roly

My earliest memories are from around 3 years old living in Sweden. I can remember my parents bringing home my sister Christina. I was sitting on the kitchen sink and seen Mom and Dad arriving in a car with "Kikia". She played havoc with my play layouts that I had arrainged on the floor, refering to her as the destroyer. In spite of this I loved her dearly and would protect her at all costs.
The trip to Canada was an adventure. Months before the trip I dreamt about Indians in the Old west. I don't remember too much about the train ride to Oslo, but I do remember boarding the S.S. Stavangerfjord for the trip to Kanada. I had a toy carousel as a departing gift and played with it often. Two incidents that stayed with me to this day was the death of a baby onboard and the scalding incident to Kikia. I enjoyed the train trip from Halifax to Vancouver and watched as my father approached on the train platform.

   We settled in Vancouver, in a walk-up suite on Broadway st. We then moved to an apartment on Broadway where Kikia and I would get up early and raid the kitchen to make early morning oatmeal cookies/snacks, making a mess in the process.
   Dad smoked cigarettes from a Players tin in those days. This was the first and only time that I got my mouth washed out with soap, not for swearing , but for salvaging used gum off the sidewalks.
   From there we moved to a small house in Burnaby. I enjoyed the time there, with many freinds and lots of room for adventure, sometime I would be gone for the whole day. I can't imagine how my mother would worry, and if she did, she didn't show it. Times have changed!
   Even in grade one, I learned how to skip school, hiding out in the culverts running under the street.

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