Lachute Weekend

This past weekend, Vero and I drove up to Lac Noir which is near Lachute, Quebec.  It was quite the lovely drive (very scenic) and we listened to Drunken Covers Volume 2 (a recording of Troy, Darryl and I performing on Langarth Street a few months ago).  I really enjoyed how it turned out and will have to do some editing soon on it.  I guess I should gauge how many people would be interested in obtaining a copy of these bootlegs.  May as well leave a comment in the comment section as to whether or not you would like a copy.  I’m trying to get access to a colour printer to print out some good album covers but until then, the Drunken Covers won’t be available (but it’s nice to know if we need to make a lot of copies or not).

We arrived at Lynn and Sue’s cottage and greeted the group (which included my parents who were coming back from their trip to Gaspe).  I think they were already having a few drinks by the time we got there and with just reason!  It was a beautiful day to be out on the dock.

We settled into the dock and had a few drinks and chatted.  I actually jumped into the lake before it got too cold and it was beautiful.  The area is very nice and the lake is very small.  We could canoe from one end to the other in 20 minutes.  I even managed to swim across it on Saturday and I realized that I hadn’t been for a good swim in awhile as it was using a different set of muscles.  Seeing that the lake is very small, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the lake which makes it a peaceful area.

The cottage itself is exactly what any cottage should look like…lived in.  The story goes that Lynn and Sue have been visiting a friend’s cottage across the lake for the past decade and always wondered if there would be a cottage for sale.  Turns out that a woman in Montreal owned a cottage on the lake but hadn’t gone to it for years since her husband passed away.  They managed to get in touch with her and brought her to the cottage to take a look at it and when the time came for her to decide to sell the place (as her children did not want it), they bought it!  Quite the amazing story as it must be particularly hard to get a nice furnished cottage around this area.

We had a great feed of steak and fish for supper, as well as some yummy corn.  It was late at night when everything was settling down when Sue suggested we made a fire.  The firepit was down by the lake so we all settled in there with a nightcap (let it be documented that this was the first time I tried rye on the rocks and it was quite tasty.  Must try again later.) and chatted for awhile and stared at the stars.  When everyone went to bed, I went out on the dock and looked at the moon for awhile.

The next morning I went down to the dock and chatted and eventually took the kayak out for a trip around the lake.  I then headed in for a great breakfast and afterwards, Vero and I swam around the lake for a bit and then took a canoe trip where she taught me the finer points of directing the canoe.  I had never grown up with a canoe so I was learning as we went.  I think I got the gist of it and the only hiccup occurred when I splashed a little too much water on Vero with my paddle!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the dock on the sweltering day and occasionally dipping into the lake to cool off.  We ate some salad to hold us off until dinner and were relaxing when we heard Dad yell for Mom to come over to the cottage.  It turns out that he had twisted his ankle.

Twisted his ankle indeed!  I had never seen such a swelling in my life!  It looked like there was a tennis ball growing under his skin!  We bandaged it up and Mom, Vero and I brought him to the hospital in Lachute hoping for a short wait.

When we arrived, Vero and I hunted for a wheelchair and brought Dad inside.  The reception simply took his name down and said they would call him when they were ready.  I thought this was strange as they didn’t even ask him what was wrong.  It took a few hours until they called him into the triage room to see medical official.  All this time, they didn’t even supply him with any painkillers.  They did take an x-ray and at one point, Vero and I ducked out to get some poutine at Lebelle’s in Lachute.  Warning: Don’t get the medium size if you don’t plan on eating it all!

We headed back to find that the doctor STILL hadn’t seen Dad yet and there was no action from the desk for awhile.  Turns out that there was a severe trauma which was holding up the only doctor.  I must admit that I am not the best person to bring to the hospital with you for company.  I dozed off a few times, slept in the car for a bit and generally didn’t have much to say.  I don’t even remember what time it was but I brought Vero out to the car so we could have a snooze and we awoke to have Mom knocking on the window.  We had been at the hospital since 7PM and it was now 2AM!

In the end, they weren’t too helpful to Dad as they thought he may have cracked the bone (but could not tell if it may have been an old crack) and suggested that he get a walking boot of a cast to put on his foot.  This was only available at the local pharmacy.  They asked if he could have some crutches and the hospital didn’t have any and Dad asked how he was supposed to walk and the nurse simply said that he would have to walk sometime!  I thought this was very odd.  The doctor didn’t seem to have any firm advice either considering he said he should be good to walk on it after a few days.

In the end, we piled into the car and were disappointed with our visit and we slept it off.

In the morning we got up, packed the car and headed back into Ottawa where Vero and Mom looked for the walking boot of a cast but it was quite expensive and Dad would have to go there to get it fitted for his foot.  He decided against this for the time being as he wanted to see his own doctor in Kapuskasing and we decided to buy him some crutches in the meantime.  This helped out immensely as he had to crawl around the house a few times and I had a good laugh when he was crawling up the stairs and Mike came in to see him!

We then decided to head out to Lynn and Sue’s house for a nice dinner (which was the food we were supposed to eat the night before) and Mom and Dad stayed there seeing that their house was one level that Dad could move around on.  I believe they were headed back today to Kapuskasing.

All in all, Vero and I really enjoyed the cottage and will definitely go back again.  I must admit that the stories of the Quebec health care being lackluster may have some grain of truth in it, but I’m not going to impose a full judgment from one experience.