ee eee BLUSTERY WINDS turn an umbrella inside out as a couple walk along Government Street on a typical rainy Victoria day. Photo by LYONEL DOHERTY a THE MORNING MAYOR Gi@ene) TALK IT OVER Guan) DOBBER SPORTS Page M8 November 1 4,1990. This Week PRIME TIME Retirement scary for some t was the wet cold of fall. Wind-driven rain buffeted at clothing, made puddles on the sidewalk and rushed madly along the gutters. Leaves, torn from the trees, flew hel- ter-skelter across the road, twisting and turning as they fell. Even dressed for it, I didn’t find the walk too pleasant, and was glad to run up the few steps and enter the warm building. Ours was a small community, and the weathered frame building was both office and living quarters for the postmaster and his family. The waiting room had seats around the walls and a big pot-bellied heater in the centre of the room. On cold days, an urn of coffee and paper cups stood on a small table at the back. It was all very welcoming, and grew to be a regular gathering place after the morning mail was in. I got my mail, chatted with some neighbors, then, just as I was thinking about facing the wind and rain again, the door opened, and Mrs. Brill came in. She was old, and pretty crippled up, and dead =Goldenrod- By IVY KENT leaves drifted in across the floor through the open door while she wiped her boots on the mat. When I first met the old lady, she was living by herself in a shack on the outskirts of town. She was an oldtimer, having been born in the area. She was THE MORNING MAYOR TALK IT OVER GX) DOBBER SPORTS Gisden)) NEWSLINE GIPP TIL DAWN SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Who takes GIPP TIL DAWN GiSaeu5) SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Gidea) THE MORNING MAYOR G@iNq@ex) DOBBER SPORTS GFAX 1070 GESie) NEWSLINE youona nightly Sentimental Journey * Just the Fax. Come back with us to less stressfull times. Those solden days when entire families gathered around the big radio... and out poured the biggest sounds from the srandest ballrooms. Well, Len Rowcliffe recreates magic times (pm to midnight, nightly on C-FAX. » Big bands. The sreat vocals. Music that documents an era and sounds wonderfully familiar and welcome today. Discover it again, or for the first time. With the Rowcliffe touch, only on C-FAX. 46 Re GEES) AWOH SANG @eRzE) SluOds HaaGOd Cvhusb) NOONHSISVSHLNISAO1 @eberp) YSAO LIV. GERD) ANITSMAN G@¥ebare) NOONYALIVSHLNISAO] @Ebi) SANayaaM lvaHD GRE) SMAN XV4-0 Glebwp) C-FAX NEWS SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY >DRIVE HOME _ GREAT, WEEKENDS TALK IT OVER GIPP TIL DAWN wa outspoken and independent Before I got to know her, I haf been snapped at, the odd time for trying to help her negotiat a curb or a flight of steps. Fa it was hard for her to gq around, and it must have bee painful, but get around si did, never missing a morning mail. Not that she eve any, except the “household or “occupant” things. Then, when she moved if the seniors’ lodge, even th stopped coming. But she ma the trek every day, anywe And after a while I realiz that it wasn’t the mail she we after; it was the compani ship. Independent as she ¥ she still liked people a needed to feel that she still part of things. Where b ter to stay in touch than t® “social” hour in the old p office after the mail had beg sorted? The room was cozy, tlt benches comfortable, and tl coffee hot... what better plat to spend a morning? Time was not of the essen in those days. Everyor stopped and talked to the o& lady. I used to try to fix things that might interest h that might give her someth to take back to her room a think about. On this p ticular morning, it wa “crazy-quilt afghan” that_ Brownie Moms wanted to fle off for a summer camp. they wanted was a knit; square, one block per pers any color, any style. Kno she did a lot of handiwor thought she might be in ested. Surprisingly enough, sg agreed. I guess she was firg ing time on her hands with¢ the old house to look after I have been thinking a lately about Mrs. Brill, how she had the right idea at least for some of us. Getti old was something over wh she had no control, but wh she did have control over how she handled it. She h money. She could have li much more comfortably, she chose her own lifestyl and her choice was to stay ¥ touch with the workin people, the heart of the co munity, and in that way s could still feel part of things What a Jot of planners don take into onsideration is tk work ethic. Most of us ha worked hard all our lives. good percentage of us h' never learned to han leisure. Some of us e perienced it for maybe thr weeks every year, some of & not even that. To be faced wit months of it, stretching z lessly into the future, frightening prospect. If and when I reach the dz when I can no longer wor! then I will want to surroun myself with working peopl not cut myself off from them. will want to feel the pulse of working community thro bing around me. I will want: stay in verbal contact wil young and old alike and ni ‘set myself apart in comfo and safety behind protectir walls. Pil still be outspoke and independent. Probak, ormery, too. In fact, I'll probably be ju like Mrs. Brill.