We managed to get away for a week to Florida in the summer of 1977. Lynda spotted an advertisement in the local newspaper about renting a condo in Pompano Beach, Florida. This condo was owned by a Canadian couple who used to live in Scarborough. She set up a meeting with them to discuss the details and everything sounded nice and reasonable so we decided to go for it. However, we didn’t know anything about Pompano Beach.
It didn’t take too long for us to find out that Pompano Beach was only 1,500 miles from where we were living and we figured it should take around 20 hours to drive to Pompano Beach if we decided not to rush. Accordingly, we only stopped for breakfast and lunch on the first day of our travel before we had driven enough miles to stop for supper and spend a night in a motel. Next morning we had early breakfast and stopped for lunch in the middle of the day yet reached Pompano Beach in the late afternoon around 5:00 PM.
We were delighted to learn that Pompano Beach was centrally located between Palm Beach and Miami with nice restaurants and terrific shopping malls. It had anglers and family flock to the 1,000-foot-long municipal fishing pier, beachside playgrounds, grills, and picnic tables. There were more than 50 local parks for sports enthusiasts or those who have a penchant for outdoor relaxation. Local attractions and shopping in Pompano Beach provided us with myriad entertainment options. Annual special events included a holiday boat parade in December, seafood festival in April, and a fishing rodeo in May and it so happened that we were there in the month of April to enjoy the Seafood Festival.
We had no problem in finding the condo. It was located close to the shops and other facilities. The building was reasonably new and the condo was nice and clean with lovely bright furniture. It had a reserved parking spot for our car. The swimming pool was very big and clean. Even though Lynda didn’t swim, she spent a great deal of time in the pool with Adam. The people working for the property management company were very friendly and helpful.
Lynda bought groceries and started cooking in the condo. Most days we went out only to eat lunch and we enjoyed every minute we spent there in the afternoon. Once we realized that Miami was only 35 miles away from Pompano Beach, we decided to visit Miami on one day. We left early in the morning after breakfast. It took less than 40 minutes to drive to Miami. We really enjoyed going around and browsing in the downtown of Miami. Went to a few malls in Miami and Lynda was delighted to spend some money there before we came back to Pompano Beach.
Unfortunately, one night when we came back from supper and started watching TV, I started getting pain in my stomach. The pain came and went in waves but it felt sharp and severe. I was feeling pain in my abdomen, sides, lower back, and groin. When it became intolerable, I asked Lynda to call the ambulance. I ended up spending a night in the hospital where they told me that I have kidney stone. They gave me pain killers and said there’s nothing else they can do. They said it will pass in urine and asked me to keep drinking beer.
Before we knew it, our week was over on Saturday and we had to start driving again. Driving back home wasn’t a problem as we were familiar with the route and directions. However, we were tired when we got home.
As soon as we got back, Lynda got involved with the annual tradition of having a Sidewalk party at the condominium where we were living. Everybody seemed to be getting excited about the party and we were looking forward to it.
The Homeowner Committee used to allocate space on the sidewalk for each townhome inside the subdivision, and the owners would decorate that part and bring their barbeque out to cook hamburgers and hot dogs. Lynda volunteered to participate on the committee for the party and as a member of the committee she used to go around and help other folks with their setups, too. Kids used to play all kind of games during the afternoon and in the evening we used to play loud music and dance. Lynda loved dancing and I had two left feet. It didn’t bother her but she danced with everybody and his brother. She just wanted to have a nice time.
Lynda had a friend, Joyce. When Lynda started working for a cosmetics distribution company in London, Joyce used to be there in a senior position. Joyce used to be helpful to Lynda and Lynda never forgot that. She kept in touch with Joyce. One day she said to me that she would like to invite Joyce to come to Canada and spend a couple of weeks with us. I didn’t have any problem with that so Lynda sent her return ticket and Joyce accepted the invitation graciously. It was a pleasure to meet Joyce and we really enjoyed her company for a couple of weeks.
Lynda must have realized that if she had a driving licence, she could have helped me with the driving on our recent trip to Florida. Right after the annual Sidewalk party, she decided to take the driving test and she passed it.
I found out that Beaver Lumber Company leased cars for their executives. Typically, every three years those cars were replaced with the newer models but instead of sending those cars back to the dealership, they used to sell them to the managers for the price of the lease which used to be very reasonable. Now that I was a manager, I was entitled to buy one of those cars. It so happened that when I went to discuss the possibility with the guy who was responsible for the cars, he said right now I have a Ford which you can have right away and we sealed the deal.
We decided to trade our Colt with another used car for Lynda. I got the green Ford, a big car, as our family car and she had a relatively small maroon car for herself. Lynda was happy. She used to do the grocery shopping and drive Adam around for all kinds of activities.
During the infamous inflation crisis of the 1970s, Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals imposed strict wage controls on workers in late 1975. The federal government created a handpicked corporate-aligned “Anti-Inflation Board” to impose below-inflation wage caps on collective agreements across the private and public sectors. Wage and Price Controls were comprehensive government restrictions on the maximum rate at which wages and prices could increase during a specified time period. As a result of these controls, the management salaries in Beaver Lumber Company were frozen.
I went to work on one Monday in 1978 and Gord popped in my office to ask me if Lynda was at home. I said she must be as she’s not working at the school this morning. He said call her and tell her that somebody from Beaver Lumber Company will come to take the measurements of your townhome to replace your carpet.
He looked at my face and realized that I was having difficulty to process that information. He said to me that as a result of the freeze on management salaries, I wasn’t able to give you a raise last year. I know you deserved a raise, therefore, I made an unconventional deal with the company to replace the carpet in your house instead of the raise which you didn’t get. Hope Lynda will be happy with that.
Lynda was thrilled with the idea as she got the most expensive carpet laid down on all four levels of our townhome right away.
Now things were under control at work, we decided to take a week off and go to Bancroft.
This time instead of going to the same place where we had been last time for a week, we decided to do something different. Lynda made a reservation at Fred’s Cottages for a two bedroom, four-season cottage for a week. The cottage we rented was located on the lake and it was very big and comfortable. We had late breakfasts in local restaurants and mooched around in the town. If I remember correctly, we went to see:
- Egan Chutes Provincial Park;
- Mineral Museum;
- Papineau Public Beach; and
- The East Conservation Area
We used to go back to our cottage after lunch and I tried to nap for a couple of hours but Lynda and Adam would go out again for shopping or just strolling. We used to go out for suppers not too far from where we were staying.
One afternoon, Adam and I rented a small boat to do some fishing but didn’t have much luck.
We remembered to take the piece of paper with us which showed the ownership of the land. This paper was given to us as a down payment for the townhome that we sold in Bramalea. We tried to follow the directions to determine the actual location of the land but it got complicated. Unfortunately, the Land Registry office wasn’t located in the town to clarify the address or seek some help. We decided to leave it for now.
It was a very good week in Bancroft weather-wise and we relaxed and enjoyed our time there. Better yet, I never got any calls from my office for trouble shooting.
One Friday when I got home and started changing to take Lynda and Adam out for a cheap supper, Lynda came in the bedroom and said to me. hope you are not going to work tomorrow. I said I just wanted to pop in to check something out in the office tomorrow but that can wait. I asked what’s up. She said Maxine wants to see us. Instead of keeping my mouth shut and listening to her, I said you mean she wants to see you. She got mad with me and said, don’t start with me Buster.
In any case, we went out on Saturday to pick up Maxine from her foster parent’s house and take her out for a nice lunch. We had a very nice meal together and Maxine was utterly charming. This was her 4th or 5th foster home and she had it up to here with all of them and she wanted to come home. I knew she was capable of making convincing arguments and making sad faces but Lynda appeared to be persuaded. However, I was neither impressed nor convinced. I was just being the bad guy. I said Maxine, please listen to me carefully; nothing has changed in our household. We are the same people you hated to live with. I am the same Muslim who mistreated an innocent and helpless Jewish girl and it’s not going to work. I know your mother missed you a lot but my suggestion to you is to try your best to listen to your foster parents and social workers who supported you wholeheartedly. The next thing we knew she started crying which was another powerful tool for Maxine. I knew that I was being difficult and probably Lynda hated me for that but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk of putting Adam through another series of upsetting episodes.
