Memories of Past Times

Shirley (my first real love) I can’t exactly remember how it happened, but I did fall in love with Shirley . Yes, she was my first “ real ” love. At first, we just friends, and later we became “steady” friends! Our “ friendship ” lasted for about 3 years. Over that time, we did a lot of fun things, dances ( Sadie Hawkins ), watching the “ submarines ” ( that’s going, for those who don’t know, down to the park river and “smooching”, or, if you prefer, “making out”). Other activities included lunch at the OBI ( Orange Blossom Inn restaurant ), bowling, movies, ice cream at the Dairy Queen and more. We also spent time with our friends ( Richard and Liz ), and Sunday dinners with her parents. After dinner we would want TV, usually “ Animal Kingdom ”. We did spend a fair amount of time with Rich and Liz. One particular memory was not too funny at the time, but in looking back it was quite humorous! (to be continued)    

Home Alone   I’ll give you a few examples.  (continued) There were other “ incidents ”, even more “ stupid ’ then the “ car story ”. I’ll tell you more about it now. However, we were able to buy a few bottles of liquor, 2 half bottles each. Our drinking “ party ” started off slowly, but the more drank, the more “ stupid ” and " drunk " we got! We started to drink the liquor straight. I drank both of my bottles. I don’t know when or how my friends left, but I woke up the next afternoon very hungover and very ill. Frankly, I was lucky not to have killed myself from alcohol poisoning! I remember nothing of the night before and it took several days for the alcoholic effect to wear off. It taught me an important life lesson, just thinking about it, I realized how close I was to dying!  

Home Alone   I’ll give you a few examples. (continued) There were other “ incidents ”, even more “ stupid ’ then the “ car story ”. I’ll tell you more about it now. As I said earlier, when my parents were away, I always made it a rule not to invite friends over to the apartment. Unfortunately, I broke the “ rule ” once. I’m recounting this story, not because I’m proud of it, but because I want young kids NOT to do what I did. I had broken up with my girl friend ( Shirley ) and was feeling bad about it. I wanted company to try for forget how badly I was feeling. I invited a couple of school friends to share a Saturday evening with me. We decided that we were going to get drunk ( we were all under drinking age ).  ( to be continued )

  Home Alone I’ll give you a few examples. (continued) Enter the Martino Brothers and their auto body repair shop. I took the car to the repair shop and explained my emergency and my situation. Fortunately, they were good guys and agreed to fix my mom’s red Chevrolet  Impala convertible. They did fix it and it was as “ good ” as new, and, they fixed it “ before ” my parents got back home and no-one was the wiser ( except me! ). The was the last time I used my mom’s car for a game of “ cops and robbers ”. There were other “ incidents ”, even more “ stupid ’ then the “ car story ”. I’ll tell you more about it now. ( to be continued )

Home Alone (continued) I’ll give you a few examples. My mother had a beautiful red Chevrolet Impala convertible, that I was allowed to drive. Normally, I was a very cautious drive, but occasionally ‘d go a little wild. One time I had my mom’s car and Richard had his family’s car. We decided to play cops and robbers in the cars. We would take turns chasing one another. You might be “ surprised ” to learn that I got into a “ small ” accident! There were no police involved, no-one else was involved  ( thankfully ), but the car did have fair amount of damage. It was my first accident, and I wasn’t sure what to do. My parents were away, and I wanted to get the car fixed quickly, before my parents got home and found about my “ small ” accident. As I have said before, my father insured a lot of great people. ( to be continued )

Home Alone I did mention that my parents did go to Florida during the winter. They would normally go for a few weeks. A couple of times they took me with them, but generally they went alone. That was okay when I was a boarder at Appleby , but once I started going to Richview Collegiate , they would either have to take me with them or leave me alone. Alone was my preference, and I am sure it was theirs also. For the most part I was a good and responsible kid. Like I said, I’d watch “ Search for Tomorrow ” for my mom and report back: I’d make my own lunches and my own dinners ( TV dinners ); make my own bed; wash the dishes and “ usually ” not invite friends over or have parties. There, I have my good points, believe it or not. However, I did have a few “ BAD ” moments! I’ll give you a few examples. (to be continued)

Lunch (at home) Speaking of being closer to the school, it was a great advantage to my mother. Not because she’d have her “ sweet baby ” at home for lunch, but in the winter, she and my dad would vacation in Florida. My mother was a “ soap opera ” fan, especially for “ Search for Tomorrow ”! When she was in Florida, I became her “ Soap Opera ” watcher. I would watch “ Search for Tomorrow ” at lunch ( convenient! ) and she would call me in the evening to get the latest “ dirt ” of the day. She might have also been checking on me, but was my mother really that “ sneaky ”? Remember the “ sock ” episode that I wrote about earlier!  

The Move(s) Speaking of moving ( good Segway ? ), my parents decided to move from our home in Thorncrest Village . I was shocked at the decision, but my dad was ill and the property in the village was quite large, and needed a lot of maintenance. I had lived in the village most of my life, so I was very sad to leave it. After selling the home, we rented one half of a duplex. Our new home was much closer to the high school, about a 5-minute walk. Unfortunately, it didn’t improve scholastic time at Richview ! It did, however, give me more time to sleep-in. We stayed in the duplex for about two years and then moved a short distance to an apartment complex just across from the school. More sleep-in time and a shorter distance to walk! I’ll tell more about our time there. A little later.  

Roller Skating (continued) What really happened, was that we “ liked ” one another and started to date. She would ride on the back of my scooter and we would travel the streets of Toronto . One “ little ” sticking point about the scooter was that it wasn’t very powerful! My “ dancing ” partner lived on Yonge Street , just south of the 401 Highway . Her house was on the east side of the street, about halfway up the hill from “ Hoggs Hollow ”. If you know the area, Hoggs Hollow is at the bottom of two very steep hills. Traveling on my scooter, going down the hill was easy, but going up the hill to her home, was NOT ! Part way up the hill, we would both have to get off the scooter and start pushing it up the hill, the rest of the way. As you can imagine, this was not a very romantic way of ending a date! Eventually our “ like ” faded and my passion for roller skating waned, and then stopped. I did, however, keep the skates and occasionally “ road ” on them to school. We lived in Thorn...

Roller Skating The purchase of the Eaton’s motor scooter brought other rewards, roller skating ! Roller skating ( not roller blading, that came later ) was a popular activity and I wanted to be part of it. The best place to roller skate was Mutual Arena . Unfortunately, it wasn’t within walking ( or rolling ) distance from my home and there was no convenient public transportation available. The answer was my new Eaton’s scooter . This is how I got to Mutual Arena . At first, my roller skating, especially on rented skates, was awful, but eventually, I got the hang of it and enjoyed the skating. Soon I became part of the “ roller skating ” crowd, and I met a “ cute ” girl. I wanted to get much better at skating, I wanted to impress the “ cute ” girl with my skills! That’s when I became really serious about roller skating. I purchased my own “ professional ” skates, and took a few lessons. In time, she became my skating dance partner. I’d like to tell you that we went on to win lots of ...