Sunday, April 27, 2008

VERDUN TIMES

i find back then a little verduner learned about real money, no credit, parents didn't
hand out money, no restaurants, wanted that bike from wolfe cycles in the front window?? hockey, football equipment, even girls wanted barbie dolls, skipping rope
little kicthen sets, wagan etc.
we had to learn how to make a real dollar to get that stuff we wanted
there was the newspaper run, grocgeries deliveries using your wagon
deliver beer with those big baskets on the bikes, pharmacy delivery
shoveling snow, girls were baby sitting, there was lots more of self employment
for that person to make a real dollar.
back then we made real money, not like today printing paper worthless money
and worst credit, back then we lent monay to third world countries to help them out out??
today we owe third world countries on money borrowed from them sad but
100% true.
lets see back then a verduner would get a average of 10 delivey's of groceries
on a saturday work day summer time, the wagons can move much easy on the
sidewalks.
25 cents a delivery, plus if the service is good you get a dime tip or at times another
25 cents. so on average 35 cents a run.
10 x 35 cents = 3.50 of real silver money back in the early 60's
what would that be worth today if you never used it and just keep it in a box,
drawer.
last month silver it over 21 dolars a ounce, today it tanked to 16.80 a ounce
don't worry the cental banks are just buying time, soon silver will hit over 30.00
dollars a ounce.
real silver money from 1920 to 1967
today value on 16.80 a ounce
dime = 1.01
quarter = 2.52
half dollar = 5.05
dollar = 10.10
back then a small coke and a bag of chips was less that quarter, plus you get 2 cents for the bottle return.
something to think about
 
 
 

50 comments:

the lad MSN said...

Metalman   Right on the "money" brother...nice one.   Lad

onesmac0 MSN said...

that is all so true. As girls we also had to find ways to make money. Lots of gals babysat, and I did hairdos for the mothers in the area. I think I made 50 cents an hour babysitting and I did cuts and perms for a couple of dollars. Nothing was just handed to us like the kids expect today, which may come from the fact that the jobs like delivering groceries, putting pins up at the bowling alley etc, are not available anymore. Babysitting out here in Van.bc, is a dying job also, for people are more inclined to find professional child caretakers or family to sit.
Now on the subject of silver, I wasn't aware of the increase in the value.
Sandra

metalman108 MSN said...

this year(2008) is the last of the production of the 1 cent or called penny it costs 4 cents to manufacture the 1 cent piece, at the cash you will get change to the nickel??  

metalman108 MSN said...

here you go, now you and others can find out what your dimes, quarters silver dollars are worth at today's market. www.coinflation.com/coins/silver/-coin-calculator.html hope i got it rite?

metalman108 MSN said...

another try at it   www.coinflation.com  

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Metalman I left the Hospital on May 2nd at home now,one month in there was long enough for me.The foot's looking good,home care comes everyday to set up the potable pump for the antibiotics and change the bandage every second day.I'd put in a picture of it but don't want to turn anybody's stomache.How's Lindsey? Steve

maggiemck MSN said...

Welcome Back Steve! Glad you are on the mend. Thanks for thinking about my weak stomache and not posting pics!

metalman108 MSN said...

hey- steve   good to know you are back home, you sure had a rough ride finnally its almost over. as young verduners we take health for granted later in life getting older you find watching your health is the biggest wealth a person can have. myself i learned this experience months ago, today health is on top on my list. yes finnally lindsay project is over, now back in ottawa, there's another project i'm going to see is in kingston, the army base this morning, foundation work the contractor called told me the other contractor is going bust?? will look at site conditions, most see if my cost is in there budget to take over. we had a good 5 years run in the construction industry, now its starting to really slow down. back to hard times, us verduners can handle hard times, we grew up in hard times harvard can't teach you what we learned on the streets, lanes, boardwalk working in sweat shops on st patrick st, factories, the blue collar worker walking home with his or her metal lunch box, the kids and mommy waiting for dad to come home. no take out food delivered back then, what was on the kitchen table to eat. thinking back then, we ate more healthy than what most of us are eating today steve posted a little fast story, will see you soon, i have more time now  

the lad MSN said...

Metalman   Keep going brother...you hit the nail on the head about old days back home.. Steve good to see you on the mend..take it easy.   Lad

les__f MSN said...

Strange how we change over the years,.but I'm now starting to think that if We make it through our 50's we have a good chance at some sort of a reasonable life span,but more & more I've noticed a lot of friends leaving us ,all too soon. and the ones that have put the 50- 60 milestones behind them ,seem to enjoy life...........Weird rights of Passage I guess, When were younger ,were Invincible,then We realise were quite ordinary,& mortality is definetly on the radar screen.
       We start to Appreciate all our friends & family more & more,and the 'annoyances in life' aren't so Important:
                    Don't sweat the small stuff ............HF&RV Good Luck Steve

winnie3ave MSN said...

Les. The reason I need to stick around is because my pension and social security would stop. I can't afford to lose that income. It would cost me to much money....

the lad MSN said...

Les   Excellent idea..Don't sweat the small stuff.  Overall it doesn't mean a thing if you do.   Thanks Les..   Lad      

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Thanks everbody.Got the nurse comming everday to change the antibiotics and the bandage on my foot.   Steve

metalman108 MSN said...

hey- steve   i'm posting a pic and emma my mom, we both want to to get better and use your mind. the mind is a powerful tool, i'll be traveling towards your hood on the way to kingston, will also posts pics on the kingston army base stuff etc. can't forget verdun will be touring the streets of verdun also posting pics on verdun. here's a picture of your front door of verdun also, across the street from woodland pizza, yes the past of verdun times, steve post your pic with captian bonhome love that caddy.

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Me and Captain  Bonhome. Just for you Walter. Steve

stephenfredmond MSN said...

My Dad and me infront of 5515 Wellington.   Steve

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Walter here's Tommy infront of 5515 Wellington. Steve

stephenfredmond MSN said...

  Me and my sister Sue on Woodland Walter. Steve

metalman108 MSN said...

the talent of kick starting a vc site, steve you are one member that can make a site active, don't get me wrong to other few members that have and are still being active everyday on the site. the more members jumping in the better and interesting stuff to enjoy thanks steve for jumping in as other members are thankful also. love that picture of captain bonhome with you sitting with captain bonhome with his caddilac. back then us little verduners looked up to him on wooodland ave, like he was donald trump today. captain bonhome was a mentor, sad part he didn't know how many kids looked up to him.  back then we were taught that rich people were bad, they stole from the poor etc, how wrong and stupid way of thinking, the truth they were just jealous.    

metalman108 MSN said...

steve   here's some pictures on the job site in kingston i took today, 3 more weeks to go this is it for out of town work steve, i'm getting to old for this bull work of concrete form work, the trouble is there's no young people to take over just us guys in our 50's +. in time the asians will take that over also???  

stephenfredmond MSN said...

This message has been deleted by the author.

metalman108 MSN said...

hey-steve   the first picture you posted is in your hood, kanata centrum the new hockey pro store back then we had wolfe cycles on wellington street a hockey stick for 7 dollars they are building 4 pro hockey stores in ottawa area, the fellow told us its costs 28k a month for us the place, you need to sell a lot of hockey equipment for us the rent. rite across is the new moxies restaurant, now thats a place to enjoy lunch and looking at the enviroment inside, bottan rouge restaurant better find a new staff??? moxies is full house and bottan rouge is almost empty, the owners called us to build the new trellis which is in front of moxie entrance clear cedar at 2.40 a ft. will post the finish job, rite now steff and yve are building the trellis at the shop they don't want no more out of town so myself and my two sons and a crew are in kingston dong the form work at the army base. soon i'll get back into verdun pictures but at the this time i'll keep active on the vc site for those to view and enjoy verduner stuff, yes we verduners are known for hard workers, we can't forget we are from a hard working blue collar town verdun. the guys in the picture are from montreal east end, been with me over 15 years now they go to montreal at times also, real true quebecers yet they love ottawa no traffic here like montreal from orleans to kanata is a nothing compared to montreal morning traffic.ottawa to us is like a mini mini montreal  french and english working together just like it was 30 years ago in montreal. well steve hope your foot is better, looking at the picture it looked sore!!! i'm off to syracuse to go shopping at the big mall they started building it bigger its a big mall, easier to drive there than driving to montreal traffic      

stephenfredmond MSN said...

                                                 Steve

guy5479 MSN said...

Steve, What is of interest to me is the photo of the Verdun Stadium spectator stand. What are all the old jelopies doing there. Was there a demolishing derby going on at one point of the stadium's history. Guy 

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Guy I found those pictures on some site I was surfing .I don't know if there was a derby in there in the later parts.But don't foreget that was the back of the Verdun Police Station or a Montreal Police Station.I'll try and find the site again and post it for you Guy. Steve

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Guy this is the address that I found that picture on. : coolopolis.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-verdun.h... Steve

guy5479 MSN said...

Steve, Thanks for the information. Guy

earlcooper1 MSN said...

Amazing pictures, Steve!

kw10110 MSN said...

Those pictures of the store and church on Woodland brought back good memories. I used to deliver the Montreal Star for the store. That would be about 1942. One of our group lived at the corner of Egan and we had a clubhouse in his basement.We were able to enter through a basement window on Egan.Many thanks for the memories

guy5479 MSN said...

I would like to add more information regarding those excellant old pictures of Verdun as follows:   Picture No. 1: This picture was posted before and is identified: Wellington street in 1944. Picture No. 2: Marshall's corner Wellington and Church. Picture No. 3: Barber shop on Wellington street 1936 identified. Picture No. 4: Corner Argyle & Verdun identified. Picture No. 5: Corner Church and Champlain. The Aqueduct bridge is just around the corner up the hill. Picture no. 6: Photo taken in front of the Auditorium. Picture No. 7: Ten city officials with Bryce MacAsay (?) at the extreme right. Building to be identified. Picture No. 7: Chimney sweeper unidentified. Picture No. 8: Children crossing street. Looks like the St Willibrord school corner Willibrord and Verdun. Picture 9: Across Jolicoeur bridge facing Verdun, between 4th and 5th ave. Picture No. 10: Verdun Stadium app. foot of Gordon where McDonalds restaurant is situated.   Do I get 10 out of 10 ?   Guy  

les__f MSN said...

Hi Guy those jalopies you refer to are junk cars that were held beside the stadium in a car impound lot,....as kids we played in there ,later they built a double high chain link fence around them,& we used to climb it and still play in there.........hahahah                                                                             hf&rv coolpolis is a good site, we've posted many articles & photos from there over the years,......the school is as you say StWillibrord ( a grade school) it was actually at the corner of Rielle & Verdun,....but it's property ,the schoolyard actually ran right to Willibrord Av & Verdun Av..........and along Willibrord. I went to that school as did a number of Our members here today,..............  the pictures are from the Verdun Archive's which I think you would find in the SHGV building through the library.....................  That would be a great find :      HF&RV

gary8403 MSN said...

Great shots... wonderful memories. Do you know approximately when the picture # 8 was taken in front of St. Willibrord's Primary School?

les__f MSN said...

It's difficult to say what year it was, but that is a relatively old car parked in front of the school, closer to Rielle also the building that stands on the opposite corner again at Rielle & Verdun, is not the one that exisited there in the very early 60's....the one that's there now,has a pharmacy in the basement & it's an apartment building. ( I believe   'the lad: lived in it at one point) .......I posted a shot of the present building a few weeks back, The building in the photo is of the standard red brick style,.and you can see two billboards for advertising on the side of the house,one of the signs looks like an ad for Sherwin Williams Paint ,with the old can of paint spilling on to the earth,.usually accompanied by the slogan "Cover the World" ........ My guess is that the few cars on Verdun Av,and the relative age of the one car that we can barely see,would make this photo from the 40's also there are a lot of bicyles in the schoolyard,more than I remembered as a kid.                                                                                HF&RV

guy5479 MSN said...

The enclosed Verdun Messager article speaks for itself. Guy    

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Here is a picture of the school on Verdun Avenue between Sixth and Fifth avenues. This one is Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix School,it's on Caisse Avenue.   These where taken in the past couple of years.   Steve  

metalman108 MSN said...

  what happened, yes inflation is the killer, and it won't stop either, years ago i wrote about oil, gold, some were imterested, most just think i was a fool. well here's a example if those that had 10k in 2002 hidden in there shoe box today its only worth 6500.00 dollars, you lost 35% because of inflation. if you invested that 10k into gold coins in 2002 and hide them in your cookie jar today its worth over 35,000.00, it went up 350%. gold, silver will continue to rise    

guy5479 MSN said...

Young boy having a good time eating candies at an undisclosed corner of Verdun probably in the 60s or 70s. Guy ARCHIVES SHGV  

les__f MSN said...

Neat picture Guy,.I would suggest that this is definetly from the 70's ,based on the cars that can be seen,.as well as the sign in the store window,offering 300ml for sale , & I don't think the 'metric' system was in effect until the early 70's ( like 72ish) the beginning of Trudeau's second term in office,.his first was from '68-'72 ( I think)                                                                        hf&rv

guy5479 MSN said...

The best part of our lives. Guy   Phto: Guy De Lafontaine SHGV Archives  

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Guy what park is that picture from posting number 40 from?Would it be from the eastend of Verdun or Brown Blvd.? Steve

guy5479 MSN said...

Steve, The only information concerning the photo is the author as shown. Sorry. Guy

keithinbeeton2 MSN said...

Hi Steve,   I don't think this is Brown Blvd. I used to live at 1211 near the park. It was in two sections, one end had the swings, monkey bars, slides etc. My father used to take me to the park and push me in the swings, but I don't recall seeing those spiral staircases on the street. The second floor was accessed at the same level as the lowers, but had interior stairs up. May be wrong though. I dont recall shovelling these types of stairs in the winter for 25 cents.   rgds Keith Harrison

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Brown(Wilson)and Melrose are similar I guess with the baseball Diamond in them and rink in winter.Beaty And Demarche you would see the boardwalk behind them and would be Lasalle Blvd. in front.Wilibroad they swings where inback of the building that had the change rooms and you would have seen the back of the Verdun City Hall or Lisence Bureau.May that wasn't Verdun at all. Steve

gary8403 MSN said...

Thanks Les... you have remarkable skills for detail. Congratulations on your contribution to this site. It continues to be an enjoyable voyage down memory lane. I look forward to viewing it daily. The trams and buses are great even the mention of shifting gears brings back the childhood recollections.

guy5479 MSN said...

A group of children from the Verdun YMCA enjoying a day in LaSalle on the 25th of August 1943. I guess the island in the right background is Herron Island. Guy    

metalman108 MSN said...

today i went i got the picture of IGA,  also i noticed the old stone building is getting a major reno, i asked around and i found out they are spending 1 million on the old stone building, also they are excavating looking for history from the past etc. the nat is a total different place lots of ;pics coming out on verdun    

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Walter those pictures you took yesturday are great. The Nat. without that old fence around it makes it look more like a beach. Steve

metalman108 MSN said...

hey-steve   went for my walk on the boardwalk and thanks for enjoying the pictures  

stephenfredmond MSN said...

Walter the Old St.Thomas Moore School are great photos. Steve

metalman108 MSN said...

looks like it will become a condo project in the near future, its just a question of time the old school looks beat up.