The Squamidian Report – Jan. 28 / 17
Issue #766
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
This has been a pretty quiet week around here. Thats a good thing but
it doesn't induce much in the line of things to write about. Its still
winter here, thats a bummer. No new snow for a while but it gets cold
enough at night to make the roads icy. Black ice its called and until
the sun warms the day enough to melt it, even walking can be a problem.
To get around that we have slip-on grippers that go over our walking
boots. Actually we have two types of grippers, or crampons, but the
ones we use for walking down the street when its icy, or down our
driveway for that matter, are a bit like studded tires. They work great
on ice but are not meant for snow or snowy ice where a deeper
penetration is necessary. Anyway, they go on easily, can be put in your
pocket when not needed. When walking down the street our footsteps
sound similar to studded tires. But is sure is nice to not worry about
slipping or falling. The older one gets, the less they want to fall.
When kids fall they jump back up with a grin on their face and declare
that they should do that again because it was fun. When we fall, well,
we just kind of lay there and take inventory to see if we still have
all our parts and that they are all in one piece and still where they
should be.
The other type of slip-on crampons we use have a much more aggressive
gripping system. They look more like tire chains with small spiky
things attached to the chain parts. When we pull them on we refer to it
as 'chaining up'. They are what we are using these days when we do our
usual morning walk up at the gondola. The snow on the trail is packed
hard from walkers and hikers. In its packs state its probably about
four feet deep, based on where our heads seem to hit the tree branches
that are way above us when the trail is bare. Currently our days tend
to climb to about 5 degrees so the snow softens a bit and gets packed
that much more, then freezes at night leaving the trail quite slippery.
So, the tire chain type crampons work great. No slipping, no falling.
Just a nice morning walk.
I seem to find myself burning off more CDs all the time these days.
This has very little to do with walking along the snow covered mountain
ridge but does relate to the basic location. I haven't written or
recorded any new material lately but I been compiling my 'greatest
hits' onto CD's, a compilation so to speak, and have them available for
anyone who wants one when I do my music live up at the top. What I'm
finding is that my biggest fan base is the employees that work there as
well as many of the regular customers or visitors or whatever you would
call them. Its quite incredible as to just how many people around there
have a copy. I find it interesting as to which song various people like
best, and often surprised by the individual choices. But I digress...
One of the regular visitors that has a copy is very much into bird
watching and taking video and still pictures of the local birds and
wildlife. He gave me a DVD of his work and its very nicely done. He has
most of the local birds videoed along with the sounds they make as well
as bear, beavers, bobcats and so on. We played the DVD one evening when
Kyra was here. She was quite impressed with watching the birds and
hearing their songs. Funny though, given the way her 5-yr old brain
works, about half the way through the hour long DVD, she started
running around the house while flapping her arms in an attempt to 'be'
a bird. I envy the mental freedom that is still present in the mind of
a child and has not yet been hammered out by adult society.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
When you were a young teenager say starting in grade eight, where did
you like to hang out with your friends? Not sure where this is going
but my mind just seems to be wandering tonight so lets see where it
takes us shall we? Right now I’m in grade eight at Prueter Public
School in the North Ward of Kitchener an area of the city that Russ has
pointed out was one of the most challenging areas to police when he was
on the Kitchener PD. Having grown up in that area I never really
thought of it as a rough part of town. We were always told that the
downtown area i.e.: Cedar St was the area to stay clear of during our
teen years. Never really knew why, just that staying out of that
section of Kitchener was a good idea. Consequently I don’t recall ever
venturing that far east on King St when I was a teen. I actually worked
in downtown Kitchener for several years from the age of eleven to
fourteen. I walked the main section of downtown delivering clothing for
a tailor shop as some of you may recall. I’ve talked about Morris
Custom Tailors in previous Ontarions so I won’t bore you with repeat
details. Just mentioned it to make a point regarding the limit to which
I traveled King St in my younger years. As a young teen, my working
downtown on Friday nights and Saturdays was pretty much the extent of
my hanging around the main drag of Kitchener. Not until I actually
turned 16 and learned to drive and had my first car did I ever venture
further east on King St without being accompanied by one or both of my
parents.
King St east was the route that we took to drive to visit my dad’s
parents on either Sunday or Monday evenings at their home in Hespeler.
My dad was born in Hespeler and his mum and dad still lived in the
house where he grew up on Winston Blvd. Passing all the interesting
outreaches of the length of King St E was always an adventure to us
when we were kids. As we road in the back seat of my dad’s ’56 Buick on
our rides to Hespeler we would keep an eye out for what we called “The
Thin Man’s House”. It was an extremely narrow beige house with dark
brown trim and a steep pointy roof. The front wall of the house was so
narrow it only had enough room for the front door. No windows would fit
on the wall beside the door. Most houses had at least one front window
but not “The Thin Man’s House”! It was situated on the south side of
King St East on of course a very narrow lot. It’s been gone now for
many years but back then, it was located about a block west of
“Stoney’s Car Mart”. Stoney’s Car Mart was a used car dealership
located in the block next to the one occupied by Dare’s Biscuits. We
could tell where Stoney’s was because for blocks before passing his
building we could see the huge Diamond shaped rotating sign on the peak
of the dealership. It had dozens of flashing white light bulbs that ran
along the edges of what were supposed to represent the facets of a
diamond. I would guess the diamond on the peak of the roof would have
stood about 8 to 10 feet tall as it rotated in the night. It was quite
a sight to see after dark! Of course in those days the expressway was
non-existent and King St East was divided by railway tracks that ran
between Kitchener and Preston. We used to also pass the time by
counting the number of cars that made up the trains that traveled those
tracks. It was a popular link between the cities of Kitchener, Preston,
Hespeler and Galt and I imagine if my parents hadn’t owned a car we’d
have been riding the rails to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Payne back
in the ‘50s. The “Stoney’s” building is still standing today and
contains a couple of different small businesses. I think there are a
“Short Stop” variety store and a Chicken Wing fast food restaurant in
the front part and if I’m not mistaken, the large rear of the building
is now a gymnasium. Anyway, the building was and is the style that
reminds me of an airport hangar. It is a large one-story building that
has a huge arched roof. I guess that was a popular type of construction
back in those days. There are a few buildings of that design still
standing around KW. The only other one I can think of off hand is the
one occupied by T/A Appliances on Victoria St N in Kitchener. So much
for tonight’s history lesson on construction! LOL!
Anyway, I’m sure some of the older Brubacher Clan or Squamidian members
might just be able to identify with my description of that section of
King St East back in the early years. Other additions to that area in
the 40’s 50’s and 60’s were “The Hi Way Market” on the north side of
King E and of course the construction of “Fairview Mall” that was built
on the South side of King East. I believe the Mall was started in the
very late 50’s or early 60’s. Then with the demise of the railway
between Kitchener and Preston for passenger purposes, the Expressway
linkup of Hwy 8 and the 401 was under construction in the mid 60’s and
this brought about huge changes. It was the brainstorm of the powers
that were running the city of Kitchener/Waterloo and the province back
then. It brought about an easy way of bypassing the downtown route
through the twin cities and linking them to what became one large city
of Cambridge. Until the recent LRT system that’s now being forced on us
by the Regional Council, the “Expressway” was the largest project to be
undertaken in our area in many years and was actually a successful
venture! It sure did change the look and traffic patterns in and around
the Twin Cities!
Getting back to where we used to hang out as
teens, in Grade 8 we would gather at The Town and Country Restaurant on
Lancaster St. It’s now a Greek Restaurant. We used to meet at the TC as
we called it and sit in a booth with a wall-mounted jukebox and sip
cherry Cokes and eat French fries. Of course we didn’t have much
money in our early teens and without a license or vehicle our mode of
transportation was bicycle or shoe leather! It was fun but we could
only afford to do that one or two times a week. As time moved on
and we progressed to being high school students our part time jobs
became more lucrative and our hangouts became more numerous. We also
found out that our world was growing in area with the availability of
motorized vehicles in our lives. Our circle of friends increased once
we hit high school and the discovery of fast food joints around KW was
interesting to say the least! Most of the kids in KCI and WCI gathered
at either the A&W on King St N or at Sonny’s Drive In on Weber St
N. The main attraction in our high school days had become
roller-skating at one of several rinks around KW.
There was “The Aud” in Ktichener, the Waterloo Arena on the west side
of Waterloo’s downtown or “The Briar” which was actually “The
Glenbriar”, a curling rink beside “Sonny’s Drive In” in Waterloo and
another example of the arched roof style of building. The Briar was the
most popular rink due to the fact that it stood beside Sonny’s and we
could spend the evening after skating munching burgers and chips in
Sonny’s parking lot. It was a great place to enjoy a summer evening.
One side of the parking lot was occupied by the “Greaseballs” or
rougher crowd and the other was occupied by the “RB’s” or “Rich
Bitches”, No disrespect intended! RB’s were simply the children of
wealthier families or those that used to associate with them for social
reasons. They threw the better parties and their folks always had
better stocked bars in their homes! LOL! So you see, the search for the
most popular “hangout” was important for social reasons! I bopped
between Sonny’s and A&W but most of my time was spent at the
former! That was back in the 60’s until I graduated from high school
and of course then life and working full time had a way of changing
one’s habits. Sonny’s is still in existence and the original owners
only sold the Drive In to new owners about 5 years ago. The same people
had owned it from 1965 when it was built until 2011. I’ve always been
loyal to their place of business and of course had a good rapport with
the original owners. There is still one of the original owners and his
wife that work there till this day and I drop in for a burger once in a
while just to bring back old memories and say hello! The new owner has
kept the original menu as well as added a few new items. If you were
one of the original Sonny’s crowd of the ‘60’s, you can still bump into
others from the good ‘ol days on occasion enjoying a burger and or
fries on a summer day!
I hope this brings back a lot of good memories to
Squid members who can identify with some of what I’ve said today! I
know my “hangout” days were good ones and it’s fun indeed to be able to
visit the original location for a load of memories from my youth! So
many stories come to mind when I pass or stop in to Sonny’s and I’m
happy to see that the new owners are continuing the legend. So many
wonderful old buildings and hangouts have been demolished in the name
of progress and it’s sad but if we’re lucky, there are photographic
records in existence of our favourite teenage haunts!
“Where did you hang out during your teen years?”
That’s about it for this week folks! I’m sure I could write a book
about the my teen years but I’m only good for a couple of hours a week
of old stories! Sure hope you all enjoyed the trip down memory lane!
I also hope it brought back a lot of good memories for all of you this week!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
I’m great at multi-tasking --- I can waste time, be unproductive and
procrastinate all at the same time. Just like being a teenager all over
again!
LOL!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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