Page 84 - "Is Your Father Dead Yet"? with Allan MacDougall of "Hughie & Allan"

ISSUE : Issue 63

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/6/1

And I went back for a little while, and then--I heard about a job.... Right di? rectly across Dorchester Street from the Post Office--all that was stores. There was a David's Market and there was Bob's Creamery, which was Bob MacKenzie, and a couple of more stores all along there. Right directly opposite the Post Office on Dorchester Street. I came home and I told my mother, I said, "I'm not studying, learning anything," I said, "and I don't want to go to school any more. I'll go and get a job." "Up to yourself," she said. (Just like that. She wasn't worried about your future?) No. So I went downtown looking around, asking questions. And I met somebody who told me that there was a job at Bob's Creamery on Dorchester Street. You worked inside, and then he had the second car as a delivery car--1950 Chev. He had a Buick besides that for himself. Used to deliver cream and buttermilk and different things that he handled. It wasn't just like;a grocery PARSONS & ASSOCIATES BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS 240 KINGS ROAD, SYDNEY 539-2777 FAX LINE 539-4282 DAVID L. PARSONS, Q.C.. Res 539-7240 GERARD X. MacKENZIE.. Res 539-5610 RONALD JACKSON Res 567-1368 GLENN FRANCIS Res 794-8645 A GENERAL PRACTICE INCLUDING: Criminal Law, Real Estate, Family Law & Divorce, Personal Injury, Insurance Law, Civil Litigation, Commercial & Corporate Law store; he delivered to the hospitals and the hotels and places like that. And I went to work for him, and I worked for him for about a year. Nine dollars a week. Nine dollars was nine dollars then. Incidentally, everybody went to the Post Office for their mail. And a whole lot of the men walked directly across the street. And we had sort of a lunch counter there. But what it was--a favourite drink was a Half-and-Half--buttermilk and cream. It was strong, but it developed into a real deal. They'd get their mail and they'd come with their mail under their arm and get a Half-and-Half--15<::, I think. And everybody came in. In the morning was a big rush, and you'd be working inside with himself, and there was a girl working there, dishing out this. And one day--oh, I was there about a year, I think--Mike Sullivan used to come in pretty near every day. And I knew him be? cause I had been with a couple of fellows a couple of times, we kicked around to? gether. Went up, and he had cars that he rented out. He lived up off King's Road. He had about 22 cars that he was renting out afteT-noons and evenings. And, plus, he had one but; -the first bus that started running to North Sydney. Right through to Little Brass d'Or, actually. And one day Mike came in. He was having his Half-and-Half, and he looked around. He said, "Where's Bob?" I said, "He's down 'Tfie Wrecl

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