Snow Memories

Snow? In Victoria? It was rare -- so much so that a 'heavy frost' used to get credit for being "snow" and caused school closures!

I don't remember any "snow" fun on Chaucer Street -- but I remember waking up to the odd snowfall on Haultain -- and Mum was always good about letting us drop whatever was supposed to happen that morning and get into our snow gear (after we dug it out of one of those big drawers in the basement), so that we could dash out and take advantage of the snow before it disappeared...

I remember rolling snowballs make a snowman with and
a) one pass across the ground and it would pick up ALL the snow and leave a trail of only grass behind (much of the grass also embedded in the snowball)
b) by the time we had rolled snowballs big enough to make a meager snowman, we had essentially picked up ALL the snow from the entire yard (and we had a big yard on Haultain)!

I remember not liking family snowfights because it seemed like John, Jim, and Jill were all just targeting me.

Snow in Victoria was very 'crunchy' sounding when you walked on it or rolled your snowball along the ground, and snowballs were hard and stung when they hit you - nothing like the quiet, fluffy stuff we are graced with in Utah!

When I was older, I had moved to Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver) and was living in a house with a bunch of roommates that I didn't know very well. I guess Vancouver gets a little more snow (when it happens) than Victoria, because there was a day that I woke up to around 4 inches! I guess since it was customary for me to dash out and do something with the rare stuff, I got dressed warmly and went out side, all by myself, at 20 years old, and built a snowman. I took the time to build a pretty big one, (perhaps subconsciously because it might be a long time before this much snow presents itself for snowman building again?) I decorated him properly, right down to the carrot nose and raisin eyes, loaned him my scarf, and took his picture. I went inside to put my camera away, and packed my school bag, and had only left him unattended for about 20 minutes -- but when I came out of the house to head to class -- he was GONE!!! Completely vanished except for his accouterments which were laying on the ground. I stood, perplexed for a few moments, but I had to get to school, so I shrugged and started trudging down the street to the bus stop, while I pondered what on earth had happened to my snowman. About half way down the street, I caught up with 3 kids, none older than age 7, and they were each rolling a sizeable snowball down the sidewalk. Now it was clear! I yelled "Hey!! You stole my snowman!!!", expecting them to either abandon my snowballs and run away, or at least act sheepishly about it -- but the kids just laughed at me and yelled back "Too bad you loser!" I yelled back again "It's more fun to make your own!" and spent the rest of my day wondering what the world is coming to....

Same storm in Burnaby, different story (it was an eventful day). By the time I got home from school, it was snowing again, but there had been just enough melting before sundown to make it so that the new snow was landing on top of a slurry of ice and slush -- so traffic was a DISASTER. But I had a job interview at 6pm (for the position of Emergency Road Service Operator for AAA). I had planned to take the bus even though the location was only about 2 miles from my house (normally I would ride my bike). But after waiting at the bus stop for 20 minutes past the scheduled time, I realized that the buses probably weren't equipped to get through this snow, and I would have to walk. For some reason (could it be the reliability and work ethic my mother instilled in me?) it never even occurred to me to call and cancel the interview. So I slogged through close to 10 inches of snow and slush for 2 miles and finally arrived at the AAA call center building -- over an hour late for my interview appointment. I was sopping wet and icy cold to the core. I told the receptionist "Hi, I'm here for a job interview with Keith ***** (can't remember his last name), and I'm late because the buses weren't running." I hung up my wet outerwear and sat down in the lobby. A few minutes later, the manager came out, took one look at me, and exclaimed "Did you walk all the way here in this storm for this job interview!?" I said "Well, we had an appointment", as I handed him my slightly damp resume. He took it, glanced at it for a moment, then extended his hand to shake mine and said "The job is yours. Anyone who would walk all this way in the worst snowstorm we've seen in 20 years just to keep a job interview appointment, I know I can count on to do a good job!" Then he took me into his office and gave me some hot chocolate, told me to dry off and warm up for a bit, and said that he had to get back out onto the floor because (as you could imagine) the Emergency Road Service call volume was VERY high with all the problems caused by the bad weather. Oh - and he ORDERED me NOT to walk home again and said "as soon as we have a driver going your direction, I'll have them give you a lift!"

Cursed by Beetles

Most of my family are aware of how I feel about the business I'm currently in. What's truly ironic about it, is that I should have known!! Because my first encounter with a VW Beetle was most certainly an omen...

I was in Grade 2 or 3, and I had this nifty blue bike that I rode to school every day. We still lived on Chaucer Street, and it was standard to cut through Oak Bay High School to get to Willows School. I was a fairly accomplished cyclist (or so I thought), and was on my way home from school one afternoon. I was just about to cross the crosswalk on the road adjacent to the high school - right near the Oak Bay Lodge. This crosswalk happened to be on the crest of a hill. I had come to a stop, and had checked for cars coming both directions as best one could, and started across the walk. But an elderly gentleman came speeding over the hill in a baby-blue coloured VW Beetle and hit me and my bike, throwing me to the side of the road. My front of my bike was crushed, and my arm was broken (luckily I was on the FAR side of my bike and so it took the initial hit). Also luckily, I landed on a grassy patch of someone's lawn. Bicycle helmets weren't around then, and had I landed on cement on my head, I probably wouldn't be writing this!

So there I am, in a pile of twisted bike on the side of the road, and somewhat dazed. I don't even remember feeling any pain in my arm! Shortly, somebody came over to help me - they must have called an ambulance. And a few minutes later, by pure coincidence my cousin Kara (who was a high schooler at the time) came over to say "I got the licence plate number. Oh! It's Channa!!" So she must have somehow got the message to my Mum to meet us at the hospital, etc. I got transported by ambulance the whopping 4 or 5 blocks that it was to the ER at Jubilee Hospital, and got to subsequently enjoy the attention that every elementary school kid gets when they come to school in a cast!

Other illnesses with stories to tell:
Chicken pox in Toyroom (Chaucer)
Eye Surgery 1: boy in traction and "Mummy I can see!"
Earache Sighting of Santa Claus (Chaucer)
Sick Kids in the Pink Room (Chaucer)
Broken Arm #2: A wild pitch
Eye Surgery 2: A new room (Haultain) and special teacher attention

Truncated Disneyland

I was 4 or 5 yrs old when our family went to Disneyland. We stayed with Uncle Dave and Auntie Annette who lived close to the theme park. I remember feeling the excitement when I saw the ticket booth person hand my Dad a thick book of Disney Tickets for each of us (in that day you bought a book that had tickets for each ride I guess).

That was the infamous Disney trip where I got the measles. So I remember laying in the Mickey Mouse bed at the Disneyland infirmary. And I also remember being thrust into cold baths at Uncle Dave/Auntie Annette's house to get my fever down (I think I was pretty unhappy about it, but then they put a really cool Fisher Price Houseboat in the tub for me to play with and I got over it - so I imagine that the water was probably just lukewarm and not filled with ice as I remember it!) But most of all, I remember the ANXIETY I felt for not getting to go to Disney the 2nd day - the feeling of missing out.

But I really didn't miss as much as I feared, because I do have memories of many rides which I must have got to go on the first day, before they realized I was sick...because I remember the thrill of climbing up and through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I remember feeling sick (or was it getting sick?) on the spinning Tea Cups. I remember being truly amazed at how a ghost managed to join me in my seat in the haunted house ride. And I REALLY remember losing my little white Gilligan's hat when it blew off and into the water when the Pirates of the Caribbean ride swooshed down one of its slides (Did my hat get retrieved? I don't remember...). I remember LOVING the Jungle Cruise ride - the animals are real in my memory! And I'm pretty sure I got a Mickey Mouse ears hat with my name embroidered on it (although I don't still have it so you would have to ask my Mum if that was a memory or just a longing...)

But I was most certainly perplexed and concerned that I wouldn't get to use the rest of the tickets in my book!!!! Mum called the park (or at least pretended to) and she told me that if I save my book with unused tickets, they would honour them the next time we came...of course we didn't go again until I was 14, and I'm sure that the price of the park had at least doubled by then. I vaguely remember asking Mum (when I was 14) if she still had the ticket book so I could get to use them this time, but she said they were gone, and I was a little annoyed by that. But in reality, Mum was hoarding them in my Forties File for memorabilia sake (or was it because she had just told her little 5 year old that they would be good the next time in order to calm her sadness?)