There are lots of important issues to discuss as our community continues to transform, but not today. I will instead indulge myself with whimsical memories of backto- school yesteryear.
Even though there are a couple of weeks left in this memorable summer, most of us recognize the Labour Day long weekend as one of those big transition times. You have seen it in our local parks as smaller balls are replaced with bigger ones. Bleachers and fences are down and park staff have begun lining the fields for soccer.
If you have kids, you are experiencing, or will recall, the flurry of activity required to prepare for the big day. Back-to-school flyers have been crammed in to our local papers for weeks and local retailers have made sure that we are reminded of what we should provide for our kids.
I can remember looking forward to shopping with my brothers and my mom for back-to-school clothes.
I would always look forward to it because I thought that each year would be the year that I could actually choose my own clothes. Never happened.
The jeans that I coveted would be considered too informal for school. Corduroy pants were deemed proper school attire in our family. T-shirts? No way. Button up shirts? As many as you want. All anchored with requisite "sensible" shoes.
By Grade 8, everyone in my peer group were wearing jeans, jean jackets and work boots. My mom did not want me to look like the Fonz. She was OK with me looking like Ritchie Cunningham though. I guess when you are paying the tab you get to pick.
I had always had paper routes as a kid and decided in Grade 9 to step it up a notch.
I took on a 160 paper morning route which was considered quite large in the day. It was an easy task though. I recall it was 11 apartments and six homes and it took me about a half hour. I would spin my way at lightning speed from the top floors to the bottom negotiating the stairwells with the deft skill of a mountain goat. I could finish the route and get back home for an hour nap before school. Those hour naps were the best.
I was making some decent coin and considered investing some of it. I saw denim as the future and spent an early September Saturday at Woodwards Oakridge buying what I wanted to wear. In no time at all, I had what I needed to fit in on the school grounds and elsewhere. In 1973 every boy in North America had an Adidas bag. They were sort of a smallish vinyl duffel bag that came in several colours. These were the cool bags to carry stuff in prior to the backpacks we see today.
To avoid an inevitable confrontation on conservatism as it related to family school dress codes, I packed my new jeans, jacket and boots in to my Adidas bag and secured it to the "rat trap" on my Peugeot ten speed.
Leaving the house as Ritchie I would arrive a little early at my gym locker to make the transition to Fonz. Heyyyyy! Enjoy the transition from summer to fall. A great time of year!
