A4 - Wednesday, December 21, 1983 - North Shore News f get claustrophobic rather quickly in the midst of crowds. Worse, I tend to have instant nervous breakdowns the moment | enter a department store. So there is a. basic understanding in the Hunter household that Daddy doesn’t go into big stores. And Daddy particularly doesn’t go into big stores around Christmas time. If the wee lad wants to have his annual rap with San- ta, he has to con Mommy in- to taking him. It’s no pro- blem. She’s a push-over when it comes to the soppy, sen- timental stuff. But this year, things didn’t work out as smoothly as in Ye Olde Dayes. The tender-hearted management team who run Eaton’s have made a few modifications to the ancient Christian tradition of luring the rubes in by sucking some unemployed guy inside a fun- Strictly personal by Bob Hunter THE IDEA, of course, was for our five-year-old son to have a little private session with Santa Claus. ny red suit and instructing him to play father confessor to materialism-maddened hordes of brats whose ap- petite for acquisition has been stimulated to the bursting point by months of television advertising. Anyway, Mommy decided this year to give the kid the full treatment. Not just a visit to an ordinary suburban San- ta. Nope. Downtown to Granville and Georgia for the full splash. As everyone knows, you don’t just GO downtown around Christmas time. You buck the traffic, fight lke a starving animal for a parking spot, and claw your way through the festive maelstrom of consumers. Ho ho. Only to discover, when she reached the centre of the ant- heap, that the new policy was to not have a Santa Claus downtown during the week, just on weekends. Eaton’s, bless ‘em, laid down the burden of the Santa Claus parade last year. And this year it looks like they laid off a few Santas as well. Maybe next year they'll go the full distance and hire Scrooge to sit on a throne and dispense financial advise 10 the kiddies. Well, Mommy wasn’t too pleased. And the kid was shattered: ‘*Where’s Santa, huh? Is Santa sick? Doesn’t he love us anymore?’’ Mom- my duly promised to try a suburban department store in the search for the rare, en- dangered Santa Claus. She eventually tracked one down in a department store a few miles from home. There was, naturally, a line-up. She waited about three-quarters of an hour, while the kid, naturally, drove her insane, as kids waiting for Santa are wont to do. The situation wasn’t helped at all when the woman Standing right behind Mom- my dropped an immense plastic cup of some kind of WV car thief goes on $4,000 spree WEST VANCOUVER Police are looking for a hit and run driver with a penchant for hitting stop signs and Volkswagens. The unidentified man went on a denting spree early Saturday, stealing a car from a Bayridge Avenue house and both paast we at Plans hau hoor C biastroas sant oo al Bae tet oy Crater wan of ate bata cre. feo crea ae peast yaar Pbats a wa tbe the be Thanks 4 Wie rere mgt Chae ti ceegeghe cee Cancabtes ve. baa ung saath tae westaraed caf setting yous at Partsteraan arel war ane tharisbet ing fac ese wre fedivwer tno Cbrerrt te pasty bee of hae nary dares Pow tool bea Scent apabe nyerers fae ne pm sitio cata or et Tans capapere nae ¢ trary Tae crate Peet thee ct ap oars Nerdlar teor deolbar "Wena that Taemt) te Odea frat a4 way oaths \\\ me and this Prom all of ue at Dan «to all of you our Chetetmase with you then racking up more than $4,000 worth of damage in a brief spree. The as-yet uncaptured driver stole the car about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. At the nearby intersection of Burkehill and Ripple Road he plowed the car into a 1978 Volkswagen Sei we “acre ak syn ete \ DAN’ CHRISTMAS IS FOR G sleeqha tl Hor teancerte taveraphe on me Vn eee yout en a Thank You for allowtng ue to share Aad the very beat in the New Year S RUG & FURNITURE CLEANING LTD. 1463 Hunter St. NV. IVIN and then a stop sign. He drove into another Volkswagen on Woodcrest as well as a 1978 Cadillac and a 1973 Chevrolet, before retur- ning to the area of Bayrndge and Burkehill where he took out several more stop signs and finally abandoned the vehicle eto ge © betel Ie Vet seapoprcnet heard Wtfarretit cae Ware ota, wie! may veo verttie deodlar es at the TW lage hay: wth Nba ane Cobirr tert ple tay aeat vat othe et ket ol thae fel oiwe ol vob 984-9151 strawberry drink on the floor, splashing Mommy’s feet so that from then on, every time she got a chance ta shuffle forward a few more inches, her shoes stuck to the ules. She’s a saint, of course. And might even have retain- ed her sainthood except that when they finally reached the next-in-line position to see Santa, the jolly old soul got up and announced that he was going for a coffee break for 15 minutes. He was gone half an hour. By the time he got back, the strawberry drink has hardened and Mommy was almost permanently glued to the floor. She shoved the kid S Thanks to all who have made this a very good year! rivate session with Santa | compaint violently in the direction of Santa's lap, ho ho. As soon as the kid had finished telling Santa how many Star Wars toys he wanted, a photographer managed to squeeze off three color shots of him with a hor- rible forced grin on his face. Mommy got charged something like seven bucks for these wonderful souvenirs of a wonderful time, ho ho, clawed her way out of the building, fought her way back into the traffic, which she bucked-or it bucked her, whichever way you want to think of it — and came home to Daddy, who said: “‘When’s supper? I’m starved.’’ Merry Christmas anyway! HOPPING SUGGESTION WESTLYNN OPTICAL westlynn mall is filed THE MOTHER of a 15-year- old North Vancouver boy who died of botulism poison- ing, has filed a complaint with the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons. The youth died in late Oc- tober after eating non- commercial smoked salmon. in her complaint, the boy's mother alleges that she was told by a doctor that her son was suffering from the flu and prescribed ‘‘Gravol and ice cubes.’”’ The college said Monday that it is investigating the complaint, which will be discussed by a complaints committee at a January 25 meeting. S 980-4313 HUNTS ANTIQUES GIFTS starting at *4” Besides a large collection of Fine Antiques, we also carry many other Fine Gifts We have something tor every member of the family westlynn mall “The Store with Crtfts ee westly and loys forall Apes”’ 38F westlynn mall 984-6686 piclures beads puzzles pf? sy PU pa ge bo ay A mall 4 et Ce ee ee ee iY Brassware toys pens stekers wicker ware mugs mobiles. beer boxes Hampers, trunks, posters games barometers, AND MUCH MUCH MORE!!! We fraive a hirge foc hing stuffers 3} 986-1713 Gouls bar signs Phendsthup Selector ot Chirstmas: Shapping “Hours to tybecass