The Weekly Times Comment Column by Jeremy Thread

[LittleRed]

Originally Posted by be-ach

Aside from Montreal, english speaking people in general, never mind people actually from England, are looked upon with at least a degree of contempt.

...So that makes it okay then...

[Red_Bull]

Originally Posted by be-ach

And as far as his hospital experience, that can easily be explained by the fact that they are ENGLISH in QUEBEC. They are the evil tête carrée. (Apparently square head is a synonym for english speaking bastard in Quebec) Aside from Montreal, english speaking people in general, never mind people actually from England, are looked upon with at least a degree of contempt. His General Wolfe reference, as if the english/french issue in Quebec is one that has long since past, paints a completely inaccurate picture in the article. I mean, come on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Quebec_referendum)

I usually agree with Jeremys articles, but this one I can't say I do.

I think one can also say with a fair degree of certainty that Clarkson would probably have been pretty unsubtle about his displeasure whilst sitting in that waiting room, and generally living up to the whinging pom stereotype. He would've been the worst example of a Brit, and if what you say about English perceptions in Quebec are true, then the doctors would've simply been fighting fire with fire. 'He's being an arrogant bastard about this, so we'll just let him sweat a little more'.

[Squidge]

Originally Posted by LittleRed

...So that makes it okay then...

He's not excusing it, LittleRed. Just explaining the (regrettable) attitudes still held by many French-Canadians.

Originally Posted by Red_Bull

I think one can also say with a fair degree of certainty that Clarkson would probably have been pretty unsubtle about his displeasure whilst sitting in that waiting room, and generally living up to the whinging pom stereotype. He would've been the worst example of a Brit, and if what you say about English perceptions in Quebec are true, then the doctors would've simply been fighting fire with fire. 'He's being an arrogant bastard about this, so we'll just let him sweat a little more'.

Anti-English sentiment runs deep, I'm afraid. Having experienced it myself, I suspect they were pretty much fucked the moment they opened their mouths. Perhaps things might've been different if it had been a hospital in a major metropolitan area.

[Mineworksfine]

Originally Posted by Squidge

Anti-English sentiment runs deep, I'm afraid. Having experienced it myself, I suspect they were pretty much fucked the moment they opened their mouths. Perhaps things might've been different if it had been a hospital in a major metropolitan area.

Actually since Jeremy is a self-confessed Francophile, and accepting that his public persona is at least in part an act if not exaggeration, I would have expected him to use as much French as he has at his disposal to get out of there as soon as humanly possible.

[Red_Bull]

The problem is, if you try to speak French and get it wrong, they're even less interested in helping you...

[2Billion]

Originally Posted by iam-nobody

I have seen part of his film he made the NHS out to be perfect while i think its better than the USA way i know it needs a bit of TLC at the moment.
And i understand the staff are very busy that does not give them the right to make out they can't speak English or to be rude to someone who's just lost a child.

Yeah, but muslims in Quebec. Some towns in Quebec have tried to pass bylaws specifically attacking muslim people (often in bizarre ways, like banning stoning, which I think I'm right in saying is already quite illegal), which they view as a threat to their proud french heritage. Almost as much as they view speaking english a threat to their proud french heritage.

I'm not defending it, but I'm not surprised either.

As for hospitals around here, they're inconsistent and wait times exist, but it's not quite that bad.

[ninjacoco]

Foreigners or no foreigners, don't physicians have some kind of code of ethics? Something about serving your patients or somesuch they at least touch on in med school?

If anyone - anywhere - gets treated differently for being a foreigner, that's poop. Epic medical fail.

Save the grudge match for when they get out. Cut 'em off in traffic and flip 'em the French-Canadian equivalent of the bird or something. But don't bring that stuff to work, please. Yikes.

[RdKetchup]

Originally Posted by iam-nobody

Any Canadians here?
Is it really that bad

There are problems, but I tend to agree with Skylock, overall it still works despite the long waiting time, and the attitude of some of the staff can be easily understood after spending a day in the emergency waiting room in Verdun (a slightly poor section of Montreal).

I recently went for a broken finger (didn't even know it was broken at the time), with the nail partially teared-off, and with some pretty bad rash to two other fingers.

My case was not urgent, in fact I went to the emergency room a full 24h after my motorcycle accident. I brought a book with me, which made the 6h it took me to see a doctor past more easily.

The hours spent in the waiting room allowed me to catch a glimpse of what the doctor and nurses (specially the nurses) have to deal with. Getting yelled at by people who don't seem to understand that a headache does not get the same urgency as a heart attack, having to deal with people who fake pain just because they need a human contact, and I'm sure it's even worst at other time when they have to deal with drunk and junkies.

In total, I spent 9h in the hospital, and none of the staff where rude to me (despite having to deal with very rude patients).

Originally Posted by Red_Bull

The problem is, if you try to speak French and get it wrong, they're even less interested in helping you...

That I would say is completely untrue.

People really appreciate tourist who try to speak the local language. I've seen it when I was a tourist in Spain and Italy, and I've seen it as a local in many different regions of Quebec.

[Cowboy]

That I would say is completely untrue.

People really appreciate tourist who try to speak the local language. I've seen it when I was a tourist in Spain and Italy, and I've seen it as a local in many different regions of Quebec.

Had the same experience pretty much everywhere....., my french is wobbly at best, 3 years ago I was in Quebec, I found the people most helpfull and understanding at my what i'm sure at some points was complete yibberish (the booze dind't help )
In france and the french speaking part of belgium i've had the same experiences.....
Y'our gonna find asshole's anywhere but the average person usualy appreciates your effort.

[RdKetchup]

Originally Posted by Cowboy

Had the same experience pretty much everywhere....., my french is wobbly at best, 3 years ago I was in Quebec, I found the people most helpfull and understanding at my what i'm sure at some points was complete yibberish (the booze dind't help )
In france and the french speaking part of belgium i've had the same experiences.....
Y'our gonna find asshole's anywhere but the average person usualy appreciates your effort.

Glad somebody else approves.

And I almost added a part very close to your last phrase, saying that of course sometimes you will meet morons, and unfortunately, most people remember the bad experience, and forget about the good ones (unless they are REALLY good ).

[snoro]

as rdketchup i dont think our health care system is that much bad, i mean yes region dont have good doctor as montreal and quebec can have. But the rare time i had to go to the hospital, i was glad i didnt have to be with some rude people waiting.The last time i went to the hospital, it was a born-with problem that i have with my nose that means at almost every season change, my nose gets dry and that mean i can have 1 or 2 nose bleeding per day for a couple of week.Last spring i went to the hospital to see what was the problem, i waited for 3 hour, i also saw some guy who have been waiting for 14 hour cause they arrived a bit too late for what they had (some bruising cause they had a accident at 11h in the night).there was also a mon and her daughter who were waiting and none of them were complaining.As for tourist who are trying to speak french, i like more to help them by speaking english and awnsering their question than help some little french canadian brat.It just depend on how unlucky you are to get a damm stupid Nationaliste which think every english speaking person is a helper of satan.

[shellygrrl]

It's just not fair: Donkeys get all the breaks, wherein two of Jezza's donkeys try to make a break for it, and he can't work out how they did.

[diti]

This, and today's car review, are two of the funniest pieces he's written for a good while IMHO. Nice one, Jeremy.

[Labcoatguy]

We finally figure out the name of his new donkey: Uma.

[flydiscovery]

So only the girl donkeys get clever names after movie stars? The boys are left with dull names like Geoffry and Eddie. I still laugh at Kristen Scott Donkey.

[marxychick1]

I find the thought of horses using a Merc as an ass-scratching post inherently funny.

[skylock]

Originally Posted by marxychick1

I find the thought of horses using a Merc as an ass-scratching post inherently funny.

While I was reading it I was thinking he would probably drag a bed out to plug the hole or the dining room table, but then when he mentioned the car I thought, ah ha, what was I thinking? Much easier to just drive something to cover the hole. He probably had the keys to the merc, so, there ya go.

I have laughed at this one all day. Just imagining Jeremy trying to fix something always gives me the giggles.

[kurthest]

He shoulda just filled the ak-47 up with nails and give the fence a good burst.

[Wyvern]

Originally Posted by Labcoatguy

We finally figure out the name of his new donkey: Uma.

When I read the column, my first thought was at last we know the name of the mysterious new donkey! I was only thinking of Jezza's donkeys last weekend - I was in the New Forest and we saw several groups of donkeys wandering around among the ponies. I know it's completely inconsequential, but because I love them it always makes me very happy when he talks about his

[LittleRed]

lmao!! That's pretty funny, I like how he calls the hammer 'the tool of the gods.'

For surely it is?

When I was a teenager we tried to move a donkey at the local petting zoo thing we used to go to, we knew the owners and they asked us for help moving it into it's pen. The entire local community came to help like Jeremy's did, but as soon as everyone went to have a rest it walked in on its own!!! Donkeys! Stubborn trouble causers!