Editorially speaking…
I don’t think I’ll ever become comfortable with Facebook.
Sure, I post something historical every two days and have built up a small following. It’s a modest way of self-promotion which, after all, is part of the publishing game. What’s the point of writing about our pioneers and historical events if there’s no one there to read them?
For the most part, it can be fun, requiring as it does little of the discipline necessary to researching and writing serious texts, and some of the comments are illuminating.
Then there’s the reader who turns and twists what you say into something altogether different and invariably negative. Fortunately, these gloomers are few and far between but they always leave a bad taste in my mouth and make me wonder, if only momentarily, why I bother.
For example, this recent post that I thought to be totally innocuous. We’ll begin with the readers who read and interpreted this post on a childhood memory of home delivery as I intended.
First, my post:
So many of us take home delivery for granted now. By which I mean Amazon, not to mention couriers.
In the good old days, you could have groceries delivered to your door. In my early days, when we lived in Parksville, the Woodward’s man would come each week and my Mom placed the following week’s order with him.
Worked fine, so far as I knew, although I was just a toddler so didn’t know the finer points. When I was older and living in Saanich, there was an ice man, a Chinese green grocer, the Raleighs and Watkins products men, milk, etc., all delivered to your door. No horse and buggy by then, of course. (I can still hear the musical jingling of milk bottles in their metal carriers.)
Here, in this Vancouver City Archives shot, we see the horse and wagon of the H.A. Edgett Co., making his rounds with “Everything to Eat.” Do you suppose he carried a doggie bag and scoop with him?
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Let’s begin with the positive comments which, for the most part, I’ve not edited. I’m not sure what prompted the reference to polio:
ARS: Much simpler and relaxing days.
FM: Until you catch polio.
E. B-G: Not everyone was subjected to Polio. I remember at my Elementary school we all lined up went through the Auditorium [and] were given a sugar cube, with anti Polio Vaccine, then we did the same thing a couple of Weeks after. I went to Hastings Elementary School 1950 to 1956. I don’t recall anyone in our school got Polio.
S.P. (Top Contributor) I remember in our very rural area there was also the Singer Sewing machine repair man making the rounds periodically.
C.C.: We had a Chinese green grocer that also sold eggs. He had an extra thumb on each hand. We were fascinated. Apples were a nickel, and have never tasted so good since.
D.B.: Just proves once again, that there’s nothing new under the sun!
C.C. (again): And what about the iceman? We ran after him down the street in 100• days in Kamloops. It was like getting an icicle in summer! We brushed off the sawdust and ate to our hearts content. He delivered to our house till I was around 8.
E. B-G. (again): In Hastings East, Clark Drive to Boundary Road, going North & South, East & West, Inlet to Broadway, we had Mr. Ciccone Fresh Fish, in his metal Pick up Truck full of ice Blocks, & if we were good kids (didn’t bug him) he had ice shaving in a thermos.
We could have a couple of Chips. He looked Elderly way Bank then, but a really nice Man. Every Kind of Fish you could think off.
The Milk man (there were 3 Milk Companies, ours was Dairyland*, the other companies Jersey Farms* & Avon Dairy (I think Avon was Mostly South Granville Area) came ** every couple of Days. I remember we got 2 Quarts of Whole Milk (no skim, or 2% in those Days), we got 2 pints of Creamo, in winter… You the family washed the Glass Bottles Clean, he would pick them up as he went along, if your Bottles not washed he left them behind.
The Milk would on the Top Freeze, the Milk, the Cream in milk would freeze & raise out the top of Quart Bottle. Our Dad & Gram loved it, put the whole thing in there
TEA, their TEA was so Strong, wonder the spoon didn’t disappear
There was also [the] Fresh Vegetable Truck came Drawn by Horse, then Big Black Truck.
H. V-L: I used to watch for the milkman and his horse when I stayed with my grandparents [in] the West End.
R.W. (rising contributor): North Van had Yen Bros and Dairyland and a knife sharpener (name escapes me) when I was young.
D.D. S-J (rising contributor): Remember milk cart horse? Actually saw one in Kenora.
J.D. (again): About 1965 a Chinese grocer drove around our Duncan neighborhood with fresh fruits and vegetables. Bonus for me, he bought our bumper crop of cherries. I think that was about the last year; maybe regulations ended it so only ice cream trucks were permitted. Now Amazon and other delivery vans bring everything and grocery stores deliver veg but to single home. Bring back the fruit and veggie trucks!
L.J.: Yes, indeed, horse and buggy would be WAY better.
J.D. (again): I recall a truck with various bags and bins hanging from the back. I would love a picture.
B.G.: Growing up in North Saanich on Boughneath Farm we proudly shipped milk to Island Farms Dairy. I remember the ice truck delivering for our icebox on the porch, the green grocer we called “Mr Lee” bringing fresh produce (a box of lychee fruit his gift at Christmas ) and Don Norbury delivering fresh fish on Thursday nights from Satellite Fish Co. still operating after over 60 years on the wharf at the foot of Beacon Avenue in Sidney. Sidney Bakery delivered bread to my Gardner grandparents farm (where Parkland School is now) in 1920s (still baking fine food for 108 years). Watkins, Raleigh and Fuller Brush man too
J.M.: HA!! I remember, too...Victoria! 1950...
Editor’s Note: Here’s where these fond reminiscences change course.
S.J. (addressing J.D.): Interesting that you chose to single out one ethnicity: the “Chinese” green grocer. And not, say, the Caucasian-of-Hungarian-Decent [sic] iceman…
B.S.: A white person would not notice someone of Hungarian descent as being different. They would however, notice that a person of Chinese descent was different. Just an observation, not judging anyone.
C. Z.: I would say that referring to the grocery carrier as Chinese would be a compliment in my mind!
In our community, the Chinese farmers always had the very best quality produce they grew in their big gardens at the corner of Ziprick road! Also one of our founding pioneers, Ben Lee, had a huge and wonderful apple orchard in the middle of what is now Rutland!
Instead of selling the land to developers for million and millions of dollars, he gave the land to the city of Kelowna, to turn into a huge park called Ben Lee Park! It has a kids water park, hockey rink, little toboggan hill, playground, change rooms and washrooms, Picnicking areas, benches, lots of mixed trees, soccer fields, a skate park, paved trails for walking, biking, hiking, pushing a stroller.
All wheelchair accessible, and lots of free parking! It's a gem for the community! We celebrate our Chinese heritage! Ben Lee was known as the "Mayor of Rutland" for years and years, even though he was never "elected" for any position. He cared deeply about our community.
S.J. (again): You just kind of made my point…
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T.W.P.: His point? That I showed racial bias in identifying the green grocer as being Chinese and by not ethnically profiling the other door-to-door merchants?
Good grief. I simply identified the green grocer for what he was, nothing more, nothing less.
This is why I’m always looking over my shoulder when I write Facebook posts now. They are, after all, meant to be more fun than informative. I used to post them at the end of a long work day, but no more. Now I let them cool overnight—and even that doesn’t always save me from the Woke fringe who see evil everywhere they look.
Most of the millions of words that I’ve written over the decades are still out there, in print in old newspapers, magazines, books and online. I defy anyone to make a case that I have ever intentionally denigrated visible, religious or ethnic minorities.
I’m sure that somewhere along the line I’ve written something that truly has offended a reader. First published at the tender age of 17, I’ve had to learn a lot since then (life is funny that way) and I’m making no claims to perfection or sainthood.
Just writing about the people and the events that built our country to the best of my humble abilities. Let’s see some Woker take issue with that!