Jan. 1 - Salt Spring Island Archives

Wednesday, January I, 1986 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Page 3Fogbound ferryDnftwood photo by Duncan MacDonnellLeaving a full moon in its wake, towards Crofton. The fog, which two weeks, cleared earlier thisVesuvius ferry slips through mist had blanketed the area for the past week.OTo be Frank...by RichardsGenerous gesture by crewThanks to the B.C. Ferry crewoperating the Crofton-to-Vesuviusvessel, a Salt Spring family wasable to enjoy Christmas at home.Patrick Baines was driving intoCrofton on December 24 when hesaw the evening's last sailing toVesuvius pulling away from thedock, then reverse engines toreturn to shore.The reason? "A car was waitingat the top of the ramp,"Baines wrote in a note to Driftwood.The driver, Bill Wilkinson,and his family had signalled theferry with flashing headlights,and a passenger on board thevessel had spotted the appeal."In a very generous gesture,(the ferry) stopped ... and wentback for whomever was signallingthem, knowing it could well besomeone desperate to make ithome for Christmas," Baineswrote.He noted that if the vessel hadnot turned back, the Wilkinsonfamily could not have foundalternate means of reaching theisland that evening.Calling the ferry crew's act oneof "giving in the real spirit ofChristmas," Baines said the gesturebrightened his holiday."A right decent thing to do,you guys!"Lite InsuranceAnnuitiesLEN LARSON537-2657ERIC BOOTHElectric Dryer & StoveREPAIR537-9532 Fast, dependable service & partsTRI-K DRILLING LTD.Serving the Islands since 1966MOST MODERN HYDRAULIC EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE!Call collect any time - 478-5064tfnMerry Christmas!I was growing up. 1 was, in fact, so grown up that Ispent my pocket money on a book: an adult book.There were, until that day, children's books andgrown-ups' books. I had graduated.There were two of us. 1 can no longer recall thename of my brother Bill's book, but I can identifymine even after about 53 years. It was "Imagine a Manin a Box." I don't know who wrote it. But, then, I don'tknow who read it, because 1 didn't. It was my firstentry into this world of adult literature and 1 was lessthan impressed.Billy Bunter had it hands down over this fellow whowasn't really in a box. You just had to imagine himthat way.The purchase was a waste of money. I suspected itfive minutes after I opened the book. I know it clearlynow, half a century later. And in those days pocketmoney jingled. It consisted of a few humble coins.Those were the days before Junior received hisallowance in the form of a bank draft.The Legion also roaredWhen the Salt Spring Island Lions roared twqweeks ago for the benefit of the elderly and lonelypeople of the island, they were not alone.It was the annual Christmas dinner staged by theservice club. Once again it was staged in the LegionHall in Ganges. And once again, reports DennisOwen, the resources of the veteran's hall were donatedto the service club for the occasion.A millionaire!I am in line to being a millionaire. I receivednotification that if I send off the form mailed to me Imay be the lucky winner of $10 million. It's all amatter of buying magazines. You buy subscriptionsand you are liable to be a sweepstake winner.It's just my luck to be in the wrong end of thebusiness. The nearest you get to millions as anewspaper reporter is the chance to win them fromsubscription sales of somebody else's publication!But I figured it all out. If they sell a millionsubscriptions at a guess-average of $16, that's $16million coming in. And there's an even split betweenpublisher and selling agency so the vendor gets anarbitrary $8 million.Somebody has to pay the mailing costs of gettingthe magazine into the customer's hands. But thatmakes me one in a million and they haven't started.It's beginning to boggle my mind!I'd just better win, that's all! Only trouble is Ihaven't time to read any more magazines.Halley's CometIt was a matter of great disappointment when amember of my family referred to Hailey's Comet. Thegentleman lived and died, as. HalJey. (like .in yalley.or.alley). Why turn him into something he wasn't afterhe's dead and can't kick?I'm an expert on the comet, never having seen it oreven given it overly much thought.I've read up on shooting it with a camera. I have toadmit that the first instruction I received set me back afew. I was told that south of New York was an easytouch to anyone with a camera. North of the 41stparallel was not a good place to stand in order to getan action shot of Hailey's Comet steaming in on the72-odd-year circuit.By this time I was teetering whether to go downsouth to shoot it or to stay at home and forget it. Iforgot it.The rest of the directions were too involved for me. Iquit. I left it too late to be ready and I'm going to waitfor its next time around.Those turkeys!There were so many turkeys eating turkeys thisChristmas that the surviving turkeys are facing adesperate year of raising families in time for thoseturkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas nextyear.I've stood face to face with turkey and ham and beefand sundry other meats over the holiday season until Ican survive as a vegetarian for a time. I've killed off afair portion of pork pie and I've eaten my friends intoa state of famine.I saw myself as a trencherman of some skill inputting away the feastings. Then I was introduced to aDanish spread. I withdrew from the contest.How those northerners could attack the coasts ofScotland and England for centuries I'll never know. Ifthey ate like the modern Danes and washed it all downin schnapps they wouldn't have the time to sail downthe coast on a pillaging trip.If you've never eaten that way, try it. It couldchange your whole eating habits. But don't try topronounce the words!An historic fogThrough storm and snow and frost and fog, theislands have enjoyed travel, supplies, mail andeverything they might have needed. It's been an easywinter so far.From time to time we've all felt sorry for the nextvictim. The mail courier battling the drifts and thesnow piles and the highways crews out in the earlyhours getting rid of the ice. The Hydro crews havemade their trips out to save the power.But, for mine, the fellow who really has workedovertime is the ferry skipper and his crew peering theirway through a fog that I've not seen on the coast in 40years.Truth of the matter is that we're grateful to all of thepeople who have helped the majority of islanders tolive as if the weather hadn't changed since last. summer..TALK DIRTY TO ME!Dave Roland JanitorialWindow cleaning, carpet cleaning,utters/walls, vacuuming rugs, beams,inside or outside, high or low...you name it—I'll clean it.653-4279K I T C H E N C 2SHOWROOM CLOSEDTILL MONDAY, JAN. 6Available by phone & appointments — 537-9222Carpet! Linoleum!Hardwood!Draperies! Ceramic Tile! Venetian Blinds!Room-sized roll ends all at 50%OFF!CALL COLLECT: 746-4851750 Jubilee St., Duncan, B.C.