Chapter 11 - Canada

The move to Canada was
the same year as the
centennial celebration

For the first week of our residence in Canada the company paid for the four of us to be housed in a motel on Highway #2 in the village of Pickering with an attached restaurant that provided our meals. One of the HR guys and also the safety officer for the plant lived in Pickering and picked me up in his car daily for work until I could make arrangements to buy a vehicle for the family. I purchased a 1960 Chevy Biscayne 1960 which served us well for just over a year and then we moved on to a 1967 Pontiac Parisienne, as the cash flow problem eased up somewhat. 

A political cartoon featuring
Harold Wilson

The problem arose from the fact that the house we left in Marske had not yet been sold and by the time it was and the cash deposited into our account for transfer to the newly opened Canadian account the British Labour government under the leadership of Harold Wilson had decided to de-value the British pound. My bank manager in the UK informed me that they had been delaying transfers of cash by holding them back which, sadly cost us around six hundred pounds making life more difficult to get established in a new country. This did not endear me towards either the Labour Party or Mr. Harold Wilson whose name was not mentioned in kindness after that, which was about the same as it had always been come to think of it.

8 Iroquois Avenue, the first house in Oshawa    

Waiting for the funds to arrive made it necessary to rent a house in Whitby for a couple of months. Eventually, all became well and we bought a new back split home on Iroquois Avenue in Oshawa. We lived there for five years. The real estate agent, Darwin Vickers, another limey became family friends and in fact is still in touch today through the magic of the Internet and Skype.  

1077 Sycamore Cres, Oshawa 

In 1973 we moved to another new home still in Oshawa and less than a mile away from the present location. The new home was another back-split design but much larger and had a double car garage, a fourth bedroom or office on the lower level with a nice family room with a fireplace and two-piece washroom on the same level. This was quite an improvement from three bedrooms, a carport and only one washroom. So we now resided on Sycamore Crescent in Oshawa were we remained for another five years interval until I got itchy feet again and we looked at a new development in the town of Newcastle. 

R.R.2 Newcastle

This was out in the country really, each home had almost an acre of land and had no houses across the road and an impressive view from the back over nothing but farmland. I also learned the joys of living with a well and septic tank. We only stayed there for one year because it was too isolated especially for Doreen who spent the whole day alone with myself and Derek out at work all day, then Derek out at night with his wife to be Rosemarie.

674 Adelaide East, Oshawa 
Front View

674 Adelaide East, Oshawa 
Rear View

So as things worked out we came back to Oshawa and bought the home on Adelaide Avenue from out good friends, Jim and Dianne Muir. It was Dianne’s parents who ran Parkview where we stayed originally in South Rhodesia. This was one great example of “It’s a Small World”. Adelaide Avenue was ideal, back among friends and family and we broke a record by living in the same place for fifteen years until retirement changed things once again. Previous record length of time living in any one residence was five years and that was in seven different abodes on 3 different continents. 

Many years later one of our neighbours from Pritchett Road in Ormesby said to me, “When you got out of the Navy you should have brought home an anchor it would have helped you stay in one place longer.

7121 Ridgewood Crescent, Niagara Falls

The most recent address in Niagara Falls has been the same for an amazing 22 years so the previous record is well and truly broken, and surely can never be beaten. It looks like maybe the anchor is working now?

The Gang from Fort Myers

Retirement has to be the most enjoyable period of one’s lifetime and we have been fortunate enough to spend 11 consecutive winters in the warm sunshine of Fort Myers, Florida for periods ranging from 3 to 5 months and more recently, 10 consecutive winters at the Beach House in Destin Florida, for January, February and until March 15^th of each year.

A Beach House Crab Night

Ray, Jytte, Janet, Doreen, David

A famous Florida cook-out

Good friends Norm & Jeanne
visiting from England

Ray, Rachael & Doreen
On the porch outside our unit in the 'Beach House' where we
spent ten consecutive winter vacations from Jan 1st until Mar 15th each year.

The old saying is very true “all good things must come to an end” and so must this account of our life stories so it can be put into print whilst there are still enough people around who are able to read and understand it. This will never become a best seller because the copies will not be for sale.

Squire Bland at home
(with two sheds in the background!)

Thank-you so much to Rachael, as she will mention- the only granddaughter- for designing and administrating this blog for friends and family from near and far to see.

And to a vote of thanks to Paul for his contribution of compiling the pictures, arranging the printing, and putting the book all together. That is your reward Paul for coercing me to enter into this project!

The bad news is he is now talking about book number two...

Ray Bland