{"id":9427,"date":"2021-06-14T11:48:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T15:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=9427"},"modified":"2021-09-09T07:13:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T11:13:31","slug":"episode-369-old-picture-freeman-farm-grandpa-eric-dad-spiffy-outfit-laddie-old-verandah-1943-perhaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=9427","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 369: OLD PICTURE FREEMAN FARM … GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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EPISODE 389   OLD FREEMAN FARM…GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY  OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS
                          (SOMETHING IS OUT OF PLACE IN THIS PICTURE\u2026WHAT IS IT?)<\/div>\n


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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
June 2021<\/div>\n

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Take a look at the picture below.  Something is out of place\u2026does not fit\u2026odd.  What is it?<\/div>\n
No, it is not the cat\u2019s bum.  No, it is not the dog Laddie trying to persuade granddad to teach<\/div>\n
him to smoke a pipe.   No, it is not the decrepit back stairs.   Wise up.  Look closer.

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Laddie, grandpa, Eric, and the cat all fit and are in harmony with the shape of the back porch.<\/div>\n
The odd thing is Dad.  Red Skeoch looks spiffy.  Sort of odd for a man whose job was building Truck tires<\/div>\n
at Dunlop Tire Company in Toronto.<\/div>\n

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Look at the new hat\u2026a sleek black fedorah..and the suit.  Spiffy.    Why is he dressed like that?<\/div>\n

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The answer is simple.  Dad is en route to the horse races somewhere in Ontario.  We had no car.<\/div>\n
So getting to the races depended upon special busses leaving for the track at Fort Erie or in New York<\/div>\n
State at Batavia.   Close by , however, were many Toronto racetracks also serviced by special <\/div>\n
busses\u2026Thorncliffe Park, Woodbine, Dufferin and another near Mimico.  Those special busses always<\/div>\n
seemed jammed with men like Dad.  Many were Chinese which was how Dad came to speak Mandarin!<\/div>\n
Dad\u2019s version of Mandarin which is called Gibberish .  His Chinese gambling friends liked dad even<\/div>\n
when he was outlandish.  At least my memory of them involved smiles… <\/div>\n

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Why so spiffy?   Because dad liked to live a second lifestyle .   He had friends everywhere it seemed.  <\/div>\n
One friend let him into the high class part of Woodbine track\u2026or Fort Erie.   He dressed to fit the image<\/div>\n
of the Club House class.  When he took us to the track his instructions were always the same. \u201cLook straight<\/div>\n
ahead boys\u2026walked right through the ticket gate with me\u2026I have a contact taking Club House revenue\u2026Do<\/div>\n
not look anywhere but straight ahead.  If someone yells, keep moving.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Now this picture was taken before he started taking us with mom to racetracks.   Eric must be out<\/div>\n
5 or 6 years old which puts the picture around 1944.   Why wasn\u2019t Dad in the army like so many<\/div>\n
of our relatives?  Too old.  His work was also a necessary war industry.  Armies moved on rubber tires.<\/div>\n
Dad married late in life \u201cbecause no woman would have him\u201d some said.<\/div>\n
But that was not true.  He attracted people\\le even with his offhand manner.  He was one of those people<\/div>\n
who were charismatic.   Charming.  Disarming.  Impolite\u2026.always searching for the golden ring on<\/div>\n
the merry go round of life.  He made our life as his kids fascinating.  <\/div>\n

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He made the life of collection agencies from Finance companies challenging.   Mom often had to<\/div>\n
pay off his debts.  She loved him in spite of his failings.  Whenever he got into trouble her comment<\/div>\n
was \u201cOh Red, you fathead.\u201d<\/div>\n

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THE PICTURE<\/div>\n

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No, I do not know how he got from the farm to the racetrack on that day\u2026Gray Coach bus<\/div>\n
stopped at Silver Creek.   And Uncle Frank could be relied upon to rev up the Model A or<\/div>\n
Model T to get him there.<\/div>\n

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Granddad was poor, respectable, welcoming.  He liked Dad in spite of his tendency to scam<\/div>\n
those around him.   We loved him.<\/div>\n

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alan<\/div>\n
(another Red Skeoch story)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 389   OLD FREEMAN FARM…GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY  OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS                          (SOMETHING IS OUT OF PLACE IN THIS PICTURE\u2026WHAT IS IT?) alan skeoch June 2021 Take a look at the picture below.  Something is out of place\u2026does not fit\u2026odd.  What […]<\/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-9427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427","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=9427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}