And be able to, I-guess, be more understanding and laid back when it comes to dealing with different people that we're all pretty chill-

Speaker: Exactly, but we go into the change room for that but then after- but then some- some like arenas when I was younger didn't even have girls change room and I'd have to get changed in the bathroom, into my hockey- Interviewer: Aw. Speaker: Gear. Yeah, people were chints man.

I-- in- in the class, and we- and we all ch-- we all chummed around together.

Gang that- we chummed around together. We all- we all played sports together.

Not the gangs that I turned out with- ch-- chummed out with.

I ch-- there was one French fellow there I chummed around with him t-- quite a while but he passed away too

I used to chum around with the guy with the hot rod.

So we chummed around a lot.

Speaker: And once the church closed there in King I don't think I've ever been back to one because there it was enjoyable- like, you-know, it was that family. Because of everybody in King-Kirkland sort-of being so close-knit and pretty much a lot of them family. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Yeah so, it's- it's nice I-mean a lot of the original people there are still out there. Um and they would still- like the Peter's-Clan out there, they're amazing.

Speaker: Just a- just a simple reference to give you a picture would be Quebec-Day is like their day where they celebrate Quebec there and my buddies went down there big, big clan that grew there and pretty much cleaned out the street and lit a Quebec flag on fire- these aren't my close friends.

All of them. And um, and I always- when I w-- went on to a- a committee ah, I always had something in mind. And ah, and my beef is- my big beefs in the retail business was, if you came in and bought an iron from us and um, and ah, you had it for three months or four months and ah it conked out, um we had to send it out for repairs. And I always maintained that we should have a one-year replacement- replacement policy.

Then there was the cookery where everybody ate.

Speaker: And what they call a bull cook. Interviewer: Oh what's- what's that? Speaker: A bull cook is ah like your several cabins where the men stayed in. Like sleep cabins. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Then there was the cookery where everybody ate. Well the bull cook had to keep the- the places um clean. And keep wood- wood in there, water in there. There was no running water. It was all done by- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Bring it in by pail eh? Interviewer: Mm-hm, mm-hm. Speaker: Chop the wood and keep the fires going and make sure there's enough wood in there for the night. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Then you'd go and help the cook because you'd clean up in there too and ah you got to involve them with ah ah washing and trying to h-- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: That's a bull cook.

So what I did is I went and I bought a- a package or two or envelops and sealed them all. There were- there's nothing in them. And put her name on it- Jane's name on it and dumped the whole thing into the- into the box (laughs). That cool her biffy (laughs). We were only about- oh eleven or twelve years old then.

Speaker: So you can take some Fre-- c-- ah, French courses. There's core French and French-immersion. Interviewer: Oh, oh. Speaker: Core is like- Interviewer: For the kids who didn't do the French. Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah, okay. Speaker: And then French-immersion is- Interviewer: For you guys. Speaker: Yeah.

Ah but I was an Ontario-Scholar and for somebody who had a real struggle, I was an Ontario-Scholar and I had- I th-- I'm pretty sure I got an award for French. For core French and Spanish 'cause I excelled in languages. I found my- my niche so I had applied to Laurentian-University ah for translation 'cause I thought, you-know, I was going to be an interpreter, you-know.

Interviewer: So you speak English and French? Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: And English is your first language? Speaker: Yeah, and French- my parents- my mom she took core French so she just took like the French that like English people would take in high-school. Um well she took more courses of French in high-school but it was more for beginner sort-of thing and when she went to university, she took French too I think ...

Speaker: And- well, I used to have a- a corn roast e-- every year. I'd have a cor-- corn roast and invite all the- well my parents did, you-know, but I'd invite all the kids and- Interviewer: That's nice. And then, is that over a fire, again? Speaker: Yeah, yeah, an open fire, yeah. And then my father would put up a big tent in the backyard ...

Interviewer: I don't know, it's just weird. You see- you get to meet some weird people in there. Speaker: That's okay, you get to meet all the cracked out people in Kirkland-Lake, eh?

Interviewer: Now, you said you remembered my aunt. Speaker: Yeah, Lala-Belenelli. Is that- was that who your aunt was? Interviewer: It was- yeah, Brandy, yeah. Speaker: Yeah yeah. Well oh cripes, everybody remembered her. Interviewer: Well what was it that everybody remembered her. Speaker: Oh shoot. Interviewer: I was- 'cause I- Speaker: She was a real oddball. She lived out in Kenogami, eh?