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A packed boardroom, a hearty round of applause and a cake in the shape of — what else? — a snowmobile greeted Mayor Jim Watson on Monday, for his first day back to City Hall after a two-month absence spent convalescing from an accident.
The mayor looked fairly spry for someone who broke his pelvis about eight weeks ago, entering the room on crutches, and clearly pleased to be back at work — even if it’s only part-time for now.
“After a week or so, I was getting a little stir-crazy, wanting to be more active,” Watson told reporters, admitting he is “an impatient patient.”
“But the doctor said I have to take it easy because it’s a pretty serious break, and I don’t want to slip and set myself back another couple of weeks.”
Although the mayor has been staying at a respite centre attached to his own father’s seniors’ home, Watson has been working most days. His staff delivered a stack of files to him each morning, and city staff and councillors said privately they continued to receive as many, if not more, emails and messages from the mayor than usual. He’s been watching council meetings on Rogers Cable 22.
But Watson said his recovery, the longest period he’s had off in his working life, has been a chance to slow down.
“I’ve always been blessed with jobs that are pretty demanding, and you’re sort of on all the time, so you don’t have a lot of time to be reflective and think about things,” said Watson.
“It’s been physically a time slowdown, and I think mentally as well.”
The mayor said he finally had time to read books, instead of just city reports, and watch a fair bit of Netflix.
“I’m now onto House of Cards, the British edition,” he said.
While Watson has not accepted a challenge to try out ParaTranspo during his recovery because he said he doesn’t want to take up a space on the public service unnecessarily, being in a wheelchair did lead him to wonder why there’s a small lip on sidewalks.
“I found in the wheelchair I was in, that inch made a difference,” Watson told reporters. “Sometimes you felt like you were going to tip over.”
Watson’s accident occurred on Feb. 28, as he tried to drive a snowmobile for his first time. Coun. George Darouze, who used to be the president of the Osgoode Carleton Snowmobile Club, wanted to take a few councillors out to give them a short tour of some of the trails. It was Darouze who gave Watson his training before they headed out for what was supposed to be a 15- to 20-minute ride.
The mayor confused the gas and the brake handles, accidentally speeding up and crashing into another parked snowmobile.
Darouze characterized the mayor’s injury as a freak accident as “everyone falls off at some time.” In fact, Darouze credits the mayor with quick thinking during the incident. When Watson realized he was slightly out of control, he turned his snowmobile away from a small group of people and toward the parking lot.
Watson is still on some pain medication and doctors told him it will be about four to six months before he’ll be able to get around without crutches or a cane, or even a wheelchair.
Watson described the details of the accident as “a little embarrassing.” When asked what he learned from the experience, he joked: “Figure out where the gas and the brake on a snowmobile are, first and foremost.”
Although the mayor is returning to work part-time this week — he plans to attend the public consultation session on the new central library Tuesday evening — he’ll remain in the respite home for another couple of weeks, as his home has stairs, which are still a challenge.
Watson appears to harbour no ill will against his snowmobiling instructor. The mayor asked Darouze to pose with him and his snowmobile cake, before serving it to guests, and joked that the Osgoode councillor gave him a “four-week all-expenses paid holiday.”
jchianello@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/jchianello
查看原文...
The mayor looked fairly spry for someone who broke his pelvis about eight weeks ago, entering the room on crutches, and clearly pleased to be back at work — even if it’s only part-time for now.
“After a week or so, I was getting a little stir-crazy, wanting to be more active,” Watson told reporters, admitting he is “an impatient patient.”
“But the doctor said I have to take it easy because it’s a pretty serious break, and I don’t want to slip and set myself back another couple of weeks.”
Although the mayor has been staying at a respite centre attached to his own father’s seniors’ home, Watson has been working most days. His staff delivered a stack of files to him each morning, and city staff and councillors said privately they continued to receive as many, if not more, emails and messages from the mayor than usual. He’s been watching council meetings on Rogers Cable 22.
But Watson said his recovery, the longest period he’s had off in his working life, has been a chance to slow down.
“I’ve always been blessed with jobs that are pretty demanding, and you’re sort of on all the time, so you don’t have a lot of time to be reflective and think about things,” said Watson.
“It’s been physically a time slowdown, and I think mentally as well.”
The mayor said he finally had time to read books, instead of just city reports, and watch a fair bit of Netflix.
“I’m now onto House of Cards, the British edition,” he said.
While Watson has not accepted a challenge to try out ParaTranspo during his recovery because he said he doesn’t want to take up a space on the public service unnecessarily, being in a wheelchair did lead him to wonder why there’s a small lip on sidewalks.
“I found in the wheelchair I was in, that inch made a difference,” Watson told reporters. “Sometimes you felt like you were going to tip over.”
Watson’s accident occurred on Feb. 28, as he tried to drive a snowmobile for his first time. Coun. George Darouze, who used to be the president of the Osgoode Carleton Snowmobile Club, wanted to take a few councillors out to give them a short tour of some of the trails. It was Darouze who gave Watson his training before they headed out for what was supposed to be a 15- to 20-minute ride.
The mayor confused the gas and the brake handles, accidentally speeding up and crashing into another parked snowmobile.
Darouze characterized the mayor’s injury as a freak accident as “everyone falls off at some time.” In fact, Darouze credits the mayor with quick thinking during the incident. When Watson realized he was slightly out of control, he turned his snowmobile away from a small group of people and toward the parking lot.
Watson is still on some pain medication and doctors told him it will be about four to six months before he’ll be able to get around without crutches or a cane, or even a wheelchair.
Watson described the details of the accident as “a little embarrassing.” When asked what he learned from the experience, he joked: “Figure out where the gas and the brake on a snowmobile are, first and foremost.”
Although the mayor is returning to work part-time this week — he plans to attend the public consultation session on the new central library Tuesday evening — he’ll remain in the respite home for another couple of weeks, as his home has stairs, which are still a challenge.
Watson appears to harbour no ill will against his snowmobiling instructor. The mayor asked Darouze to pose with him and his snowmobile cake, before serving it to guests, and joked that the Osgoode councillor gave him a “four-week all-expenses paid holiday.”
jchianello@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/jchianello
查看原文...
