April 26, 1986

^{Chernobyl nowadays. In the foreground Prypiat, the city built especially for the power plant workers, abandoned since late April 1986. In the background, the power plant.}

Impossible to leave this date unmentioned. Mistakes made by the engineers on the night of April 25-26 1986 behaving like amateurs with the reactor #4, triggered a process that will go on for the whole millenium. On location, everything was hastily done – in catastrophic gearshift – at the time and all is to be redone properly, especially the storage of highly radioactive material buried along the river banks. The pictures are overwhelming and new catastrophy are just around the corner. Again.
We cannot send workers over there without them being fully aware that they shorten their lives this way. Yet the work will have to be done to a certain extent. At least to avoid the worse of the worst. I ain't no volunteer. I'd rather go to Afghanistan....

^{Extension of the radiation all over Europe in early May 1986}

A long overdue ride to Megantic

^{While waiting for Maude, I went in the Veterans Park facing the lake to read. In the background, the ever present Mt Megantic.}

It's been quite a while since I left La Patrie the last time. Maude was heading towards Megantic and I asked her to go along.
I shopped a bit. Among other thing, I bought a light to lit my night on the road to the cabin. For the last ten days or so, it's been impossible to ride over there without a light of some sort. I couldn't see my hand in front of my eyes! It was getting a bit cumbersome to hold a flashlight in one hand and the steering with the other. So I bought this LED beam made for Raleigh bicycles.

I will also try to use it as a lamp in the cabin, hopefully replacing one of the kerosene lamps. This is really the light of the future, for it is quite bright and use so less energy. It is said to be able to last 150 hours on 4 AAA batteries!

Tomorrow, I am going to this friend's place to redo the roofing of the balcony. And Saturday I might go to Quebec City. A big expedition!

The countdown for the move in now on. I'll soon be in Scotstown. With Maude I went to visit her sister and the in-law at Milan. They have these two houses that are running on solar energy and have other interesting eco-fixture.

The latest house is not finished yet. The structure is made of barn beams and the walls will be made of hay, one foot thick with cement or something both side for covering. They should do the hay within the next few days.

The coming back of the train?

^{Québec Railway, Light & Power Company, train station next to the current Quebec City Postal terminal on St.Paul Street, bassin Louise, Québec.
Photo: Omer S.A. Lavallée [c. 1958]}

For at least the last thirty years, talks have been going on concerning new railroads for high-speed trains to link major city centres. Nothing has been done so far and at this pace nothing will be done before I die.

^{An unusual winter view at Nantes, December 24, 1996
Photo: Jean-Claude Lehoux ©FACS-UNECTO}
At a time when the price of oil is steadfastly climbing to the point of eventually becoming unbearable, wouldn't that be a good idea to revisit the train and see things differently, for in the last 50 years, we have been quite good at getting rid of the most efficient means of transportation in terms of energy.

^{A tramway car from Rouen to Sotteville-Hôtel-de-Ville, June 1997
Photo: FD © FACS-UNECTO}
In fact, as time goes by, it is almost impossible to even think of a high-speed train linking Quebec to Montreal and beyond, because of the aging population with the rising costs of health care among other prioritized spendings. We don't have the means of our lethargic ambitions.
When I was young, there used to be a motorised train car, a single motorised car, doing the shuttle between La Malbaie (Murray Bay) and Quebec City.

^{Detail of a map of the Quebec railways network.
Source: ministère des Transports, Québec}
I am thus wondering if such a single motorised car could not be a solution to cost/energy efficiency with electrified lines? Instead of spending billions of dollars for a single train line with heavy equipement, hyper precise rail line for the 300 km/h speed, we should invest in a tramway like train that could do frequent runs between big and middle size cities, in-between Montreal and Québec, Montreal and Gatineau/Ottawa, Montreal/Sherbrooke, Montreal/Trois-Rivières, etc.
^{Heidelberg, Allemagne
Photo: R. Dissinger}
This type of train cars is already spread all over Europe and seem to well serve for moving people around. In Europe a liter of gas being so much more expensive than in North America, the choice of train, tramways and the like is clear.
Will it take a two, three, fourfold price of gas to start thinking in those terms as well? On top of having this kind of intercities train cars, shuttle services should be available from train stations to final destinations. I don't see families taking a 100 $ taxi ride for the distance from a train station to a village 60 km or so away. This has always been a handicap and a good transportation system should also have this shuttle service available at arrival.
^{Nottingham Express Transit, Nottingham, England
Photo: John R. Prentice 2006}
In order to achieve such a plan, it is obvious that it would take more than one politician to put that in place. It would take a change in mindset concerning the sacrosanct car, the willingness to live differently. If one trusts the latest stats it is unlikely such a scheme will be in the making before the liter of gas hit 10 $. It will take a tearful society on its knees to start thinking of alternatives.

^{Photo: Mjtabor}