This is, as near as I can remember, an accurate list, and description, of the jobs, or businesses, I created.
ABBREVIATIONS USED ON THIS PAGE
Abbreviations for Canadian provinces: Alta, Alberta; B. C.,
British Columbia; Man., Manitoba; Ont., Ontario
LCB - Liqour Control Board
SE - 14 Self Employment
1959
E-1 - Selling and delivering magazines,
I started a route selling and delivering two magazines, one of which was called "Look", I think.
If I recall correctly I received fifteen cents for each new subscription.
This ended when we moved.
1961
E-2 - Paper route; Province & Sun July & Aug.
I took over the local paper route from someone and then took over another route so that I was doing both the Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province, the two main papers that are distributed throughout B. C.
By knocking on doors I quickly doubled the number of subscribers I had and received all sorts of awards from the paper companies, a badminton set, tires for my bicycle, etc.
They had a catalogue of all the items you could order depending on the number of points you achieved, based on new subscriptions.
1962
In the back yard I had a chicken house and a small run where I kept chickens.
I sold the eggs at fifty cents a dozen, until a weasel cleaned me out and I quit the business.
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1971
Whenever I had spare time I would bang away on a portable typewriter.
I met Jack, McClelland of McClelland and Stewart publishing, while driving taxi in Calgary.
I asked him how a budding writer gets a script read and Mr. McClelland gave me his address.
I mailed him my manuscript and he sent it back, saying, `Its too cliché’.
I threw it into the garbage.
Years later I would regret that move, after I learned what `cliché’, means, because I didn’t have a copy of my story and I had written it to be cliché.
Since then I have written another novel and several movie scripts
It would be many years after that instance before I actually sold anything.
The first thing I sold was an article that appeared in the `00 Sept. issue of `Western Driver' (Vancouver, B. C.).
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1973
SE-5 Myself - Betty's Corner Store `73 Dec. - `74 Apr. My friend H. B. had just moved his shoe store, B.’s Bootery, into a new strip mall, and he suggested that I get a space there too.
I spoke to the people who owned the only other corner store in town, which happened to be three miles from the downtown core and they said they would be happy to see some competition open in that area as they were always worried about people driving the long narrow road, after dark, to get to their store.
Arranging a low rent deal, as the building wasn’t finished yet, I took a space, two doors down from Hank, and arranged credit with a couple of suppliers, such as the coca cola and milk warehouses in Pt. McNeil who supplied me with coolers and product.
The old Dutch people supplied me with racks.
I bought a deep freezer for ice cream.
From a couple of pieces of plywood, and a couple of pieces of glass, I fashioned a checkout counter.
A few pieces of plywood and some concrete blocks and I had some shelves to hold some dry goods.
I wasn’t open very long and someone else opened, a couple of blocks closer to the center of town and on the Island Highway, where they had better visibility.
My Mother came to stay with us and run the store while I was at work.
Even without paying wages I wasn’t making a go of it.
In the space next to me a fellow had opened a video arcade and he wanted to buy me out as he wanted the extra space, the soda pop, the cigarettes, and the chocolate bars. The rest I sent back to my suppliers.
With the cheque he gave me I was able to pay off my rent and my suppliers.
The day after he paid me he left town owing everyone money. Mine was the only cheque that didn’t bounce.
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SE-6 Pet Supplies, from my home
While operating a small corner store I had gotten into a few pet supplies; fish, fish bowls, and fish food. They had done quite well.
When I had sold the store the new owner hadn’t wanted the pet supplies and they were items that I couldn’t send back to the suppliers, so I started selling them from my home.
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1974
Upper left, Film section. Lower, and right, Fin (& fur, & feathers, etc.) section
My shelves of tanks, for fish and hamsters,at home, proved quite successful so I started to look for a store space downtown.
Between the LCB and the grocery store, on the back end of the clothing store was an empty space.
It cost me $90 / Mth. for 10 Ft. X 10’ and I called it Fin ‘N’ Film because it was mostly fish, and supplies, but also cameras, and accessories.
I advertised as being the smallest pet and camera store in B. C.
I probably could have claimed all of North America. I have never seen another store that specializes in those two lines.
One night my gerbils and hamsters got out. They chewed through all the air lines and some of my electrical lines and I had to drain all my fish tanks and rewire them all.
I was worried that the rodents had gone under the partition between me and the store room for the clothing store but the clothiers never found any damaged goods.
And I never found any of my hamsters or gerbils. I guess they must have gone under the front door, and outside.
I eventually sold Fin `N’ Film to the lady that worked in the camera department of the drug store and she dropped the pet end of it and then moved it to Pt. McNeil.
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1982
SE-8 - Arnold Brs.
Img
SE-8 I took over the payments of a tractor leased to Arnold Sisters (Brothers) and left it on with the company. I had been hired because I had a B. C. driver's license but I never did get plated for B. C.
I strictly ran the three prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
I hauled all manner of goods but mostly in vans as I didn't have any chains to tie down loads.
Once I got a load of insulation out of central Alta. and took it to Northern Man. I was told I was silly to do that as without a highboy I wouldn't be able to get a load South. The only thing coming out of there was lumber.
It turned out that I had an American trailer, eight feet wide as compared to Canadian trailers that were eight foot six inches and not allowed in the U. S. I was able to get a load of pulp from the mill and dropped the trailer in Winnipeg where an American licensed tractor would pick it up.
We used to party in Winnipeg.
With a case of beer, and some girls from the truck stop, we would go to the drive-in theatre and park our COE's in the back row.
And never see the movie
During most of my life I have been interested in photography.
While living in Prince George I built a darkroom and improvised a studio. I took photographs of girls, modeling costumes, made by a local designer, D. W., and created a catalogue that I took on my travels as a salesman.
SE-10 Poplar Logging. 1204
Pacific St.
I went into partnership with A. W. who owns the Roll-A-Dome in Prince George, B. C. as he had a loader and a logging truck.
I started by myself with just a chainsaw and
operated all the other equipment.
Eventually I hired two more men to help.
We were select logging which is not only very slow but also very dangerous. We were cutting Aspen or Poplar as the wood is white and hard. We had to select trees that had very few branches or cut blocks from between the branches if they were spaced far enough apart.
The blocks were worth more per foot than logs but were more time consuming and harder to transport. Each night on the way home I would stop at the mill and drop off a pickup load of blocks.
We hadn't been in business very long when the owner of the chopstick factory we were supplying got a multi million dollar grant from the federal govt. and went back to China.
He left, taking all the money, and forgot to pay the workers in the mill or the contractors, such as I.
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SE-11 Cotton
Candy, Parkhill Center N. Nechako Rd.
I made arrangements with some people who were selling candy apples and cotton candy, on the weekends, at the flea market.
I started a route supplying small stores with candy apples, candy floss, peanut brittle, and rice crispy squares.
Some stores I serviced on Mondays and some on Thursdays. Some stores were selling so good I had to service them twice a week.
I was in the process of making arrangements with a supplier to a large chain of stores who wanted me to supply them but my supplier didn't have the funds to gear up to a larger production.
In fact they couldn't keep up with their creditors and closed their doors without giving me any warning. Suddenly I was left with a bunch of clients wanting product I couldn't supply.
With the money I made from Harry O I put a down payment on a Peterbilt COE and leased it to Motrux.
I hauled general freight throughout the states until I went broke and they repossessed my truck.
Because of the poor wages, and
working conditions, for extras, in the film industry in Vancouver, I, and a few fellow thespians, started a union for extras, and stunt people. It was called United Stunts and Extras.
I appointed myself President.
I appointed a friend of mine as Vice President of extras and another friend as the Vice President of stunts. We also had a secretary treasurer and a lawyer.
I put a lot of money into it but never recovered
any of it.
Due to lack of funds and incentive, we failed to garner enough members, we only signed up fifty, to get accredited.
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While working at RPC, I met the owner of the Liquidation store, Gene - Action Liquidators, down the street.
Gene, often, picked up computers at auctions.
I set up a little shop in my room, at the Walton, and tested all his computers, juggling parts around until I had working units that he could sell in his store.
Gene and I never did agree to a price for my efforts.
So, I never did get paid for any of my work, though I did end up with a nice computer and some odd parts.
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`72 International COE parked on the TCH at White Horse Plains, Man.
SE-8A 3 AM 
`82 Apr. Alice & Vivian
Returning from a trip to a small town, North of Windypeg, where I had to move a trailer.
I made this slide to print business cards. The photo is of Bowron Lake, near Wells, B. C.
The name was derived from the fact that I was going to go partners with Elaine Barry in Dawson Creek, B. C.
(Photo `03) New residents,
while driving for Caron, I hauled chemicals for them in `04.
(Photo `03) They had a space, along the end, where they did their prep and they would sell their products in the flea market, held on weekends, in the front of the building.
After taking this picture of the pretty flag girl I climbed down the cliff to get a picture of Hell's Gate.
I got the picture but I dropped my $1,000 Nikon down the cliff. I just about went with it.
After recovering my nerves I climbed down the cliff. The camera body was shot
and the $500 lens cost $100 to repair but the film was still good.
And I made it back to my truck just as the flag girl released traffic.
A very expensive picture
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This is, as near as I can remember, an accurate list, and description, of the tickets, or fines, I have been given for legal infractions. The list does not include the number of times I was stopped and managed to get out of a ticket by simply being polite to the officer and admitting that I was in the wrong.
ABBREVIATIONS USED ON THIS PAGE
B. C.- British Columbia
Calif.- California, U. S. A.
L. A. – Los Angeles, Calif.
O - 26 Offences and fines.
Willies Puddle – Williams Lake, B. C.
Contrary to popular belief, police officers do not make money by writing traffic tickets.
OK, in some cracker states, and/or counties, the money from the fine is split between the judge and the officer.
In the real world, state troopers, and all police in Canada, are paid a monthly salary.
Whether they write one ticket or thirty, their pay cheque remains the same.
Police officers do not stop you to make money or to harass you.
The reason an officer stops you is to tell you, you have done something wrong. The reason she gives you a ticket is to reinforce, in your mind, the law that you have broken.
Sort of like your teacher telling you to write, `I will not chew gum in school’, fifty times, on the black board.
The officer doesn’t carry a blackboard.
1962 – 64
During the first two years that I had my drivers license, I probably received a ticket, or a warning, for every offense in the book.
My father was a retired Mountie and we lived in a small town. All the RCMP knew me and I was a slow learner.
However, they didn’t catch me driving down the sidewalk the night I borrowed my sister’s VW beetle.
1966
O-1 No Car Insurance - $10.00 - March
O-2 Illegal Parking - June
O-3 Failure To Stop - September
When an officer stops you; if you deny you did anything wrong, if you have excuses why you broke the law, if you have reasons you shouldn’t get a ticket, if you give the officer attitude, if you swear at the officer - you are going to get a ticket.
Most officers don’t want to be bothered with traffic offenses, they would much rather be playing detective, trying to catch a drug dealer or a murderer.
They stop you because they saw you commit an offense against the traffic act.
If you admit you were in the wrong. If you are contrite. If you accept the officer’s condemnation of your driving habits. There is a good chance that he will not give you a ticket, or at least she will make the fine as small as possible.
1967
O-4 Speeding And Illegal Passing - $10.00
The Island Hwy, going through Ladysmith, was very wide and I passed a couple of vehicles, on the right hand side.
As I had the radio on I didn’t hear the siren and the cop had to chase me for quite a ways North of town.
The judge said that since there were no dotted lines between the center line and the curb, though it was wide enough for 3 lanes, it was only one.
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O-5 Minor in
Possession - $20.00 - July
July 2 was a Saturday and as I turned 21 on Monday, the age of majority at that time was 21, we were celebrating my birthday.
We were camping on the back side of the lake, just North of Britannia Beach, B. C.
A bunch of bikers went through causing a lot of disturbance.
When the police arrived they blamed us.
As I was the oldest, I got charged.
Because of construction and other delays it took several trips to Squamish to hold the court case.
The judge said, even though I only had 2 days to go until I was of legal age, I should have waited.
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1969
O-6 Illegal Passing - 3 points - October
While driving for CP Transport I had to make a delivery,in the heart of downtown, to a small business that had no back door and was on the second floor. I double parked while I carried the packages upstairs.
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O-8 Speeding - $20 - August
I was trying out a car, `68
ford Fairlane, with
floor shift and a 289 motor.
Zooming North on Hwy. 97, through downtown Vernon I was trying out the acceleration and passed an unmarked car.
When I pulled into the car lot a man came over. I thought it was one of the employees and I asked him about a knock I could hear in the motor.
He asked me if he could see my license.
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The say, when they see some one
approaching a radar, "Smile, Smokey’s about to take your picture".
It was a lovely day, just slightly above freezing, clear skies, and I was retuning empty.
Camera up to my eye, composing the bridge, within the overpass.
The officer on the other side of the overpass was
posing my truck within his radar beam.
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I was going up a long hill in a
Volkswagen beetle.
I couldn’t believe it when the Mountie said I was
speeding.
After I got the ticket I could barely get up speed
to get to third gear, I had to crawl the rest of the way up the hill.
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I used to carry a broom in the
back of my pickup. I
would stand it on end, by putting the handle in the back pocket on the
side of
the box. This would sometimes break the wires for the lights.
A lady policeman stopped me one night, said no one
could see me.
I asked her, “If no one can see me how could you
know I was here to stop me?”
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SP-18 and I stepped out of the
dance for a breath
of fresh air.
The air was cold and crisp so, as my pickup was
parked, only a few feet away, we sat in it to smooch.
I turned on the motor to get warm.
Someone surprised me by opening the door.
I tried to tell him we were just there for a few
minutes and then going back into the dance, which was the truth, but he
took my
license.
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Despite the lack of signs
police officers, in L. A.
expect you to know that a truck is not allowed in the; third, fourth,
fifth, or
sixth lane of a freeway.
I sent the ticket to the governor of the state of
Calif. explaining that I had never heard of such a law and never saw a
sign.
He has never replied so I do not know if the
ticket
has been cancelled or if I still owe for it.
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At the weigh scales going into
San Francisco I got
a ticket for being 5 hours over my weekly allowable.
I was in a hurry to get in and get unloaded as I
had an appointment to load that afternoon.
The scale operator made me park it.
The company, Mercury Express, out of Coquitlam,
was not happy with me as I missed my return load and had to stay in
San
Fran. for the weekend.
I turned the ticket in to the company but I don’t
know if they ever paid it or not.
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I can not recall this.
I went to renew my insurance and they wouldn’t
until I paid my fine, I asked what fine, but they couldn’t tell me.
After many phone calls I traced it back to the
weigh scales in Hooterville (*Vanderhoof).
Maybe I was asleep, or on drugs, at the time.
I have been through those scales many times,
usually at night when they were closed, and swear that I was never
stopped.
The ticket says I had a load of logs with only 2
wrappers on it. There are supposed to be 3 cables around the load to
keep logs
from falling on cars or pedestrians.
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Several times over the years I have talked my way out of tickets.
My friend Kevin, from Prince George, was visiting me in Vancouver. Kevin wanted to go to the boat show in Seattle. Ursula (my 3rd wife) had a little Honda.
We headed East on the TCH and then turned South through Sumas.
To avoid the freeway and see some country side in the state of Washington I turned to the East instead of the West.
When we saw a sign that said `Mt. Baker ski parking 3 miles’ I knew I was on the wrong road.
We were back in the valley, heading West and the trooper stopped us.
I walked back to the police car and Kevin was standing out in the ditch laughing at me.
I explained to the police officer how I had been ignoring Kevin's jibes, because I had ended up on Mt. Baker, instead of watching my speed, and how Kevin was never going to let me live this down, taking the wrong road and getting stopped.
He told me to pay more attention to the road and let me go.
We got to the boat show, a half hour before it closed.
I have driven logging truck for
several different
companies, in several different towns.
One thing they have in common is that the logs
they
haul must be marked so that the sawmill knows where they came from. This is so that the proper people can get
paid. Logs without timber marks are
considered stolen property
Different weigh scales have different ideas where
the timber marks should go. The law
doesn’t specify as long as they are clearly visible.
I marked my first load with a can of spray paint
but when I got to the mill the scaler said I had them in the wrong
place. I went out and put them in the
right place.
I then proceeded into the mill yard.
After unloading I returned to the scale to weigh
out empty.
The scaler had called a forestry officer and when I drove onto the scale he wanted to see my driver’s license.
I gave it to him and went into the scale shack. When I came out of the scale shack the officer had written me a ticket.
$150
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My nephew came for a ride with
me and I was so busy
talking I forgot to put the timber mark on the load.
The scaler gave me what for and I put the mark on
but she called the officer and he was waiting for me when I got back to
the
scale.
The officer asked for my driver’s license but I
ignored him and after I had weighed out I brushed past him, jumped into
the
truck, and took off.
The next time I came to the scale the scaler told
me she wouldn’t weigh me. I told her the truck wasn’t moving until it
got
weighed. As there was a long lineup
behind me she weighed me but told me not to come back.
I came back, empty, and she weighed me out but
told
me not to go for another load.
The mill then told my boss that if I didn’t meet
with the officer that none of his trucks would be allowed to haul into
the
mill.
A meeting was set up between the officers and I,
in
the office of the mill superintendent.
Not sure why kind of kangaroo court that was but
obviously the Ministry of Forestry was using intimidation to force the
sawmill
to intimidate me into accepting the ticket.
I should have made a citizens arrests and charged
the officers with intimidation but I meekly submitted to another ticket.
$150
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After unloading in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida I took a cruise past the famous beach but did a silly thing and pulled out in front of a cop car, because I had started out in front of some pedestrians and wanted to get out of their way.
He gave me a ticket for turning left on a red light.
Because the center of the street was so full of flowers and trees I didn’t realize I was on a two way street.
Later, at a really nice little truck stop I went back to my truck for something and found my ring binder with all my paper work lying on the top of the battery box.
How it was still there is beyond me. I had driven many miles at high speeds, as well as some low speeds on some rough streets.
I filled out the ticket with my credit card # and mailed it in, that day.
Some weeks later I received the ticket back, in the mail.
The ticket said $68 and I had put $68 but they said the ticket was $70
I searched the ticket high and low and could not see a 70, anywhere.
I sent it to the governor of Florida and told him that if he wanted the extra $2 he should ask the police officer. He is the one who wrote $68 on the ticket.
I got a letter back saying they had sent my letter, and the ticket, to the head of the state police.
I received a letter from the state police saying that it wasn’t in their jurisdiction and they were forwarding the ticket to the city police.
I have never heard another word and no deductions have been taken from my credit card.
I don’t know if the ticket was written off or if I still owe for it.
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O-23 Wrong Lane – Turning from
In a town, North-East of Toronto, Ontario, I was turning right. I was looking for a shopping center with an ATM machine.
I swung out far enough to make the corner but some guy in a pickup used the curb lane and passed me.
I was too far into the corner to see him in my mirror and not far enough to see him through my side window.
Not sure why I stopped. Either; I heard the crunch, or I felt it.
My speed was slow enough, and my reactions were fast enough, that I stopped before I drove over the top of his pick-up. I barely dented his fender, with the tire of my trailer.
You cannot turn a corner from the curb lane with a big truck. With a tractor trailer you need 2 lanes on both sides of the intersection.
The officer understood that but he still gave me a ticket for turning from the wrong lane.
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Coming up a hill, North bound, South of Willies Puddle, (Williams Lake, B. C.)I was watching a new pickup, in my mirror, trying to figure out what kind it was.
He was gaining on me steadily but as we crested the hill he backed off.
It was clear to pass but I guess he saw the police car before I did.
As radar is supposed to pick out the fastest vehicle it should of picked up the pickup up behind me but the officer stopped me.
I had glanced at the speedometer when I spotted the police car and I was over the limit so I didn’t grumble, much, when my explanation didn’t stop him from writing me a ticket.
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Going to work one morning I couldn’t understand why the police car kept following me.
After I turned off the freeway he stopped me.
The decal on my license plate was old, by about 3 months.
I was flabbergasted, I had completely forgotten that it was that time of year
The Mountie was jumping about on two feet, he had to find a washroom.
He quickly wrote me a ticket for an invalid plate, then left.
He asked me to wait until the tow truck came.
Just after the tow truck arrived the Mountie came back.
$75 plus towing.
It could have been $500 for no insurance.
«
Go back To My LIFE LINE Normally, when I am driving on the highway, when I see a vehicle approaching, I take my foot off the gas, slightly, until I can ascertain that it is not a police vehicle.
One evening, about dusk, while driving North on the Western edge of Texas, I saw a vehicle approaching. I was busy yapping to my boss on the Cel phone and didn’t ease off the throttle.
I was pulled over by an officer. It was a narrow highway, with a very narrow shoulder. I pulled to the side as best I could. I walked to the back of the truck and waited for the officer to get out of his car.
He approached me and asked me to step over to the side of the road, clear of traffic. Staying well out of my arm’s reach he asked for my driver’s license.
We talked for awhile and then he asked me to step over onto the shoulder so there was room for him to go between me and my trailer. When he was safely past he asked me to step back on the pavement out of the grass, which had been mown fairly short.
I asked him why.
He said, “Because their may be rattle snakes in the grass.”
I was back on the pavement faster than you could say `rattle rattle’.
After he looked in my truck, they like to check inside your truck for Mexicans, he wrote me out a fancy paper, from the state of Texas, welcoming me to the state and warning me to lower my speed. (They even have check points where they stop all vehicles to see if you are illegal importing Mexicans.)
This is called `Sticking your foot in your mouth’ or `She who laughs last.”
I’m driving West on Kingsway, in Burnaby, heading for work on Da Vinci’s City Hall.
Traffic ahead of me stops for the light. I see the curb lane is open so I change lanes, without taking the time to signal, check my mirrors, or shoulder check.
I was really tired after having put in an all nighter and getting little sleep before I went back to work.
OK, I’m getting old.
After the light changes I proceed and the police pull me over.
Not sure where she came from but later I think, maybe she was in the curb lane and I cut her off when I made the lane change.
Anyway, as I have done all my life I get out of my van and walk back. The lady officer gets all up tight and demands I get back in my car.
OK, always keep them happy. I’m sitting in my van watching her in my mirror. She is approaching, in a semi crouch, with her hand on her gun.
I can’t help myself. I break out laughing.
She approaches my window. Angrily she demands, “What’s so funny?”
I reply, “You’ve been watching way too much TV.”
$100 fine for not having my current address on my drivers license.
$100 fine for not having my current address on my insurance.
Women police officers have no sense of Ha, Ha.
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1971
O-7 Double Parking
1972
O-9 Speeding - 3 Points
- June
1973
O-10 Speeding - 3 Points
- January
1975
O-11 Speeding - 3
Points - January
1981
A picture of someone
taking my picture.
1984
O-13 Speeding
- December
1985
1986
1987
1988
* Vanderhoof is called hooterville because of all the geese honking, as
they fly over.
1995
1998
2002
2006
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