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CHARLYNN TOEWS

Glad to be bad

THE STATUTE of limitations is up, so I can
finally tell you two favourite stories, I felt very
sorry at the time of each crime, then full of
glee soon alter they occurred, both of them
now far away and long ago, in Nova Scotia.

I find I'm increasingly fond of the recollec-
tion and enjoy the sly slight guilty feeling ac-
companying them in memory.

Years ago, my handsome and charming
husband and 1 moved from Manitoba to Ter-
race but then moved to Halifax only a year
later. We came back, as you can see, but only
after being young-marrieds in the greater Hali-

- fax area for about three years first.

First we lived “uptown,” on Gottingen
Street, lively at all hours and a three-block
walk to the offices and shops of “downtown.”

My husband was a courier pilot that lease,
which meant he worked fram 5 to 9. Yes, 5
am. to 9 p.m. with a regulated rest period in
between. So it was Out the Door at a Quarter
to Four for the 35-minute drive to the airport.

Our apartment building was right next door
to a men’s shelter, often my beloved would
say Excuse me to any one of them still awake
in our building’s vestibule at 3:45 a.m.

Next lease, hubby was flying for Air Atlan-
tic, a bit more money and an easier schedule.
We moved to Dartmouth, the Thornhill of the
greater Halifax area. Halifax-Dartmouth, like .

Terrace-Thornhill, has two bridges. There is —

the Old Bridge, which [ prefer as it is slower
and lower, and The New Bridge, which is built :
high up and designed for speed maniacs.

This is how you say “car” in greater Hali-
fax: “care.” My new co-workers wauld say,
“Share! Ya wanna ride? I’ve got me care!”

This is how you say “dar” as in Dartmouth:
“dare!” This is how you say “mouth” as in
Dartmouth: “mooth” o maybe more like
‘muth,” I didn’t tell you this already, did 1?

So one time my evil boss was asking me a
question about which printer had won the bid
for the job, was it Dartmouth Printers or was it
A and B Limited. I said, not quite understand- *
ing the question, “Sorry, Dartmouth?”

He said, “Daret-muth? Daret-muth?”

I thought he was correcting my pronuncia- :
tion. I said, in reply, “Daret-mooth! Daret-
muth, Daret-muth!” He kept saying the word of
my new town over and over, he became quite
purple in the face, as I tried again and again to
emulate his accent. Man ch man was he mad
al me, he stomped off, assuming I was making
fun of him. Didn't mean to, glad I did! Ha!

We had a lovely apartment in Dartmouth
overlooking a small park right beside the har-
bour: not a view but access. Lovey-guy could
sling his kayak on his back and fling it into the
Atlantic 20 yards from our building. We were
on the third floor, we had an ocean-view balc-
ony off a large kitchen and an extra bedroom,
and a roomy bathroom at the end of a long
hard-wood floored hallway. Nice.

Problem with cities is that apartment rents
are too high and rules are too much, This was
a slightly-too-expensive apartment that didn’t
allow children or pets,

So we signed the averly-pricey lease and
told Nelson the Cat to just hush up. But we
were all young then, and J loved to fling a

- bouncy ball down that long hallway, and Nel-

son loved to bound after it,

Of course our downstairs neighbour com-
plained. I tried to reason with her, I mean lie,
and one evening a short while after supper but
not too close to bedtime I climbed dawn the
stairs one floor and knocked on her door.

She answered in her night-gown — I swear il
was before eight! 1 saw that her apartment, the
exact same footprint as ours, was not airy and
light and full of plants, but dark, carpeted,
with a depressing Sunday-afternoon-ticking
clock. A man sat facing away from me, right
beside the door, in an ornate chair, He stared
straight ahead, his hands on his knees.

“Hi! I’m, oh, I'm sorry! | didn’t know you
had company,” | said, seeing her ready for bed
and an elderly man like a statue, She was fur-
ious! She said, “That is MY FATHER!”

Whatever, I assured her we didn’t have any
“little ones” as she called kids or pets, and
went upstairs.

Next lease we had a funky place closer to
the ferry, a “suite” comprised of the top floor
of a grand old house. Tomato plants on the
sleps, gas range, pets welcome, harbour view
with a park, maybe 30 yards to haul the kayak,

But’ before we moved from on top of old
Tattle-Tale, | apparently agreed 1 was awake
one Sunday morning, and would hop in the
bath tub he was filling for me right away. He
fried bacon way way down the hall, and oops
if we didn’t flood the whole apariment down-
stairs, Didn’t mean to.

hae

- Club pirates who made

TERRY MORRIS (right)
seen here with his
booming cannon was
just one of the many
Skeena Valley Rotary

the club's Ferry Island
treasure hunt an inter-
esting time Aug.4.
Guests from Vancouver,
the Korean Cultural
dancers, (below) made
a last minute but crowd-
pleasing appearance in
the midst of the 2003
Riverboat Days parade
in Terrace. Their perfor-
mance earned them first
place in the walking ca-
tegory of the parade.
ROD LINK PHOTOS

KAY EHSES and Mary Greenwood
(above) provide music at the pioneer
picnic held at Heritage Park Sunday
Aug.3.

Al Harlow (top right), lead singer of
Prism, rocks it out to the crowd of
thousands (bottom tight) at the head-
liner event of Concerts.in the Park Sa-

. turday Aug. 2. - °°

iiieteasceanemaieeae

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Sunny weather prevailed all weekend:
and featured several City of Terrace .
75th anniversary celebration-
evenis,sporting events including the.
Slingers race Sunday.and two-day vo-'
ley-ball and basketball tournaments. °
The Terrace Tourism Society also’
sponsored a walking tour of historical-

ly interesting points in Terrace,