EPISODE 389 OLD FREEMAN FARM…GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS
(SOMETHING IS OUT OF PLACE IN THIS PICTURE…WHAT IS IT?)
alan skeoch
June 2021
Take a look at the picture below. Something is out of place…does not fit…odd. What is it?
No, it is not the cat’s bum. No, it is not the dog Laddie trying to persuade granddad to teach
him to smoke a pipe. No, it is not the decrepit back stairs. Wise up. Look closer.
Laddie, grandpa, Eric, and the cat all fit and are in harmony with the shape of the back porch.
The odd thing is Dad. Red Skeoch looks spiffy. Sort of odd for a man whose job was building Truck tires
at Dunlop Tire Company in Toronto.
Look at the new hat…a sleek black fedorah..and the suit. Spiffy. Why is he dressed like that?
The answer is simple. Dad is en route to the horse races somewhere in Ontario. We had no car.
So getting to the races depended upon special busses leaving for the track at Fort Erie or in New York
State at Batavia. Close by , however, were many Toronto racetracks also serviced by special
busses…Thorncliffe Park, Woodbine, Dufferin and another near Mimico. Those special busses always
seemed jammed with men like Dad. Many were Chinese which was how Dad came to speak Mandarin!
Dad’s version of Mandarin which is called Gibberish . His Chinese gambling friends liked dad even
when he was outlandish. At least my memory of them involved smiles…
Why so spiffy? Because dad liked to live a second lifestyle . He had friends everywhere it seemed.
One friend let him into the high class part of Woodbine track…or Fort Erie. He dressed to fit the image
of the Club House class. When he took us to the track his instructions were always the same. “Look straight
ahead boys…walked right through the ticket gate with me…I have a contact taking Club House revenue…Do
not look anywhere but straight ahead. If someone yells, keep moving.”
Now this picture was taken before he started taking us with mom to racetracks. Eric must be out
5 or 6 years old which puts the picture around 1944. Why wasn’t Dad in the army like so many
of our relatives? Too old. His work was also a necessary war industry. Armies moved on rubber tires.
Dad married late in life “because no woman would have him” some said.
But that was not true. He attracted people\le even with his offhand manner. He was one of those people
who were charismatic. Charming. Disarming. Impolite….always searching for the golden ring on
the merry go round of life. He made our life as his kids fascinating.
He made the life of collection agencies from Finance companies challenging. Mom often had to
pay off his debts. She loved him in spite of his failings. Whenever he got into trouble her comment
was “Oh Red, you fathead.”
THE PICTURE
No, I do not know how he got from the farm to the racetrack on that day…Gray Coach bus
stopped at Silver Creek. And Uncle Frank could be relied upon to rev up the Model A or
Model T to get him there.
Granddad was poor, respectable, welcoming. He liked Dad in spite of his tendency to scam
those around him. We loved him.
alan
(another Red Skeoch story)