Painters one time- the guy was painting up- and he's painting you-know- I was watching the young kid he was painting. And I'm looking he's going up up up. I said how high are you going, all up-- (inc) I says "See up there, another ten feet, don't touch that." It's high voltage for a big (inc). 'Cause that's how you go up there and you probably hold onto to it to (inc).

But like I says from South-Porcupine to here talking n-- no. But I know down Toronto yeah some guy has a little saying, downtown Toronta or-something. Or that ah or the bus ride it would yell out (in Toronto accent) "Spadina."

He looked like something like Perry-Como, except he wasn't that- yeah I- you know Perry-Como on T-V? Oh yeah, nice short hair eh? He was- he was a crooner. Yeah Perry-Commo- oh yeah he was- he had his own show as well. He was a- anyway I says- and we ended up bar-- ah bunking in with an Italian guy.

I call them tin-knocker- tin-smith, the guy who put furnace in all-that. She says "You boys getting along pretty good eh? Making your way around pretty good." "Oh yeah." I says. We take the streetcar down and ah you-know. But we saw guys leaving would get a piece of paper. We looked (laughs) what's the paper for? You-know like two hicks?

Speaker: They gave you so small wires that incase you hooked up wrong, you won't burn the generators up, you'd burn the wires up. Interviewer: (laughs). Speaker: And how many kids would burn- and I hooked up- and the teacher says "How come these guys hooked them okay?" And I says "I did them in high-school already." (inc) compound, long (inc), short (inc), series mount generators. I did them all. So I had a good training at (inc).

Speaker: I'd um I went as far as grade eleven. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And during exams, I did my English exam and I knew I'd flunked it, so I just went t-- to the principal and I says, "I quit. I can't do this."

And now there's all the newer families moving, I see more kids on the street now so, it's a little bit more alive now anyway, with all the kids running up-and-down. So I says, "Kind-of nice to see kids outside playing", 'cause there for a while, pretty quiet. Never saw anybody around.

... his name was Sam-Mackenzie and he was a Constable Mackenzie and he just looked at me and he said "For Christ sakes Silvio," he says, "What are you doing here?" I says, "Just having a little fun." And he says, "Get lost!" You-know and he let me go and I said, "Oh-my-God, thank God." And half my buddies got busted that night and charged and because I knew the cop I didn't go in.

And ah even the other day she was talking ah- she said she had a cousin that had passed away, Tristen. And I said, "Tristen." I said, "Oh I know a guy named Tristen." She said, "A cousin of mine." And then I says, "I have a cousin named Tristen-Turpin." And she says, "Well that's my cousin." (Laughs)

Speaker: Just a little passed out. Interviewer: (Laughs) Ah I'm going to hold this over her head for years. Speaker: And she woke up in the middle of the night and said, "Where are we, where are we?" I says, "Why?" "'Cause I got to go to the washroom!" (Laughs) She didn't know where she was.

Speaker: 'Cause ah, Dave-Steven and I- Stevens and I took a drive around Cobalt before the show on Ontario-Today and we're driving around and around and he goes, "Okay you probably know who lives everywhere." I said, "Well b-- some I do because I come back," but I says, "I don't." I say, "Like that's the Flaubert house but I don't know who lives there now." I say, "Oh there's the Parker house."

... so I went for a walk and I ran into my old high-school principal from here. And ah, he said, "What are you d--" ah, Hunny, they called me Hunny. And he called me Hunny. He said ah, "Hunny, what are doing next- are you staying in Englehart next year?" I says "Oh, I'm not quite sure." He says "I got a job for you." And that was it, I was hired. So I-- lot easier in those days.

There's one nasty moment when we went there one time and we went to the chicken house and I said, "Oh Shauna," I said, "The - the chickens are free, the chickens are free!" And she's going, "What?" and I says, "Yeah, they're running around the back." Well, we went between the buildings. Well the guys were cutting their heads off and chickens were flopping around (laughs).

Well, I-mean, the questions were so easy it was ridiculous. So I'd finish my paper really quickly. And his class was so easy. So once I was done and I'd go and- you-know, go up to his desk and then hop on his desk, "Hey, Mister-Brackson," I says ah, "How about me and your son switch places and you-know, you'll be my dad for a week and your son-"

And I guess about the fifth or sixth time I walked out of the teacher's class and I went in there and I told Misses-Dawes, and she goes, "Well maybe you should just take a spare. Take another course or-" and I says, "No, I- I want ancient history. Like that's what I want. Like, that's what I like." But she was the only teacher doing that so I ended up taking a spare and dropped the class. And it was because of her.

Speaker: And I thought, "Okay, Kyle give me your- your foot." And he's looking at me, "What?" And I says, "Yeah, give me your foot." And then he seen what I was going to do and he pulls his foot away. And he goes like, "What are you doing?" (Laughs) Like, "Don't burn me." And I said, "No no," I says, "You have a bloodsucker on you." I says, "I'm going to take it off." So he goes, "Oh," and he's looking, "Oh yeah, okay." So I- I'd gotten them off his feet and I thought, "Oh my God, what a memory that is."

... I don't know if all their stories truthful or not to- to an extent but um I-mean, what are you going to do you-know? He's still my son, I still love him. And I'll told him- I says, "We just move and we try to get her back." And that's all there is to it (laughs).

So then I got Kyle and Keri upstairs and I s-- "Write your name." Neither one of them knew what was- so they wrote their name. And I says, "Now write Kyle's name, Keri and Kyle, write Keri's name." So- so they did. Well Keri's left-handed and Kyle's right-handed so obviously, there's a big difference in it.

Speaker: ... she kept borrowing my pic-- picture albums. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: And she said, "Well you-know mom there's a lot of pictures there that I don't have and I'm going to copy them. I'm going to scan them and put them on my (inc)." I says "Okay fine." I didn't think anything of it. But this is what they were going for. Interviewer: And this is for your Christmas present right? Speaker: This was my birthday present.

And she'd had the flu and I had told her, I says "Any time you want the apartment, it's yours. Just let me know. I can give my tenants their notice." She says "Oh I'm doing okay."