Those of us , still Verdunites at heart , what do you miss about Verdun .
I miss all , the lanes, balconys, rinks , sheds , freindly people, what about you . jim
THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
23 comments:
I miss all the pals I had, the comraderie, the fun, the games, the Nat, the Y in the winter, the snow forts, the fact that as a kid I could go up to Wellington Street, and go into the 5 and 10 cent store and buy something with 10 cent. the horse and buggies, the ice man, the back lanes, the rag man, I miss everything about Verdun, it was a great place to live. I am sorry I only had 10 years of it, I wish I had the next 10 years, that would have been a blast.
Hi Jimmy ( Kungfu),....you pretty much covered most of it,........ but recalling the old Verdun Times,.is a reasonable replacement,....there are so many people on here now,that we can relive or revisit,.some of those growing up days in Verdun,...... Playing on the rooftops,......or down by the river,........or swimming at the 'Nat' ....or skating on outdoor rinks,........goping to the 'Aud' for hockey games,..... playing in the Stadium,...under the lights,...(that was always a cool feeling playing on the fiels with those huge bright lights illuminating the grass ....(just like the big guys)...........hahahahah It certainl was fun,..........Oh yea ,..walking the boardwalk too.....with a bag of Vinegar & Salt soaked Fries,............. Good Memory Prompt Kungfu.............. HF&RV
I miss the potatoe chips on the Nat Rooftop after swimming , the great candy at Senkas Store on 3rd ave, and once in a while able to charge a chocolate bar to Moms bill!, spin the bottle with my pals, playing cards (31) with pals on the gallery all summer, going to wellington street on saturdays with my Mom with the hope she would buy me a little something! Skating at 1st ave rink after school with pals . Skipping rope on 3rd all day until there were holes in the bottom of our shoes..........and the list goes on..........it was great being poor on 3rd ave. cookie
Cookie3261,........good memory...........the rink at 1st ave,.I am guessing it's the Willibrord Park rink,.with the Schack where we could go in and warm up a bit............ also Remember palying a game at birthday parties,.where we used to try & drop a 'clothes pin' (Remember those things...hahahaha) into a ' Glass Milk Bottle' ( Remember those things.......................hahahahah Kids had a lot of fun in those days..........it seems now we have kids wearing $150 running shoes,.which they wear to play video games.........................hahahahahah and for $150 bucks a pair you don't even get that little rubber patch sewn onto the ankle part of the runner......................YIKES ..............................chips at the Nat (good one).............how about popsicles that we would hit on the edge of fence or countertop to slit evenly with a friend................Remember sometimes one side of the popsicle would break off with a little piece from the other half stuck to it.......... .and Soft Icecream Cones, sometimes dipped in chocolate, or the old style cones with the duoble sided cone for those extra scoops of your favourite flavour ice cream,.........or the rag that was tied to the top of the Soft Ice Cream Coolers to wipe the bottle on ,and that big Bottle Opener on the side of the Cooler..........ahhhhhhhhh Good Memories of being a kid: HF&RV
Everything mentioned so far, is what I miss also. Talking about all the games we played, like spin the bottle. I use to like playing pony express. It is the same game as post office, except there is more HORSING around!!!!!! Life is good, EH!!!!!!!
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I miss the winding staircases - steamed hotdogs and fries, Pizza, smoked meat sandwiches although they now give me heart burn - great spaghetti just about anywhere you went, Saturday morning at Steinbergs loved their chicken pies - remeber when they came in pyrex bowl?? granny had tons of those - or Saturday at Atwater market especially in fall - it is also lovely in summer with all the flowers now and go for a coffee and cake at Premiere Moissan - great bread as only you can find in Montreal - my family - the old Churches - Central Station - the old 5 & dime with the wooden floors. Eastern townships, Granby zoo, Beaver lake, old Montreal especially the alley with the artisans - brought home and framed some drawings of spiral staircases - reminded me of the West End or Verdun but was actually the area around Frontenac - Plateau area.
ShirleyBH2 ,.......I am in luck,.I picked up a friend of mine at the airport yesterday,.who was just getting back from Montreal,....and Yup ,.brought us some vaccumed packed bags of all ready sliced Smoked Meat right from Montreal....................Yahoo ! hahahaha Amazing all the memories,.we all have from Verdun/ Montreal......and alot of them are the same,......spanning many years of people,....... Certainly a very common denominator ..........Verdun hf&rv
My first maltese used to love smoked meat - I am sure this bunch would love it too if I fed it to them but anyways when I would arrive back from Montreal with a whole slab of smoked meat and a fresh rye bread the dog would sit at the counter while I sliced it and vacu packed it and then made us some sandwiches to eat - later on my sisters boyfriend owned a restaurant and he would prepare me up sliced smoked meat vacupacked in 1/2 pound packs - I bet I still have one in the freezer -lol.
Sounds good Shirley,....and half pound bags are a good size,.... ...aside from the Smoked Meat ,my buddy brought back for us,.He also found this old Montreal Gazette ,dated June 3rd 1978.....it was a Special Edition Gazette comemerating the Bi-Centennial of the Paper ......So I will have some fun reading some of the old news,......etc etc.some of the ads are hilarious ,seeing how cheap cars really were,.although we thought them to be sort of out of reach & astronomical ,.back then...... I never saw this paper ,back then as I was already living here on Vancouver Island ..........YIKES !!! Everyone is getting old..........not me.hahahahah HF&RV ps: I'll trade your dog some Milkbones (I have on hand for visitng pooches).......for his share of the Smoked meat..........hahahahaha
Well I'm, enjoying this old copy of the June 3rd 1978,.......of the Montreal Gazette........ there are some really neat old pics ,.....and stories in here,.which i will try to scan in the coming weeks,.as I read them,......I think a lot os you will find it somewhat interesting,............. but in continuing with Teresa & I's summer escape plans,............I will be away most of next week ,.to some Beaches here on the Island (Vancouver Island),.........as we have been back here in Victoria for this past week ,after Our Weeks escape to the mainland ,......(a different topic thread)................ but I want to scan some of these neat old Gazette articles and show them to you all....when I get back.................. One of our members lives close to where We'll be headed for a week or so,.....and I'll be flying over all your houses up island ,..so smile ,you may be on my candid camera...................hahahaha Tiny Tina , I will ask my buddy to see if we can fly over your neck of the woods too.................I'll wave .........hahahahha so you make sure you wave to all those little planes cruising over your area.............. HF&RV
Will do Les one day you and your wife will have to stop by, may you can meet the mechanic on this side. HF SY Tiny-Tina
i miss beautiful summer days of perfect weather , good neighbors, normalcy, picnics, shad flies , now, its just not the same. melo rolls, dream cicles, yo yo contests, roller skates, dances at the y. the good old days in verdun were the most precious memories i have. even the horse and buggy. the winters were equally enjoyable jumping off roofs, skating ,toboganning, the smell of freshly fallen snow, making angels. sucking icicles. thank you verdun.life was a celebration of everything.carolyn bennett
Even the rain storms were great,& they always came in time to help cool off the city streets,.Remember the rain bouncing off the sidewalks,.....and it would be over as quick as it came ,.just help us cool off,and then the smell after the rain,......almost a steam like smell..... the parks were great for all seasons,...the river of coursew was a general magnet,......the rooftops,....the pinching the odd coke off the truck during a delivery.......hahahahaha .forgis me fa--- sorry that's another thread......hahaha\ lika-made ,Remember that sour kinda stuff ,...and sometimes it came in a sort of straw.? Sitting on the Front Gallery watching all the people walking down Wellington Street,.......having a glass of Ginger-Ale,with the fizzing up your nose on that first & maybe second sip.............Yup,it was a neat time to Remember........or being sent to the store to get 'soft icecream for everyone back at the house,Remember they gave us those sort of cardboard plates with holes in them to carry 5 or 6 cones........hahahaha and a special trip would be to the Dairy Queen,,,,that was the big time,..a Banana Split, in that boat like plastic dish,kids could keep and use as a little toy boat................Spruce Beer too of course with that wired down ceramic top.....................and as we mentioned a few years back,.....lining up on any street to jump over the stream of water from the 'Water Truck' ...............Alllllllll Goood Stuuuuuffff HF&RV
Remember the dances at the bandshell at Woodland and LaSalle Blvd. ...having a burger and fry at the "Pav" on the boardwalk, then going next door to watch the pretty girls play tennis. The old Whites restaurant (now Woodland's) when they had the poker games in their basement. Hopping on the back of busses on Wellington or on oil trucks in the lanes. Getting your tongue stuck to a metal pole in winter.Stealing money from empty milk bottles, before the milkman arrived with his horse and wagon. Frozen milk popping the cardboard lids off the milk bottles. Spruce beer in bottles with wire caps. Going to the store for cigarettes for my mom which were 38 cents a pack. When an allowance of 25 cents had to last you Sat and Sun.Renting bicycles at 35 cents per hour from a guy who had a bike business in his back garage on Galt below Wellington. Freshly made humbugs from Stilwells.
Laurie. I remember each and every one of those things. It looks like we all did the same things.....
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Laurie the bike rental guy was named Bayard's ,.....Remember going thriugh to the back yard through a tunnel like entrance into a courtyard,& he had a ton of Bikes and was always pleasant to deal with,.he always seemed to be working on the bench table by the door,..lot's of Verun allowances disappeared through those doors.............hahahahah .....and the cream at the top of those milk bottles,.......... I also Remember in the local parks ,.they would have park monitors,who got the summer job,.and they would be the ones who dished out the 'stilts''or basketballs,......etc etc ........ and the milk truck would come around the parks and give all the kids a free carton of milk,........... HF&RV
Les....those milk trucks coming to the park,and we would line up against the chain link fence at willibrord park (first ave) whatever....after the milk, get back on those monkey bars and hang upside down.....then onto the swing and try to go over the bars (only did that once)..remember when the girls would sit on the swings,and the boys would stand on them...and at the rink in the winter, the big thrill we all got just to hold hands..........such simple times, and we walked everywhere in those days and our runners didn't cost $150.00.....more like $1.25 per pair...hahahaha cookie
Great recall Cookie,..........Willibrord park and stading on the swings ,.you are right,.I think we did it just to get a more leveraged swing,.........I never did go right over the bars,.because one year they changed the old wooden swings with the long steel bar links which hooked together like eyelets,.?( you know what I mean )..and they changed hte swings to those belt type of swings,,,,,with a complete chain,instead of the old type which always pinched your fingers if your hand slid down the chain,,,,,,,,hahahah another year of those older style chains & I think I would have made it over,........On;y really saw it done a few times ,always by some really older guys,...(probably 13 or 14 ish).............hahahahahaha but we tried none the less................. I never thought about swigiing down a carton of milk & then running back to the swing (to beat someone else to it)........and we never threw up..................hahahahha Some kids did,......You know I can vividly picture the back of the building on the playground side,with it's green doors into the storage shed ,where they kept the good stuff,.that never made an appearance until about 10am,....the othere side of the building of course was on the Rink / Baseball side & of course had the Girls & Boys washrooms ,..and changing rooms for skates ,with Pops hanging around and smoking a pipe ( Remember the building always smelled warm,.........and had the smell of Pipe tobacco..................Of yea it had the water fountain in thee too,....and the water NEVER tasted Cold,..no matter how long you ran it................. Thanks for that recall........................... HF&RV
I miss leaving my doors unlocked, Walking down to the "river" for a day of fishing and fun. "Torchy warf". Steamies & Fries. Wellington Street. Moving on May 1st and having the neighbours bring a case of beer and help you with the furniture. Ahm the good old days, Willie
I miss,,,window shopping along Wellington, Cherry cokes at Prince George Restaurant. Stopping for a doughnut and hot chocolate at Master Doughnuts on a wintery Sunday afternoon with Rene Harrison. Playing "pops" on the ledged wall at Willibrord and LaSalle. Street dances, sidewalk sales (Verdun does it best) and walks down the street on a hot summer night. The lights of Downtown Montreal.
I remember the free milk we used to make sure we were up Saturday morning early to get in line because he had chocolate milk first ones in line could get it when he ran out we only had white milk.I also remember those rings you hang on swing around the pole how many times getting hit in back of my head with those.Do you remember Stillwells candy store buying Humbugs,chocolate tools,coconut balls,black babies,and 1cent chips in a little bag all the scrapes they were good.
Les While back you ,mentioned Willibrord Park. Just read it now. In the old shack went to get drink of water and just as I bent down there was a small frog sitting there. The water always ran in the fountain. Figure he was at home..so I took a pass.. Nothing like playing ball on the field in the hot summer and waiting for some kid to come over with a King size coke in those days filled with water from the same fountain...too hot too care...hahaha Lad
The little bedroom at the front where my sister & I had bunkbeds & the gallery off of it that faced the street, I miss that bedroom. Walking down the street barefoot on a hot summer's night. Playing ball in the lane. Hanging out at the lane. Kosta's pizza with french fries in the same order. Doc's corner store or Morris's where you'd see all the guys reading comics & being told they have to buy them. You also had a huge choice of penny candy, for one - honeymoons! I haven't seen them since we left Verdun.
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