page 2 "April 2 21, 1977 - . North Shore News... an

when the

vv aawaa

] wind has blown from tl!
southwest the beaches of West Vancouver receive -
more than their usual amount of debris. Those are
the days when you can hear the roar of chainsaws
up and down the beach as thrifty householders

make off with trunk loads of free firewood. ~ —

wasaw th aad

Some days

c tot s

possible in Wes Vancouver
(the only spots where you
can get on the beach in North.
Vancouver. are out towards ;
Deep Cove, and even they
are’ restricted to the two
parks). It seems a shame that
our waterfront has been

a

“

We used to live there, and
I remember the. drift-rows
very well. They were herald-
ed by storms, and to my
ten-year old being, the storms
were enormous occasions,
when the wind rattled the
house and the rain came
leaking around the old storm
windows in the verandah.
My mother used to get out
her store of matches and
candles for when the elect-
ricity went out, and. it used to
go out every time. Alas,
things are much more
efficient now, and not too
many kids have the thrill of
power outages and meals
cooked on a hibachi, with
glowing candles for light.

ALWAYS BUILDING
Us kids used to scrounge

around the beaches a lot.
They provided our entertain-

ment, our playground and

our adventures. We were
always building something
— one of the projects that I

_ remember best was a half.a_

cedar log that washed up on
the high tides and landed
with the flat side more or less
upright. The log was rotten
with age. We hollowed out
the punk interior and built a
‘cabin’, and furnishing our
‘ship’ took months

for enjoyment.

“We used to go out after the.

storms and walk for a long
way up and down the
beaches, poking at

pulling out things. From the
tangled masses

and.
provided many opportunities |

the :.
wind-rows with sticks and

of kelp

_ slithered a lot of animal life,
disturbed at their feeding.

We surprised garter snakes,
rats, crabs and sand fleas by
the. millions, and we invari-_
ably came home tar-smeared ©
and stinking of creosote and
seaweed. My father had the
job of cleaning us up with
rags and turpentine.

There seemed to be a

- higher quality of flotsam and
jetsam

in those pre-1950
days. Or maybe it was my
point of view, because what
is garbage now-was treasures
then. I know for sure that.
there was a lot more wooden
flotsam — wooden packing

cases, crates, lumber. and the -

like. Wooden hatch covers,

far too big for kids to lift,

washed up from time to time.
We salvaged many bamboo -
screens.

‘BEACHES PRE-EMPTED.

1] learned | a lot about the

; way the world went round in
those days. Along with the |

logs and debris from the
forests, the flotsam from
ships and the incredible con-

fusion of seaweed were the >

mute reminders of the frailty
of life. We poked at corpses
of seagulls and seals, skele-
tons of fish and the occas-
ional dog: and cat. My dog
was very interested in what

went on in the wind-rows,

and her keen nose found
many mysteries.

‘Most of the beaches on the
North Shore have been pre-
‘empted by private houses
and industrial plants. Access

VERIFIED CIRCULATION 46,000
1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4

| OFFICE/NEWS: (604) 980-0511 :
CLASSIFIED: 980-3464 CIRCULATION: 986- 1337.

Publisher Peter Speck

Assoclate Publisher Bob Graham/Managing Editor
Noel Wright/News Guillermo Lam/Photos Ells-
worth Dickson/Production Marna Leiren/Advertis-"
ing Kristi Vidler/Classified Berni Hilliard/Circuta-
tion Yvonne Chapman/Administration Barbara
Haywood/Accounts Sylvia Sorensen.

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an

‘independent

community newspaper
qualified under Schedule 111,

and
Part 111,

Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is
published each Wednesday by the North
Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every
‘door on the North Shore.

Second Class Mall Registration Number 3885.

_ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHT © 1977 NORTH
"SHORE FREE PRESS LTD. All rights reserved.

_ squandered like this.

the: ‘bed did ‘not assist in

I think that a lot of kids
would like to experience the
thrill of picking through the
leavings of the tides, and I
am grateful that West.
Vancouver has had the fore-

sight to leave her beaches
open to the public. Adults
can enjoy it, too. Try it, you'll
like it.

continaed from page 1
wooden bed frame, causing
the Plastic water bed to melt.

Meldrum said. water from.

. fighting the blaze, because
the bed was located fairly
close to the floor, while the
fire raged -above ‘it. ‘‘If the
_waterbed hadn’ t been there,
water damage would _ not
have been as extensive,” he
said.

Firemen used only about
100 gallons from their pump,
however, excess water from
the bed began to. seep
through ceilings of the lower
floors. .

It is. believed the fire.
originated somewhere across
from the bed. Occunants Jeff
Weite and Gordon Barker
were away at the time.

After controlling the blaze,
firemen managed to vacuum
off the water after remaining
at the scene for some two.
hours, -

While they were. tackling
the fire, some firemen had to
throw smouldering clothes
from the window. Coins,
contained among the clothes,
fell onto the back lawn. A few
young observant spectators
tried to scurry off with the

‘

money, a nowever, firemen oo. ° Pa
t f
manage to re Fieve some 0 Other Convenient Locations

Damage estimates were
unavailable.

Vancouver
Vancouver
Surrey
Richinond
Victoria
Naniamo

2667 Kingsway
1112 East Hastings

12367 King George #5. Hwy.
428 *3 Rood

2700 Government St.

145 Terminal Ave.

’ .
¥

Also in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Prince Georye