Speaker: ... I ah was going to ah go for a j-- a job at ah- at Canadian-Tire. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: And ah, he started to (laughs) c-- to cry about it. Interviewer: Oh no. Speaker: I said, "Well, don't make it too tough, I haven't got the job yet," I says, "I'm going in tomorrow." And ah- Interviewer: Oh man, so he really wanted you to stay. Speaker: He really wanted me to stay, yeah.

Speaker: I always like to compare prices. Canadian-Tire catalogue versus the Home-Hardware catalogue. Interviewer: Sure. Speaker: And ah- and I found a lot of prices were equal or some were lower, some were higher. And ah and I just said to the wife, I said, "This is it." I says, "That- that's- this is our- going to be our bread and butter." I said, "And, we're going to put an offer, and we're going to buy it."

Speaker: But then ah- I went home and my dad says ah, "What happened to you?" I says, "Oh, the puck hit me." "You're supposed to catch that Goddamn puck, what's the matter with you?" (Laughs) Interviewer 2: (Laughs) Interviewer 1: (Laughs) All our friends either have lost teeth or ah, you-know, have had something wrong with their elbow, or- or wearing ah, braces on their knees ...

Speaker: I'll tell you- I'll tell you another good one that I forgot to tell you. Remember when they were digging up Government-Road? Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: A-- you-know, a-- the whole Government-Road right in front of my store, eh? I said, "Oh, what are we going to do, Sam," I says to Sam, I said, "Oh, I got an idea." I said ah, "With all the digging in front of our store," I said, "We're going to announce this morning that there's been a gold find at- at Home-Hardware.

The excavation has discovered a gold find at Home-Hardware." And I said, "We-" In one corner of our store, there was a rock sticking out, eh? I says, "Take all the merchandise out of there, get a- get a tent, like an- like a- um, an ap-- um, a sheet, and- a big sheet, up there, and a couple of poles and ah, and we're going to paint that rock gold." (Laughs)

And would you believe three-years later ah a friend of mine said, "Do you know why we stared at you?" It was three of them sitting there, "The day you come to work." And- and I says, "No, I figure it's because I was limping." "No it wasn't that at all," he said, "The man you replaced, Chaney Coleman, in New-Brunswick ah, is the spitting image of you. Walked like you, talked like you. And your age and your size."

Speaker: And I knew exactly about how long it took them to do this. But this time they were a little bit slow. And I said to s-- b-- coming. And I said to the lady that was helping me, the girl, I says, "Go and tell them dinner is served." She s-- I said "Maybe they didn't hear you." So she went and told them again, "Dinner is served." And still they were slow coming.

So anyways, she says "Oh that souffle was so nice Ailis." I says "It wasn't, it went down." And I was just about fit to be tied 'cause it- it was only the ones that I'd ever made that went down like that, but it was their fault, she said.

So I was really mad. I never got mad at anybody, but that night I was mad. I says, "Another night like this, and I'll be going out that door." And I was just furious. So I didn't stay there very much longer (laughs).

On a- I d-- ah, ah, when I got into the hospital I had to see this woman, and I says "You-know I was going to go to strawberry supper tom-- tomorrow night." And she says "Oh you'll be able to go."

Speaker: They kept asking me "What's your name?" I said "Ailis-Boyle." And then another asked me "Ailis-Boyle." Interviewer: Eleven-twenty-five. Speaker: I says "Why- everybody call- ah, can't remember Ailis-Boyle, it's- I'll tell you my na-- who-- whole name. It's Ailis-Amelia-Gretchen-Boyle."

That place called the- oh I forget what the name of the ah- something there anyway. And they are anyway, he- there were having a- I was getting something- this and that for the band. And he says, "Well, what do you do?" I says, "Well I play the pipe a little bit, not real good." "Oh," he says, "You're good and tall," he says, "You should be the drum major."

Speaker: And so- and I had it up to a chair exhibit in the Middleville-Museum. Interviewer: Good for you. Speaker: And there was a couple of experts there to tell you the history of your chair and I says, "Knowing history goes back to eighteen-eighteen." And he said, "Are you sure?" And I said, "You ever read the Carlton-saga?" And he said, "Yes." Well I said, "This is the Duke-of-Richmond chair" so-

And they all opened a chocolate-bar and-this-and-that and threw the stuff on the floor on the- out in front of the yard, eh? And they went to take off. And I says "Just a minute, you guys. This yard was clean when yous come in, clean it up now." The teacher said "Yes," she said "You can't do that. Pick it up. The garbage can there, pick it up, clean it." And there were two young lads who wouldn't.

You-know-what-I-mean, they'd done something that displeased me so I said "You- you go and do that." And L-- and Landon-Morris is still there. Landon said "Well they didn't do that." I says "I don't care whether he did or not, because there's lots of things you did do that I didn't catch you at, so (laughing) this way evens it out."

Speaker: So she put him down in the field as far as you go and he- he- then he turned on her. Interviewer: Oh! Speaker: And ah, she come back up to where I was. So I says "Go ahe-- get him. Put him right to the barn." She went down and she didn't even know that he's hid behind a tree.

Speaker: We found the bar-- found the sheep in the barn about forty-some sheep waiting on the guy to come, eh? He didn't come in, we were waiting on him something, finally he did show up. I says to the guy, "Looks like we've got a problem here." Interviewer: (Laughs) Speaker: He goes, "What do you mean?" Well I said, "Our equipment runs on hydro and there isn't a hydro pole to be seen." (Laughs)

So I kind-of wondered "What on earth are them things?" So this kid says, "Pigeons". So I- we don't eat pigeon around home so I wondered to them, "What are you going to do with them?" This other kid says, "Eat them." "Oh," I says, "If I was hungry and had to eat pigeon, I'd eat them ones that flew out of here." And this other little guy speaks up and says, "You can't eat them, they're tough." So how in the devil is mummy going to cook that thing.

Where am I from from the down under? Where am I from from the down under. And I cannot think twice what he's talking about. So I was sitting at the time I say "Under the table" (laughs) or what it was, eh? And he says, "No," so then I says, "I think you and I got the same problem." To this guy. Didn't know him at all. "What do you mean?" I says "You got an accent, people think I've got an accent too that we must come from the same place."

Speaker: "So where you from?" "Oh I'm from Southern Australia and you come from the northern part and him and I just never met." Which I though that was kind-of funny. "No no" I says "I'm just fifty miles west of Ottawa."