. The strap had broken from the impact, so I hadn’t worn since. I did some minor searching for a suitable replacement band. The time was a hour and a day out. The hour out was likely due to a time change, whereas the day was because 2024 was a leap year.
Today, I took one of the Venture trains to Ottawa. I have been waiting to try them for years. The experience demonstrated the challenges face by Via Rail. Cars, and the business class ones in particular, are designed with user experience in mind including the handicapped and the business traveler. So the washroom is huge so someone in a wheel car can use it easily. However, there are one per car, so what happens if there is a problem? There is a semi-private section with four seats where business-people or politicians might have a semi-discreet meeting while on the train. However, the only occupants I saw were Via Rail employees taking a break. I went business class because I wanted the treat and because of my mobility issues. Partly because there were relatively few passengers (it was a midweek trip during the winter) but the car felt a bit austere. There were lots of blank and otherwise empty spaces. There were also some quality control issues as my tray table flipped down at an angle which the attendant feared might result in my lunch landing in my lap. He asked me to eat in an empty seat across the aisle.
The meal itself was a bit problematic. They were out of my first choice namely salmon. I settled for veal meatloaf which brought with it certain unhappy memories. To be blunt, it resembled the food I endured while hospitalized. I particularly remember having to hold my tongue almost exactly a year ago when a staff member gave me a list of foods that were high in iron as I was slightly anemic ignoring the fact that I had precious little control over what I ate and that a fair percentage of the meat they served was veal, noted for its relative lack of iron! In defense of Via Rail, it was piping hot, unlike the hospital food.
The trip was supposed to take two hours, leaving at noon. Unfortunately, the service had begun in Quebec City, and arrived at least twenty minutes late, if not more. The Montreal passengers boarded and we back out of the station, almost to the Victoria bridge so we might switch the designated head of the train towards Ottawa. This is actually a really silly procedure as the Venture train sets are double-ended. There are driving cabs at either end. In fact, the locomotive portion (i.e. the diesel prime mover) was at the rear for most of the trip. I can’t help but wonder if a better procedure would be to take the train set straight into Central station, then change its direction of travel which passengers get off and on. It took a while to get off the Island of Montreal, having to wait for a freight to go by. Up to Coteaux, the train took its time. After Coteaux, the train got onto tracks there are almost only used by Via so there were few new delays from that point on. We still arrive about an hour late. There was an announcement that we had a travel credit worth 50% of what our tickets had cost valid for future travel within twelve months.
I am staying at the McGee Inn, as recommended by Mummy. I had tried to book a room on its main floor to minimize the number of stairs I would have to face. However, the only room available during my stay was the extra deluxe Egyptian room whose major advantage was of little use to me. While I was a signing in, the young lady asked if I would like to upgrade free of charge to a larger room on the upper floor, before then offering the Egyptian room as it was on the main floor I accepted with pleasure and a facetious comment that the huge bathtub would mock my inability to use it! The young lady thought I was serious at first, before I explained my meaning. Predictably, the room has various fake pharaonic era decorations, including a painting framed in concrete and rebar.
I had supper in an Indian restaurant where the person in charge of decor had slipped up.
