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> Issue 44 > Page 36 - Working on the Sydney Coal Piers

Page 36 - Working on the Sydney Coal Piers

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/1/1 (306 reads)
 

take some of the older hands on to do re? pair work to the Piers to get her ready for the shipping season. So there wouldn't be a red cent coming in from December till March, and perhaps later. (Did you take the kind of pride in the job that I understand other men did?) Too much. (Too much?) Well, I went out to work nights that I should have been in bed. You know, I wasn't well, I was sick. I didn't lose 10 shifts in 50 years. My wife would tell me, "Stay home tonight." No, I had to go to work. And I couldn't foresee myself, when pension time was drawing close, not going to work. You know, queer feeling. Well I guess, in other words, something you're doing for 50 years, it's hard to shake off. It's the only life you knew. It's the only life I knew. Yes, I took great pride in my work, I was, I suppose, like my father, when it came to a pinch, salary didn't enter into it. If I could get a boat out on a Saturday night, that :l>' m' air Bras dor THE MARITIME CONNECTION AFFORDABLE RELIABLE PORT HAWKESBURY was my goal, I sometimes thought my father was crazy, the way he worked. I guess some? body thought I was the same. It's a funny thing. But it wasn't work. This was slavery. You go out there at midnight in the night in the fall, in November or something. Gale of wind up the harbour, and it pour? ing rain. You'd have oil- clothes on, to get down in those cars, smothering dust. Trying to work with oilclothes on. And when you were working out in weather like that, you could count on your hand the number of fine days you'd get in a season, in a summer season. If it wasn't blowing, it was raining. If it wasn't rain? ing, it was something else. And you know, it was a re? sponsibility too, you know. It meant a lot--if that boat was tied up 24 hours, it kept you over Sunday-- PORT HAWKESBURY EMPLOYEE OWNED DEPENDABLE AIR BRAS D'OR ONE DAY ADVANCE PURCHASE PRICES CHARLO -YCL CHARLOTTETOWN YYG HALIFAX -YHZ MONCTON SYDNEY -YOY YQY YPS YCL $10400 $9700 YYG $7200 55900 YDG $10000 $8900 YFC $10200 $9200 YHZ $8200 56500 YOM $8800 $7600 YPS $5400 X YSJ $9800 $8800 YSL $11200 $10400 FOR EVEN MORE ECONOMICAL FARES, CALL US IN SYDNEY RESERVATIONS:6:00AM - 10:00 PM Seven Days Per Week 1-800-565-9491 Or Your Travel Agent In Sydney call (902) 562-0030 CHECK IN FOR AIR BRAS D'OR S AT AIR CANADA COUNTERS . . .the Commuter Service with YOU in mind. OBcsttOislies * ' and • PiMIKaROGM. M> kCfNGS RO./ pK- 539-&550 ' '4<* '>'
Cape Breton's Magazine
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