I wish I could remember the whole day that we came to Moncton.But in my mind,it's all in bits and pieces.I don't recall the trip down the coast at all,though I must have awakened in Redmondville,and we must have come down the coast in the family car.There must have been a moving van,but I don't recall seeing it,or any of the men moving our furniture.
We went to a supermarket at some time during the day.Of that I'm sure,because I can recall the huge sign above the plate glass windows.The letters were in red,the kind that light up at night.To me it was an amazing sight.I had never seen such a huge sign,or such large windows before.I could see everything and everyone inside the store as I waited in the car.People were coming and going and it was a bustling place with a lot of cars in the parking lot and carts full of groceries in brown paper bags.All the streets around were busy too.Having only lived in the country,I'd never seen so many buildings and cars and even busses in one place before.all the houses seemed very close together,and there were no barns.I recall wondering where we were going to put the chickens.
In my mind,our house,on the day we moved there looked very much as it does today.Red and white.It had wooden steps leading up to the door then,and a gravel driveway,but otherwise it was pretty much the same as it is now.there were two windows on one side of the steps,and one very large window on the other side.there was a screen door and a heavy wooden door inside of the screen one.The street in front was paved and the lawn was fully grown in with grass,but ours was the only street anywhere about that was paved.There were no willow hedges around the yard then either,nor do I recall a garden.The driveway went clear to the back yard and there was no garage or barns.In the back were three trees that seemed very large to me.Maples,though in reality they were not so large,even years later when they were cut down to make way for a garage.And we were surrounded by houses that looked just like our own,though there were some older houses around too.In those days,I guess,subdivisions were just built around existing houses,so,even though our neighborhood was new,there were some old houses around too.But the only differences between the new houses was the way in which they were placed on the lots.Some had the two bedroom windows on one side of the front entrance,while some had them on the other side.One or two of the houses were even turned end wise on the lot,but essentially,they were all the same.Well,they were different colors of course.There were no uniform builders colors back then.So the house across from us was pea green,and one just up the street was a bright yellow,like a lemon.
The mover must have been busy at our house when we first arrived in town.We were out for most of the day and it must have been to allow them to do their job.I don't recall how much furniture came with us from our old house and how much came from the furniture store,but there was furniture I'd never seen before when we came home that night.
One of the things our new hometown had was a park.A huge park,with swings and see saws and monkey bars and a wading pool.I'd never been to a park before,at least that I remember. Centennial Park(it wasn't called that then) was located in Moncton's west end,across a busy road from a place that sold Volkswagens.
All of that first day we spent in the park,swinging and riding the see saw and just running about.We brought food to eat at the picnic tables,but the pool was not opened that day.The park seemed such a fun place,and I really liked the hundreds of trees.My father would get on the big swing set,under some maples and swing up as high as he could and grab a leaf from the trees between his two feet.I tried to do that too,but it took me a few years before I was able to swing that high.
In one corner of the park there was a ride which everyone called the witches hat.It was called that because that is what it looked like.It was a sort of a carousel that you pushed with your feet while you sat on it's wooden bench.As well as going around it would also move in and out from it's center,so that it was higher on one side as it went around.It was,to a three year old,an exciting ride and perhaps just a bit scary as well.I rode it for what seemed like hours,but,as much fun as it was things did not end well.Around the post holding it in place was a concrete pad,a few inches high.As I was riding around,my foot slipped into the middle of the witches hat and I scraped my ankle on the cement.There was a lot of blood,or so it seemed to me.The strange thing about the whole incident is the way I remember it.We were going around from left to right.Left to right?That would mean that the inside of my ankle was traveling away from the cement pad.But still I managed to hit it.Well,that's the way I remember it.It was the inside of my left ankle.But that seems to be improbable given the direction the thing was going at the time.In any event,it hurt and I was bleeding all over the place,though the cut could not have been bad.I'm certain it's not the first time I'd hurt myself,but its the first injury I can remember getting.I never forgot that witches hat,and was afraid to go on it for a few years.It was still there a couple of years ago,in pretty much the same place as it was then.That memory always comes back to me,vividly,as skewed as it seems,every time I go to that corner of the park.
Moncton also had another thing I'd never seen before.An ice cream parlor,located,it seemed,not far from the park,among some very large,very old looking buildings.It was in a little shack of a building.There were people lined up at it's windows waiting for the person inside to bring them their ice cream cones.Before we went home to our new house,we all had an ice cream cone.I don't recall what flavor I had,but my father got an orange one.Orange Pineapple,as it turned out.I've never known him to eat any other kind of ice cream.as a very small child,ice cream was more a matter of color than it was flavor.
We must have all been very tired when we got home that night.The day would have began with the eighty mile drive down the coast,then a visit to our new house and a trip to the supermarket,and likely some other errands as well.Then there was the afternoon in the park,which ended with a bloody foot,and the trip to the ice cream shop.It was still light when we came back to the house and I played for a while in the back yard,which was so very different from the driveway I used to play in before.There was a lot of grass,and trees all about.At the back corner of the yard there was a large pole with a clothesline attached.I tried to reach up to the clothesline,but I was too small.Just before we all went inside,I met the neighbors boy.He was much older than me,and I recall being told that his name was Danny.They lived in a green house.He had two older sisters too.
That night I don't recall going to sleep at all.Sleep must have come very suddenly.I don't recall which of the rooms I slept in.For my parents I'm certain it was a monumental day.they were young,with two small children,and about to spend their first night,with their family in their new home.I'm certain they were both proud of their accomplishments and looked forward to their coming life in this new community.
We went to a supermarket at some time during the day.Of that I'm sure,because I can recall the huge sign above the plate glass windows.The letters were in red,the kind that light up at night.To me it was an amazing sight.I had never seen such a huge sign,or such large windows before.I could see everything and everyone inside the store as I waited in the car.People were coming and going and it was a bustling place with a lot of cars in the parking lot and carts full of groceries in brown paper bags.All the streets around were busy too.Having only lived in the country,I'd never seen so many buildings and cars and even busses in one place before.all the houses seemed very close together,and there were no barns.I recall wondering where we were going to put the chickens.
In my mind,our house,on the day we moved there looked very much as it does today.Red and white.It had wooden steps leading up to the door then,and a gravel driveway,but otherwise it was pretty much the same as it is now.there were two windows on one side of the steps,and one very large window on the other side.there was a screen door and a heavy wooden door inside of the screen one.The street in front was paved and the lawn was fully grown in with grass,but ours was the only street anywhere about that was paved.There were no willow hedges around the yard then either,nor do I recall a garden.The driveway went clear to the back yard and there was no garage or barns.In the back were three trees that seemed very large to me.Maples,though in reality they were not so large,even years later when they were cut down to make way for a garage.And we were surrounded by houses that looked just like our own,though there were some older houses around too.In those days,I guess,subdivisions were just built around existing houses,so,even though our neighborhood was new,there were some old houses around too.But the only differences between the new houses was the way in which they were placed on the lots.Some had the two bedroom windows on one side of the front entrance,while some had them on the other side.One or two of the houses were even turned end wise on the lot,but essentially,they were all the same.Well,they were different colors of course.There were no uniform builders colors back then.So the house across from us was pea green,and one just up the street was a bright yellow,like a lemon.
The mover must have been busy at our house when we first arrived in town.We were out for most of the day and it must have been to allow them to do their job.I don't recall how much furniture came with us from our old house and how much came from the furniture store,but there was furniture I'd never seen before when we came home that night.
One of the things our new hometown had was a park.A huge park,with swings and see saws and monkey bars and a wading pool.I'd never been to a park before,at least that I remember. Centennial Park(it wasn't called that then) was located in Moncton's west end,across a busy road from a place that sold Volkswagens.
All of that first day we spent in the park,swinging and riding the see saw and just running about.We brought food to eat at the picnic tables,but the pool was not opened that day.The park seemed such a fun place,and I really liked the hundreds of trees.My father would get on the big swing set,under some maples and swing up as high as he could and grab a leaf from the trees between his two feet.I tried to do that too,but it took me a few years before I was able to swing that high.
In one corner of the park there was a ride which everyone called the witches hat.It was called that because that is what it looked like.It was a sort of a carousel that you pushed with your feet while you sat on it's wooden bench.As well as going around it would also move in and out from it's center,so that it was higher on one side as it went around.It was,to a three year old,an exciting ride and perhaps just a bit scary as well.I rode it for what seemed like hours,but,as much fun as it was things did not end well.Around the post holding it in place was a concrete pad,a few inches high.As I was riding around,my foot slipped into the middle of the witches hat and I scraped my ankle on the cement.There was a lot of blood,or so it seemed to me.The strange thing about the whole incident is the way I remember it.We were going around from left to right.Left to right?That would mean that the inside of my ankle was traveling away from the cement pad.But still I managed to hit it.Well,that's the way I remember it.It was the inside of my left ankle.But that seems to be improbable given the direction the thing was going at the time.In any event,it hurt and I was bleeding all over the place,though the cut could not have been bad.I'm certain it's not the first time I'd hurt myself,but its the first injury I can remember getting.I never forgot that witches hat,and was afraid to go on it for a few years.It was still there a couple of years ago,in pretty much the same place as it was then.That memory always comes back to me,vividly,as skewed as it seems,every time I go to that corner of the park.
Moncton also had another thing I'd never seen before.An ice cream parlor,located,it seemed,not far from the park,among some very large,very old looking buildings.It was in a little shack of a building.There were people lined up at it's windows waiting for the person inside to bring them their ice cream cones.Before we went home to our new house,we all had an ice cream cone.I don't recall what flavor I had,but my father got an orange one.Orange Pineapple,as it turned out.I've never known him to eat any other kind of ice cream.as a very small child,ice cream was more a matter of color than it was flavor.
We must have all been very tired when we got home that night.The day would have began with the eighty mile drive down the coast,then a visit to our new house and a trip to the supermarket,and likely some other errands as well.Then there was the afternoon in the park,which ended with a bloody foot,and the trip to the ice cream shop.It was still light when we came back to the house and I played for a while in the back yard,which was so very different from the driveway I used to play in before.There was a lot of grass,and trees all about.At the back corner of the yard there was a large pole with a clothesline attached.I tried to reach up to the clothesline,but I was too small.Just before we all went inside,I met the neighbors boy.He was much older than me,and I recall being told that his name was Danny.They lived in a green house.He had two older sisters too.
That night I don't recall going to sleep at all.Sleep must have come very suddenly.I don't recall which of the rooms I slept in.For my parents I'm certain it was a monumental day.they were young,with two small children,and about to spend their first night,with their family in their new home.I'm certain they were both proud of their accomplishments and looked forward to their coming life in this new community.
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