Chapter 1. How We Got There

Dear Grand kids:

After we got married your Grandma and I moved to Toronto and rented a small downtown apartment with a view of an alley. (It was a pretty nice alley. Alleys are under-rated. I will show you some of Exeter’s nicer alleys when this virus goes away.) I was hired by the Premier of Ontario, Mr. Davis (though I called him Bill. As a joke he used to say, ‘Who are you again?’). I laid out big bucks for a mattress although Grandma did ask where the rest of the bed was.

We bought a car right after we bought the rest of the bed (sometimes the man doesn’t win the argument.) Your Grandma said she might need the car for a quick getaway, which I didn’t understand – it wasn’t like she was a bank robber.

The car was a 1974 Toyota Corolla. It was brown and it cost $1,400 brand new. Grandma wanted a red car to coordinate with her favourite outfit but ‘red’ paint would have cost an extra $5.00. We needed the extra $5 for food… such as gummy bears. Which I refused to eat because gummy bears always bring back the trauma.

I should mention that it was good having a car because I was tired of using the subway. (Fun fact – did you know that the Toronto subway was not built by a sandwich company?)

We stayed in Toronto until I got lost one night while jogging. I was gone for hours. Luckily, your grandma found me. Unluckily, we were now both lost. But at least we were together… lost together (which is our theme song).

Left with no other choice, we moved to London, where right away, Grandma told me “Let’s buy a tent. I want to go camping.”

That’s when I discovered that Grandma was unaware that bears have it in for me.

Love Grandpa.

(That’s Grandma and me 1972.)