Page 88 - "Is Your Father Dead Yet"? with Allan MacDougall of "Hughie & Allan"

ISSUE : Issue 63

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/6/1

all," he said. "Send me anywhere," I said. He said, "Somebody's gotta do it." He sent me up to the O.C.--"Wait, they want a dis? patcher (job) somewhere," and he thumbed through a few papers. "They want a fellow in Cape Breton, down Victoria Park. They have an Army Service Corps Depot there," he said, "and 5 or 6 staff cars, and 5 or 10 trucks, and the dispatcher is gone over? seas. Got his orders. So," he said, "if you want to go down to Cape Breton," he said. "I don't know what goes on down there, I'm not from Cape Breton." I said, "I am." "Where's your home?" I said, "Sydney." And I spent the next 3 years--4 years, I guess, pretty near--down in Victoria Park. Staff car picked me up in the morning. They weren't supposed to but--be good to the boys and they're good to you. Picked me up, drove me home in the evenings, stay at home all the time, slept here and ate with my mother. (Generals wouldn't have it that good!) I'll tell you, some of them didn't have it half as good as I did! When I landed here in Sydney, somebody picked me up with a staff car down at the station and took me down to the Army Ser? vice Corps barracks, and I was coming dS??f .o' 295-2234 <' Lunch Specials Daily • FULLY LICENSED • y<' ff I Take Out Available ' /min'< -OPENyAMtollPM. rKi/IM| D Tour Buses Welcome Cf (reserve in advance) FAMILY RESTAURANT Affordable Welcomes you to Prices • DOWNTOWN BADDECK • Serving Chinese and Canadian Dishes ' through the door and somebody said, "Here's the new dispatcher." And I said, "Hi, fellows." And somebody over in the corner turned around and said, "Well, we'll all have to leave now because I can't put up with you." And I looked over --"Hughie MacKenzie," I said. "I haven't seen you since you drove a horse-and-wagon delivering groceries for Shaw's Cash Store." He said, "That's right. You were delivering groceries for MacDonald." And he told me he was in Petawawa and he had bad legs and flat feet and they said, "Where do you want to go?" And he said, "Somewhere in Nova Scotia, handy home." So the same thing happened to him. They said they wanted somebody down there as a P.O.L. Clerk. And he said, "Well, tell me more. What's a P.O.L. Clerk do?" 'Cause he had been a salesman for Swift Canadian and he worked in the office at times and was out on the road selling at times. Petrol, Oil, and Lubricants. You look after the gas for the camp down there. And the oil and grease and everything like that that they want--we had all kind of camps all over Cape Breton, you know, in Low Point, and Lingan, and over on the Northside, you know, army camps. And they all had to get their stuff from us, Hughie's Department. All the Pet? rol, Oil, and Lubricants, as they called it. So that was Hughie's job. He made up invoices and shipped it out and they came in and picked it up with their trucks. He looked after all that. So he was over on that corner and I was in this corner, and I was sending our vehicles out on details and delivering stuff. They delivered from the depot next door to the garage, supplied all the grub for all the camps--all the meats and groceries and everything. And I had the Your Complete Garden Centre Serving Do-it-yourself Landscapers Cape Breton Hardy Plants and Shrubs Complete Selection of Bedding Plants Specializing in Geraniums & Tuberous Begonias '''ooEcK vALLEV'' * 'nstant Gardens ILY • Drop In or Phone 295-2858 • Don Nicholson Gardening is a relaxing activity: Come to Brookside, relax, and fiave fun.... BACKHOE & TRUCKING Barra Construction Ltd. FREE ESTIMATES • Snow Removal • Water Lines • Well Digging • Basement Drainage • Licensed installation of Sewage Systems & Fuel Tanks • Franitie jel. 295-2754 P- O. Box 5161 MacDonald MOBILE 295-7568 Baddeck B0E1 BO | 1' Environment Environnement Canada Canada Canadian Parks Service canadien BADDECK, N. S. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK No Admission Charge 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Year Round 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. July 1 to Sept. 30 Open 7 Days a Week BELL THE MAN * BELL THE EXPERIMENTER * HYDROFOIL HALL Beautiful, Intelligent and Peaceful 75 km. west of Sydney on Route 105 Children Can Build & Fly a Bell Kite Special Evening Presentations Inquire 295-2069 for Times CanadS Baddeck: on Highway 105 and the Cabot Trail

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