Memories from John McC

Hi Bob, I don't know where Normand digs up all of his material but without a doubt he should be the official archivist of GFPK. His pic on  todays  blog of  Chalmers Store at the corner of Third and Empire brought back some  memories namely (1) my father sending me on my bike to buy a brick of neapolitain(three flavours in one) ice cream for dessert after our sunday dinner and him carefully cutting the brick equally ,depending on how many people were at the table. If he felt he had made a mistake he would wipe the marks he had made on the top of the brick with his knife and start again (2) again on other occasions after we had finished our tasks around the yard on a hot summer day he would send me to Chalmers to buy a six-pack of coke for 36 cents, (3)Old Pop chalmers would sell individual cigarettes for 2 for a nickel (4) it is amazing just how many of our Third Street gang would be hanging around in front of the store on the day and at the proper time when "Big" Bill drove up in his Guaranteed Milk refrigerated truck  to make his regular delivery of iced products to the store and how amazing it was that usually he would always be able to find  a few popsicles the were defective I.E. partially broken etc-- to hand out to us kids and (5) it always amazed me how many of us young people who had spent the day caddying at the Country Club of Montreal and with enough jingle in our jeans to be able to afford a 5 cent bag of Duchess potato chips and a 10 cent large bottle of our favourite beverage ,would fit onto that small porch. Ah the good old days. JMcC

Thanks John..... I have many fond memories of Chalmers as well but also one not so fond but somewhat humorous.... for others

It was 1960 and I was 15.... I was on my way home from Pop's when my stomach began growling and thought I could make it home but around Chalmers it became obvious I probably couldn't but Mrs. C wouldn't let me use her toilet so off I went.... squeezing my cheeks as I tried to prevent that bitch Mother Nature from soiling my drawers...... I made it just past Davises when that she devil let loose.... as I struggle to walk bowlegged down the back road into the barracks (Lawrence Park)... Dave S and Roz were driving toward me in Dave blue and white Meteor wagon.... he rolled down the window and said "what the hells wrong with you, you look like you shit yourself".... I whined "I did"