Santa Claus Parade '75

The Santa Claus Parade was last weekend in Toronto….that brought back a story of my youth…
Back in High School, I know this guy named John Eareaux. His dad worked for Eatons and back then, Eatons ran the Santa Clause Parade.
We were lucky enough to be chosen to be in the parade…as upside down clowns!
I was pretty excited about this….we even got the clown costumes ahead of time and spent Friday night running around the neighbourhood all dressed up.
Saturday morning I was at the dairy working for Dad. One of the machines seemed to be plugged…so…I foolishly pulled out the safety cap and stuck my hand up the machine to see what was stuck….the next thing I knew…the end of my finger was cut off!
Of course it was pretty busy at the dairy and Dad didn't have time to drive me to the hospital right away. John Derry (actual name) was loading his truck for deliveries to the west end so Dad had him drop me off at the Hospital on his way out the Lakeshore.
Four hours later (I will spare you the details), I was all bandaged up and ready to go. I had lost about 1/2 an inch of my middle finger…while somewhat traumatic, not such a big deal.
When I told the doctor that I was going to be an upside down clown the next day in the Santa Claus parade….he told me that was not advisable.

I had to explain to him that the upside down clowns don't really walk on their hands.

Neil and Gord

You see…it was Neil birthday and Gord was playing in Orillia.
Now Neil is a big big fan of Mr Lightfoot. The first song he ever played on a guitar was “Early Morning Rain". He had seen Lightfoot numerous times over the past 30 years but a home town show would be special. Especially since it was on his 55 birthday. Gord is turning 71 later this week.
Neil’s wife Barb wrote Gord and expressed Neil’s love of his music and hoped that Gord would wish him a happy birthday during the show.
The show was great and the band was tight. Gord’s voice has loss some depth but he interacted with the audience and seemed to be really enjoying himself.
At the end of the show, we all went up to the stage in hopes that Gord would come out and say hello. There were about 20 people lined up in front of the stage but I said to Neil…”he is an old guy….he is not going to come out on the stage and bend over to talk to people…he is going to come out the side door”. We positioned ourselves beside this door and sure enough….out came Gord.
Neil and Gord meet and Neil introduce himself and mention the letter that Barb had sent.
“Oh…your Neil!” said Gord with a smile on his face. He had meant to mention Neil’s birthday during the concert but had forgotten. They had a good chat…Neil got his autograph and presented Gord with a copy of his CD.
I don’t think Neil’s feet are touching the ground just yet.

Small World but wouldn't want to paint it.

I move to the Carcross Community School in '77.

Here is a story from the "small world but I wouldn't want to paint it' file.

When I first arrived at Carcross, I lived in the big building for a bit and then in the Yellow house with Duck and Lee. At the end of the summer, I took a little tour outside. I took the train to Skayway (the raod wasn't built) and the ferry down the coast to Prince Rupert. I continued on to Prince George and eventually returned to Carcross the second week on September. All the students had arrived and I moved up to the cabin on the hill with Lavel, Janis Clark, Dirk, Anne Nicholson, Carol Ruhnke and, I think, Mark Witt.

Janis Clark, Stanleigh Cole and Carol Ruhnke at the Carcross desert.

Carol and I were comparing notes one night and found out that our grandparents use to live next store to each other in Guelph Ontario. In fact, Carol's dad and my uncle Mark were best friends growing up! Both our grandparents were professors at University of Guelph. Small world! Then it turned out that Janis Clark's grandfather was also a professor at Guelph and he lived around the corner.

Facebook?

I am not sure if I really get Facebook.

When I first got asked to be someone's "friend", I thought it a bit weird. You see, we are friends and I see him at work almost everyday so why would he want to talk to me through a program? So I said to him…"I don't do Facebook".

I was a hold out for a long time but curiosity crept in. So, eventually, I do do Facebook….but with criteria. It seems if you let someone be your Facebook friend, it opens up a whole other group of people who will be asking to be your friend….so I have lots of people on my "want to be friend" list that I have not responded to. I don't mean to be rude but it looks like a never ending thing. I am just not interested in have 330 friends.

That can be awkward but if I see you at work or if Facebook is the only means for our relationship….well, I am just not interested. Some of these "Friends" request are from people that I know nothing of besides their name or place of work so why would I want to enter into some sort of Social network with them. Does that sound elitist…I hope not….they are all fine people, I'm sure, but I just don't see the point.

Having said that, I do have one friend on my facebook page that I haven't met. I have followed her blog for some time now and oddly, through one of those six degrees of separation thing, she came up as a potential friend. I asked and she said yes and I find her notes interesting and humorous.....so maybe that is the whole point!

I guess that if Facebook is the only way we are going to communicate, I would rather you just give me a call.

I do see some benefit. Most of my "Friend" are long distance Carcross people. The Carcross Community School has it's own site so I use Facebook to connect with that group. I also am a supporter of the Georgian Bay Coastal Trail group, The Peel River watershed and Cameron Helps group. I see this as a way to get the word out on a couple of things that are dear to me.