Between Greenwood and Coxwell-station is the closest ah between two- two stations, so for- you-know, to get our jollies, whatever, I mean, the subway would go and then we 'd hop down and we 'd try and sprint from Greenwood to Coxwell before the next train came.

About that time, um wh-- see, what ah- yeah, I ah- I was old enough- ah, I was- oh, in fact, I- I quit- I was finished with school, Runnymede-Collegiate. I had my junior matriculation and that's all that you went to- the only time you went and took grade-thirteen or senior matric is if you were going to university. And out of the class that I was in, at Runnymede, there would be about twenty of us and only two went to university.

Speaker: And out of the class that I was in, at Runnymede, there would be about twenty of us and only two went to univesity. Very few people went to university. Interviewer: And very few girls, right? Speaker: Well yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: And ah so it was strictly- junior matric was it. And you needed junior matric to get a decent job, but senior matric, as I say, the only people that ever got one were those who're planning to go on to university.

And- and maybe twenty, thirty guys would get together and they 'd rent a room above a store. The rent might be eight- dollars a-month or so and they 'd scrounge an old sofa and a couple of lamps and a radio and they 'd go up there. And maybe a ping-pong table and it was a- a kibitz place where you 'd kibitz and then they 'd- you 'd have the-

But so during basketball season does he make like a killing in tips when The-Raptors are in town.

Well the Sidney-Smith building is still- this was on the campus sort-of kitty-corner- or across the- that bit of athletic field from um like, U-C and- yeah

So, he went into my knapsack and took something out to lure me away as I were right. And um, well, I- I ran up to him and kicked him in the butt. Um, and then he- he stumbled away um gripping his like um, his- his tailbone.

Speaker: So I would run to school every day, and ah- I don't know what would make me wanna do that but I did- I remember in grade-four I ran to school everyday. Interviewer: With your knapsack on? Speaker: Well, we didn't really have knapsacks because we didn't take stuff home- Like it wasn't- our- our curriculum was not the same as what it is now.

Speaker: Yeah, now I mean Mickey's got a knapsack and he bring homework- every home every night. And he's been doing it for- probably s-- Well he's been doing it since kindergarten. Interviewer: Yeah, I- I brought a knapsack home but I didn't do- Speaker: We- Now we didn't stay at school for lunch either though.

... we were talking about what it would be like to go to Europe and the people who put on their knapsacks that they're Canadian because you just have to say- if you say, "Hi I'd like directions" you're an American 'cause we sound like Americans.

Six in the morning, this guy hops in the truck, starts it and goes. Normally, you start a car, you sit there for a minute or so. Well here we were, throwing things off the back of the truck as it was going down the street. Knapsacks, you-know, there's a sleeping bag, pulling your pants on, and then finally you hop off. (laughter)

so we took all the- all the slats off, we just had them on the edge, so that when they ca-- they came in- my brother was a big lad, they came in, they popped onto the bed and "(crash)." Well I tell you. If we were up on the second floor, Uncle-Fred and Aunt-Kate were in the main floor, and there was a- Uncle-Fred was not very happy.

...and I don 't know why, but there was a certain way of his speech- it 's entirely unsc-- unscientific, I don 't have any recordings or data or anything like that, it was just- there was something very unique about the way this young lad who 's lived in this town most of his life and should sound roughly like most of the other kids in this town...

...when he got uncomfortable he was an Admiral and you weren 't and um the other problem with him- this particular lad- was that he was about- the last time I saw him he was six foot- he was fourteen and a half, he was six foot four and he was about three hundred and thirty pounds and he 'd been gaining weight...

I was watching the news last night and they were talking- it was Slessinger. Jule-Slessinger on The-National, talking about other atrocities other than the two latest topics, the init-- American lad who was executed and the prisoner torture scandal, and um, so they- they were broadcasting brief bits of image of that and one of them was the- one of the planes flying into one of the towers, and I just close my eyes now. I don 't watch.

And I 'll tell you, I mean, being a young lad myself, like if I was in high-school now with all these girls in their skirts, I guarantee you, my hand would be getting up those skirts.

Ah well there were a group of lads who put firecrackers in Richard- Bennet's pocket and lit them. That was bad. Chased them all the way to the back. Like I said the after the school like behind the school there was nothing.

Speaker: There 's like an -one Indian family up the street. Yeah, our neighborhood 's pretty good it 's a safe neighborhood except the laneway. The laneway 's not too safe. Interviewer: Why? A lot of crazy things happen in the laneway? Speaker: Yeah, I was once held up at gun-point with my friends in the laneway. It was me and Marilena and um at the time her boyfriend this guy Jeff and two of his friends, Rui and Jeffrey and Jerry and we were all there in the lane- ways holding forty 's of beer 'cause that 's what we do for fun. No, we don 't-- I don 't do that anymore but at the time, it was fun. So we were there in the laneway and this like black big truck thing drove by and like slowed down and then it came by again, we were still there and then some guy held out a gun out the window and said--then two three black-guys came out of the car and um they came and checked us all for like money oh well not us but the guys.

Speaker: There 's like an -one Indian family up the street. Yeah, our neighborhood 's pretty good it 's a safe neighborhood except the laneway. The laneway's not too safe. Interviewer: Why? A lot of crazy things happen in the laneway? Speaker: Yeah, I was once held up at gun-point with my friends in the laneway. It was me and Marilena and um at the time her boyfriend this guy Jeff and two of his friends, Rui and Jeffrey and Jerry and we were all there in the lane- ways holding forty 's of beer 'cause that 's what we do for fun. No, we don 't-- I don 't do that anymore but at the time, it was fun. So we were there in the laneway and this like black big truck thing drove by and like slowed down and then it came by again, we were still there and then some guy held out a gun out the window and said--then two three black-guys came out of the car and um they came and checked us all for like money oh well not us but the guys.

Speaker: There 's like an -one Indian family up the street. Yeah, our neighborhood 's pretty good it 's a safe neighborhood except the laneway. The laneway's not too safe. Interviewer: Why? A lot of crazy things happen in the laneway? Speaker: Yeah, I was once held up at gun-point with my friends in the laneway. It was me and Marilena and um at the time her boyfriend this guy Jeff and two of his friends, Rui and Jeffrey and Jerry and we were all there in the laneways holding forty 's of beer 'cause that 's what we do for fun. No, we don 't-- I don 't do that anymore but at the time, it was fun. So we were there in the laneway and this like black big truck thing drove by and like slowed down and then it came by again, we were still there and then some guy held out a gun out the window and said--then two three black-guys came out of the car and um they came and checked us all for like money oh well not us but the guys.