The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-26, Page 17•
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GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1986—PAGE 1A
SECTION
BY
WILLIAM
THOMAS
Wide-eyed youngsters wave to the Seaforth
Marching Band. Pictured left is the Clinton
Pipe Band.
;anta stars in
annual parade
Hundreds .line route for parade
There was plenty of excitement and the category while Jean and Joyce McWhin-
streets were lined with wide-eyed children ney were second and Noreen Straughan,
Saturday as the town of Goderich's annual third. Mac's Convenience Store won the
Santa Claus Parade unfolded. commercial category while Dearborn and
A number of area bands, including the McDonalds finished second and third
town's, Laketown Band, the Clinton Pipe respectively.
Band, the Seaforth Girls Marching Band The Goderich and District Optimist Club
and Kincardine's Community Band, as topped the non-commercial category with
well as a host of floats celebrated the the Rotary Club's entry finishing second.
theme, Christmas, `T rough the .Eyes of. a. The Canadian Parents for, Fi ench Entry
Clu"Id: took third prize.
After the parade, hundreds of children Victoria School beat out Colborne and
got a chance'to,meet Santaface to face at
Santa's Court In the Park Theatre. Both
the "parade and court are sponsored by the
town's recreation department.
This year, a float entered by Don Sower -
by eaptured first place in the individual
Robertson schools in the school category
while the first place trophy in the youth
division went to Calvary Baptist Church
Olympians. The Goderich Municipal
Nursery entry was second and Bethel
Pentecostal Assembly was third.
The children of the Day Nursery wave to the crowd while pictured
at left are McDonald's characters.
L• •
wing on
Erie's shores
William Thomas iS a freelance writer
and editor living and occasionally work-
ing along the gentle, taping shores of
Lake Erie, near Port Colborne, Ontario
with an unobstructed view of the vacated
steel mills in Lakawana, New York.
For the past four years, William
Thomas has been the Editor and Creator
of WHAT'S UP NIAGARA Magazine.
Prior to that he was the creator and
editor of Skiers' Holiday Travel
Magazine in the United States, a
freelance feature writer for The Wine
Press Magazine of Toronto and Wine
Tiding Magazine of Montreal. He has
written features for the Globe & Mail,
personal columns for the Toronto Star.
and travel articles as well. At present he
is working on contract with the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation writing a two-
hour movie based on a magazine cover
feature he wrote chronicling the creation,
of Trivial Pursuit.
And they call Winfleet a quiet little
hamlet.
At 2 a.m. on December 2 my house took
to shuddering on its foundation and
things began falling off the walls.
When it's December and you're half
asleep, buried under 6" of eider down
and a buck -toothed cat called Malcolm,
you'll do almost anything rather than get
up.
I convinced myself that my house was
simply having a nervous breakdown —
much better it than I — and I lapsed back
into my dream a nightmare actually, in
which I was playing strip poker with Dr.
Ruth Westheimer and winning.
I'm not sure when I realized. I was in
the middle of the worst storm to hit Lake
Erie since the Great Lakes were
glaciers.
The 16' rollers that were treating my 8'
breakwall like a curb were strong in-
dicators of troubled waters.
When intermittent, angry waves wash-
ed up against my living room windows
and a small pond took shape on my
bedroom floor, I tried desperately to
remember the home. phone numbers of
every person who had ever said to me:
"I'd give anything to live on the lake."
I remember being conscious of
flooding when my neighbour, "Murray
The Cop" and I, wearing 2%' high rubber
boots waded through hip high water
enroute to the Hiselers' house to sand bag
their basement windows. One would
gather that only a contractor ensconced
in a fit of eternal optimism or a bout of
depressing stupidity would build base-
ment windows into the lake side of a
house. But remember, when the houses
and cottages along Lake Erie were built,
the lake was something you walked out to
and swam in, not something that imper-
sonates an indoor jacuzzi everytimg
there's a south wind. The water level in
their finished basement was 3' high and
rising by the time we got there. Not deep
enough for recreational swimming but
certainly a threat to their miniature Ger-
man shepherd.
Even as I watched my storage shed
chasing my picnic table down a river that
used to be a driveway, it didn't dawn on
me that I was in serious trouble.
Even when Murray's wife called from
higher ground at her parents' place in
Port Colborne to say that on her way up
Lakeshore Road she had passed Col-
avincenzos' boat going the opposite way,
I really didn't panic.
Even after we evacuated the Col-
avincenzos to a nearby motel, nobody
took God's name in vain. As we watched
a nieghbour's brick barbecue go through
Murray's basement window there was no
shrieking or running in circles. Murray
was well aware of the hazards of barbe-
cuing indoors and now with three feet of
water in his basement, he was just doing
his best to keep up with the Hiselers. I
believe it was when I finally made it back
to my place and stumbled into the kit-
chen through sliding glass doors that
were now serving as a dyke and saw my
cat wearing a life preserver and pointing
toward F nthill — that's when I knew I'd
bought the farm.
When I poured myself a stiff snifter of
brindy to induce blood circulation and
the cat lunged for it first — I knew there
was trouble in River City, not to mention
Wainfleet, Lowbanks and anywhere from
Windsor to Fort Erie.
Living on Lake Erie is like being mar-
ried to a gorgeous, seductive woman who
has a history of occasional fits of insani-
ty. Most of the time it's wonderful. Once
in a while she snaps.
Devastating storms have a strange ef-
fect on people. Neighbours wrenched
from their mundane routines rediscover
each other and breathe new life into the
true meaning of the word "neighbour"
itself. Insurance representatives go
rooting through junk drawers for magni-
fying glasses so they can read the fine
print on your policy and quote it to you
over the phone. I'm not so sure "wind-
swept water" •is an act of God but I'm
certain insurance agents ,are not. After
years of taking your premium cheques
and giving back little more than payment
reminders, suddenly, . insurance com-
panies are running around saying: "Hey,
this is a risky business."
Maybe it'd just me but I think it's a lit-
tle strange living on the Iake as I do —
•aboui `'8O Miles from Pearson ltiterna-
•
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