I was born in Vancouver, lived in Burnaby until about four, then moved to Coquitlam where I have been situated since.

I was actually living in Vancouver for about the first year of my life before we headed off to live in Burnaby. We lived in a big old house. It was four floors including the walk in attic and basement. The basement was about a foot too low for building codes to allow a living space to be built, but now I suppose we could have dug down a foot or so to get around that. The attic was built into the coolest bedroom for myself by my parents. Unfortunately at that age it was just to scary to be all alone up in the attic with rattling windows, shadows, and my imagination. So, I stayed in my original room where my sister, when she came into the world about three years after me, also slept, in her crib. Didn't help much, the windows rattled here too and my imagination wasn't left in the attic, but I was in closer calling distance, and that's what mattered.

        It has been awhile since then. I remember it well. Good memories from that time. I miss the 70's.

        We had a German Shepherd named Peppie. My best friend was Richard (Little-Richard), the cousin of the next-door neighbors to the west ( I never knew where he really lived), the Gousous (however you spell it you say it "goosow"). They'd baby-sit him and we would hang out together every time he was over. To the east our neighbor was a couple with two Dobermans that barked viciously at me through the chain link fence between our front yards. I wasn't scared at all since we had a big dog of our own. Passed their house was where a couple older kids lived, Richard (Big-Richard) and his younger red-haired sister Lisa. I got baby-sat at their house often.

        Peppie was a great dog. Very motherly and strong minded. Could scare the crap out of people if she wanted. I liked that quality. Not to mention she could easily tear the crap out of you if she wanted.

        Richard was little, like I was I suppose. His family was Italian and to Mrs. Guosou, his grandmother, he was Ricardo. The also had a large house, but theirs was full of family. I had never seen so many people in one room as when I went over to see if Richard was there, he wasn't, but a horde of others were all crowded around the TV shouting and yelling and cheering and having a good noisy time. World Cup no doubt. Mrs. Gousou whisked me upstairs to feed me pasta. What a woman. Macaroni and cheese. She wouldn't stop feeding me. She wouldn't believe me when I said I was totally full with no more room. I kept trying to shovel more in in hopes that each bowl would be the last. Not to say it was bad, was great food, just was a lot of food. On that day she gave me Richard's lighter. Shiny gold Zippo of some sort. She didn't want Richard playing with it, so she gave it to me. How nice. I kept it on the window cell in the kitchen behind the curtain. It disappeared when we moved. Mom threw it out no doubt. My only possession I had that was connected to the Gousous, and she threw it out. I'll never forget or forgive that. It didn't even have fuel, just flint. What harm could I have done? Actually I could hardly understand a word Mrs. Gousou said. Sounded like she was speaking another language, but I guess it was just a heavy accent, but you never know. Maybe she couldn't speak English. I never picked-up any Italian words except Ricardo.

        Anyway, everything looked bigger back then. The horizon was a mere block away. On a bright sunny day it seemed my vision would only extend to across the street. Was so bright in the summer I could barely see once when I was sitting on the curb in front of our house. Outside the fence. Lots of other kids were around. I could barely keep check of all that was happening. Common sensory overload. I was in a bad mood for some reason and just wanted to sit there while some girl was intent on getting me up on my feet to play with everyone. Some kid with a squirt-ring came up to me at that moment and said "Hey, wanna see my ring?" and right when I looked at this plastic thing with a face or something on it, he squirted water in my eyes. I was pissed off, but still wanted to see how it worked. I was upset and cried I think, so he came back and apologized and showed me how it worked. I think that girl pushed him to apologize.

        Apparently the man who used to live in the Dobermans house, who moved away before I could remember anything, had had a huge intricate model train set in his house. Up stairs, downstairs, down the banister connecting the two, etc. Tour buses would frequent the place. I think he moved to a bigger location. Too bad I didn't see his train set. Would have been a great pass time to hang out in there. The couple with the Dobermans I didn't know very well.

        Big-Richard and Lisa's house was two doors down. When I was there the were generally at school. So just had to hang-out by myself until Lisa would get home and play with me. Some days were soooo long before 3:00 would come around. Their dad was a carpenter and made a two story fort installed right on the concrete patio. Was excellent. An open doorway on the first floor had a central ladder that led up to the second floor hatch. Well, one day, out of pure boredom, I decided to play a prank on Lisa. I thought I would put something heavy on the hatch and jump out the window and hide. She'd think I was in there holding it shut. Well, the best thing I could find to hold it shut was a piece of wood. 2x4 type. I put it across the hatch, and hammered nails in both ends with a rock fastening it to the floor. A coffee can of nails was easy to come by, but no hammer. Well. With that done, I only had to get out the window. Well, it was no small feat. It looked a lot higher up when thinking of jumping down. I had lots of time until she got home, but in all that time I couldn't get up the nerve to jump no matte home many times I tired. Well, I decided that if I jumped out and hid, it would be just the same as staying there and being quiet. Would look no different. So, I waited and waited. After a loooong time waiting, she came home. She pounded and pounded on that hatch for me to "Open up, I know you're in there!" but of course she didn't really know if I was in there or not, but she yelled and pounded and yelled relentlessly. I couldn't take it long. She was torturing me with annoyance. So I opened it up to shut her up. I can't recall how I opened it, but I guess it wasn't too difficult. Man, little bitch with a big mouth. Guess all girls are like that, especially at that age. I didn't hang out with her brother at all, just saw him in passing etc.

        One of Little-Richard's cousins, Tony, was a soccer player and tried-out for the White Caps soccer team. Was a very popular team back then and made soccer as popular as hockey. After the White Caps disbanded Vancouver soccer hoopla disappeared. Too bad. I still have the White Caps LP. 7 inch record. Transparent blue. Cool song actually. Tony often taught me soccer in his front yard. Cool guy.

        There was a big old tire with an inner-tube next to the Gousou's house and Richard and I would spend a certain amount of time every day we were together sitting on that tire bouncing up and down and listening to the air come out when we pushed the valve. The air lasted a long time. The day when no more air came out just took all the air out of our day. We were totally bummed-out. I believe he got Tony to pump it back up again a few times, but somehow the air didn't last long at all compared to the first time.

        One time Richard got hold of a sword. We were playing with it in the back alley for not too long when his Grandpa, I assumed his Grandpa- never seen him before, came up to us yelling and scolding taking the sword away. There was a concrete block as high as my head near the end of their fence (our fence actually) and he dulled the blade on it continuing his babbling that I couldn't understand. To our amazement he gave it back to us and walked off still babbling. Smiles broadened on our faces and we continued to play with it. Good for Grandpa.

        Probably the best scene ever played out ended-up in the kitchen and started in the front yard...

        Little-Richard and I were hang'n out on the sidewalk and when two teenage girls walked by (they seemed teenagers to us ) we both said in unison as planned "FUCK YOU!". They giggled and continued on their way, but our attention was abruptly diverted to my mom who was sitting on the front steps the whole time hiding behind the newspaper she was read'n. OOPS! We totally forgot. She was mad and took us both inside and sat us both next to each other on the counter beside the sink. All the time lecturing us, but I couldn't hear a word she said. She said she was going to call Mrs. Gousou (Gooso, Guso). Suddenly as my mom went for the phone (or was it the soap) Richard panicked and vaulted to the floor and sprinted out of there. Quick little sucker. Should have gone with him, but obviously he was thinking something different than me. Mom got on the phone and did the classic thing, such as seen in movie A Christmas Story, "Mrs. Gousou do you know what Richard just said..." covering her mouth so I wouldn't hear- she whispered the rest. I still don't get why she or anyone else for that matter thinks swearing is such a big deal. Bring up your kids by example and don't swear. They'll grow out of swearing if there meant to. If they're intelligent enough. Next thing I know I look out the window behind me to the sound of, "R-r-r-r-icardo! (whap!) R-r-r-r-ricardo!" (whap!) She was outside chasing him and hitting his bottom with a broom after every "Ricardo!" as Richard sprinted down the path to the rear of the house. Looked really funny to see an old Italian woman chasing a little kid. Little kid's legs move really quickly even though they don't go very fast. Comical it was. I turned around to a mouthful of soap. Though I protested it did no good. Bleck! I say, Bleck! Yup, Richard and I had some good times.

        Another time, in the same place we played with the sword, we played with a mop. And matches. Yup, we lit it on fire, but we didn't expect it to burst into flames. Just have been the cleaning chemicals. Richard bat it all around trying to put the flames out but ignited some dry grass in the process. We were freak'n out. We'd be in big shit if it got out of control. We luckily got it out.

        The alley was sometimes a gathering place for all the kids. Most everyone had a garden and a few doors down to the west a family had a chicken coop and rabbits. I sometimes played with the daughter. We often bought eggs from them. Richard and I would often sit on the fence across the alley and pick pea pods and eat them. My first lesson in the total difference between cooked and uncooked. You see, I hated peas, but he reassured me that they were good, and they were. I could hardly believe they were peas. ...

That's a little excerpt from the Old House. More to come.