Speaker: The stinking sons-of-bitches, they were gone. Speaker 2: Because they knew they would have to work like a bastard all day. Speaker: See, we had a tractor then. Speaker 2: So you baited them with oats to catch them. Speaker: And in the-- in them days, like, a tractor was a lot more fascinating than a pair of stinking horses.

Anyway, my- my parents, they, ah- they did a little bit of niche farming we'd call it today but in them days it was called survival. So dad and mom, they, ah- they really sold a lot of strawberries but it wasn't berries, it was a strawberry plants.

... and I migrated back to good old Perth and, ah, bought farm equipment and decided I was going to do a farm service even though I didn't have a farm, I didn't have a cow, I didn't have nothing. I just had a bit of equipment and in them days if you were, re-- you-know, willing to work you got a job so- That's what I've been do-- that's what I did then and I still do some of it yet.

Speaker: And we had milk machines. They were called Massey-Wright-Ways. And that was a big deal in them days for somebody to have a milking machine. Interviewer: Right. Speaker: So that's, ah, how they did. Interviewer: So when electricity came in, ah, probably not that f-- long after before for-- before phones came in, eh? Telephones? Speaker: Oh, we had a phone before the power.

Speaker: It was what you call quietness. (laughs) Interviewer: (laughs) So when you had quietness, did you- was there a lot of reading or game- or playing games or- Speaker: Oh, absolutely, yeah. Interviewer: A lot of books in your house? Speaker: But you see- see people went to bed a whole lot earlier in them days, you-know, than they do now. Like, if you were as late as nine-o-clock going to bed, well how do you plan on being able to do anything tomorrow? You-know, that was the attitude.

Speaker: And there was no such thing as saying, "Oh, gee, I don't feel like getting up." You could either get up or be pulled out of bed, whichever w-- was your choice. Interviewer: (laughs) Okay. Speaker: (laughs) So it was a dictatorship in them days. Interviewer: Ah, with the family? Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: With the parents? Speaker: It- yeah, definitely was. Yeah.

... everything had to be prepared well ahead of the- the seasons, you-know? Like, she did all the- the, ah- the canning of meat so that we had stuffs and meat- canned meat, pork or beef through the winter and of course she did a pile of, they called them in them days, preserves, which really meant everything from canning little carrots right up to raspberries, strawberries, all that kind of stuff. The basement in the house, of course, was never heat- heated and, ah, because there was a cistern there it kept a certain amount of dampness there.

Speaker: The ent-- the entertainment in those days were- I call it pretty gloom. All I can think of is, like, you-know, dad and mother give me permission to go to the, ah, theatre, ah, to see movies. They didn't- of course in them days there was no restricted movies. That wasn't even heard of.

Interviewer: So, political meetings? Speaker: Political stuff was- I would say was pretty well left out. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: 'Cause all through them days, the whole country was blue. Interviewer: Okay. (laughs) Speaker: It never changed. And, ah, in them days they didn't believe it could ever change or would ever change 'cause why? Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: You-know? So, that's just the way I grew up. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: That- that's the way it was and, ah, everybody- everybody agreed with the way the country should be run.

Speaker: And then I could go down to where the Waterses were and then they- of course they had some old thing they called a boat. It was really- looked like a raft to me. And we swam, you-know, and we fished. We did everything in them days. We'd haul home some kind of a fish and mother would take care of the rest of it.

Speaker: And, ah, as far as- now when you think about the fish that people are concerned about, ah, you-know, with, ah, these sores on their side and deformed and all around- I never heard of one until the last few years. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Back in them days when the creek just ran, nobody did no-- it was- the odd beaver dam showed up.

... the odd beaver dam showed up. The water used to pretty well pile up and then it would break- it would go around the corner of the beaver dam and then the beavers would be really busy and then somebody would trap the beaver and sell the pelt 'cause in them days they were worth something.

Speaker: It was- my- my dad had a lot of them, you-know? Um, a lot- a lot of words that he said, you-know, ah, were- were just different, you-know, just so much different. Interviewer: Like? Speaker: Ah- ah- they- they- they didn't really- in them days swearing was, you-know, almost about taboo in our family. My parents swore very li-- if they did it was a pretty rough day.

When my father was growing up the Glen-Tay would take on the Christie lake boys, and the to-- the townies from Perth

Speaker: They helped with the meals, helped with the dishes and you'd go out to get a load of hay, and the boys would throw it on with their forks and you would be supposed to build a load, tramp it down, drive the horses back into the barn again, and- Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Like that, with the botcher-ale was considered fun.

Speaker: Mom declared that they had marked our- because the train went right through our farm. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And it had marked someway because we had a tramp everyday. Do you think that they- Interviewer: Yes, yes. Yes, they would have. Speaker: Ah, and some of them- ah, we enjoyed the tramps. Mom had to- she'd always get them something to eat but ah I could remember this one tramp coming and I don't know what made him think but he said ah, "Have you a fiddle?" So daddy said, "Yes." So he brought out the fiddle and he played, then daddy played, and then he played, then daddy played.

No, it didn't- didn't trip my trigger

Like, those people next door are excellent people but they've only been there for five or six years type-thing, you-know?

And every night after the, ah, things were over, ah, we had the chores done and everything, ah, there was a nice veranda- screened-in veranda on the front of our home.

It's changed- um, during my lifetime, the veranda came off, and my mother built a sunroom, or she want-- well she didn't build it, she had it built, a sunroom on the front, and took off the big veranda.