{"id":1750,"date":"2018-10-28T22:59:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T02:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2018-10-28T23:03:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T03:03:41","slug":"fwd-dad-hits-the-dtich-with-the-1953-meteror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1750","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: DAD HITS THE DTICH WITH THE 1953 METEROR"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


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From: <\/b><\/span>Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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Subject: <\/b><\/span>DAD HITS THE DTICH WITH THE 1953 METEROR<\/b>
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Date: <\/b><\/span>January 14, 2018 at 11:07:16 AM EST
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To: <\/b><\/span>Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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DAD HITS THE DITCH\u2026BLAMES  THE  ROAD<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan. 2018<\/div>\n

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\u201cFix your goddamn road\u2026hear me\u2026.FIX YOUR ROAD!!\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u2018Red!  Red!  Be careful, you’re weaving all over the road.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201chave to miss the pot holes\u2026could break a spring.  If that son of a  bitch would  fix  his road, I wouldn\u2019t have<\/div>\n
play  Dodge \u2018Em all the way to the farm.  FIX YOUR ROAD!!\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cRed! You Fathead!*  You\u2019re off the road\u2026Yiiiiii\u2026we\u2019re going to tUrn over in the swamp.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cGet out ..  everybody out.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cElsie\u2026get out my door\u2026.not yours\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t\u2026I  cannot move.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cHigh heels have gone through the floorboards\u2026.pinned me here.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cTake off your shoes\u2026crawl out\u2026not that way\u2026boys can see top of your nylons\u2026girdle clips\u2026be more graceful can\u2019t you?\u201d<\/div>\n

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{*Calling Dad a Fathead  was the  closest Mom every got to swearing.  Dad made up for this lack  of obscenities however.}<\/div>\n

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\u201cSlip up the road  and  get Frank or Ted to come down  to haul us out.”<\/div>\n
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That little adventure was just taken for granted  when driving with Dad on the Fifth Line.  For some perverse reasons he held<\/div>\n
farmers accountable for the roads  in front of their farms.  As  if we were still living in pioneer times.  And he loved to<\/div>\n
yell  obscenities  at them. Most of them knew him and probably let the words  slides of them like  water off a duck\u2019s back.<\/div>\n
In this caee  we had to get cousin Ted  Freeman to bring the tractor down with a chain to get us out of the ditch.<\/div>\n

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turned  out to be a good chance to laugh at Dad\u2019s expense.<\/div>\n

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Dad was never easy to control.  Impossible really.  <\/div>\n

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We bought the 1953 Meteor for $400 in 1958.  None of us  could drive\u2026neither Dad, mom, Eric nor myself.  By 1958 every one we knew seemed<\/div>\n
to have a car so  Eric  and  I sleuthed  out the Meteor from a used  car dealer on Bloor. We believed his sales pitch. <\/div>\n

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 \u201cGreat car\u2026the owner<\/div>\n
developed  gangrene in his right leg and cold no loner drive.  This car just came on the lot today but won\u2019t be here long.\u201d<\/div>\n
Eric and I believed  his  sales pitch.<\/div>\n

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\u201cMom, we should  buy this car.  Can you find  $400?\u201d    <\/div>\n

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Mom was the stable part of our family.  She made her money as  a seamstress in<\/div>\n
various garment factories and sweatshops in west Toronto.  And  she saved what she could.  Dad had a good job\u2026high paying tire <\/div>\n
builder at Dunlop Tire Corpoation\u2026skilled..but he never saved a cent.  Plowed his money and  any he  could  beg, borrow or steal down the throats<\/div>\n
of race horses across Ontario and even into New York State\u2019s  Batavia Downs.  I thought the word Garnishee was just a  normal deduction from <\/div>\n
wages.   Later we came to understand  that Finance Companies had long arms that could reach right into the accountants office at Dunlop\u2019s.<\/div>\n
Dad treated debt just like he  treated the farmers on gravel roads.  People that had money should be willing to lend a  bit to him.  Non refundable loans.<\/div>\n
To Eric and  I, this was normal.  Adventures with finance companies need a whole chapter.  \u201cBastards have more money than  they know what to do with\u2026\u201d  <\/div>\n
Should make you laugh or cry. We never could  understand  why people would  say  \u201cthose poor boys\u201d  because we never felt poor.  Dad  loved  us although he<\/div>\n
never said so.  Love was a word used by sissies. But we knew\u2026as did Mom.  We<\/div>\n
felt we were part of a  great adventure\u2026new surprise every  day.<\/div>\n

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The car gave Dad  more freedom.  Which  unleashed even more  weird behaviour.<\/div>\n

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Ten few  years later when Marjorie and I were married we were at the farm and entrusted Dad with the kids<\/div>\n
while we went shopping .  When we returned a couple  of hours  later.  There they were\u2026all three of<\/div>\n
them chomping and puffing on White Owl  Invicible cigars.<\/div>\n

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Not a bad thing really for neither Kevin nor Andy became  smokers\u2026.except of course for the odd cigar now and then.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan. 2018<\/div>\n

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Begin forwarded message: From: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> Subject: DAD HITS THE DTICH WITH THE 1953 METEROR Date: January 14, 2018 at 11:07:16 AM EST To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@rogers.com> DAD HITS THE DITCH\u2026BLAMES  THE  ROAD alan skeoch Jan. 2018 \u201cFix your goddamn road\u2026hear me\u2026.FIX YOUR ROAD!!\u201d \u2018Red!  Red!  Be careful, you’re weaving all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}