talked to the owner: yes, he would be prepared to rent the back
part, and yes, he would consider a lease (this for us was a must).
So far, so good. Next the City. Would they give us a licence to
run a school at these premises? They came and saw. They
wanted scale drawings in quadruplicate and estimates of the cost
of alterations and of course more inspections. I prepared the
scale plans and filled in forms and got estimates for installing
water and two double sinks and heating and lighting and for the
two inch gas pipe which had to min the entire length of the
building. The gas supply was on 10th Avenue and the kiln, to
meet regulations that the stack must be at least 29 feet from the
nearest building, would be only eighteen inches from the lane. I
went back to City Hall for more questions and answers. We got
our building permit, the junk was cleared, and splendid daylight
and sunlight sprang in as we uncovered the big windows down
each side.

At this point I left for a family holiday in California, and while

I was away Hilda did a heroic job of organizing the move from
Acadia Camp to 10th Avenue. There was a staggering amount of
sorting, discarding, dismantling, tying up, labelling, packing
and soon. In Los Angeles I called on my potter friends, and one
of them offered to drive me around to look at some kilns I knew
about. Time was short. I bought a 16 cubic foot Alpine, but it
was an act of faith because close inspection was nearly imposs-
ible. It was in Westwood's yard, and the yard was piled high in
every direction with large cartons of summer school supplies.
Then we went to a cafe equipment place and bought a used gal-
vanized hood. I filled in customs forms and left my obliging
friends to see to the shipment of the kiln and hood.

Back in Vancouver I found wheels, cupboards, shelves, supplies,
chemicals and the incredible clutter of stuff dear to the heart of
every potter piled up 10 feet high all along one side of our big
room. Every day we climbed this mountain to wrestle down a set
of shelves or a cupboard for which we had a spot ready. Students
came to lend a hand. Every day we hammered, sawed, nailed,
levered, rolled and shoved things into their places. It was ex-
hilarating; we had a Crusoe-like consideration of each item tug-
ged from the tangle and indeed this clay-spattered mess looked
6.