By VIVIAN SADDY

. By the time I reached my
parents’ home on Seymour
‘Boulevard that Saturday
morning, .the river was
rushing across the front
~lawn. The house was empty;
my parents away on
holidays. Inside,.two inches
of water covered the floor of
my father’s in-home office.

Files and invoices were
already wet.
Friends helped move

business records out to the
car. I ran through the upper
part of the house where it
was still dry, grabbing photo
albums and searching the
places my parents might hide
important documents. The
order was ~ evacuate at
once; the rumour was - the
dam is going tobreak.-

The dam did not break. By
Sunday morning the rain had
stopped, the river had
returned to its bed and a
twenty-five pound salmon
lay on the back lawn. I faced
the unpleasant task of clean-
up with a sense of relief,
assuming that the worse was
over. Little did I know.

By Sunday evening
electrical power on Seymour
Boulevard had been restored
to all but my parents’ home.
I called the B.C. Hydro
emergency number
repeatedly, but all lines were
busy. The house remained in
darkness and without heat
Sunday night.

Monday morning at 7:00 I
was able to get through to
B.C. Hydro. After some
checking, the clerk informed
me that Hydro could not
restore our power without
clearance from a District of
North Vancouver electrical
inspector. When I told him
that this clearance
procedure had not been
required of our neighbours
the day before, neither he

LOOK

in the November 25th
North Shore News
SHOPPERS ORUG MART,
GRAND
OPENING
16th & Marine Dr.
West Vancouver

Elile Hender, CTC
Manager

nor anyone at his office was
able to account for the
change in policy.

Accepting this. new
requirement, I called: the
District Hall and explained
my predicament to. the
woman who answered. The
electrical inspector was out
until 4:00. She would have
him call me. At 4:05 I dgain
called the District Hall and
was this time connected with
the electrical inspector. The
inspector explained that he
had finished work for the
day and suggested that I
make an appointment to see
him Tuesday. After a.great
deal of pleading on my _ part,
the man finally agreed to
come to the house. He
arrived fifteen minutes later
for the inspection, equipped
with a flashlight.

He shone his light on
various plug outlets and
asked how high the water
had been. I answered,
showing him the still damp
water line which fell well
below the outlets. He
mumbled and grumbled and
finally announced that he
would not clear us for power
without our first having an
electrician’s meter test. I
asked if he was not able to
do the test himself. No, I
would have to bring in an
electrician. I immediately
thought of an electrician
friend living nearby. I would.
ask him to come over after

work that day, run the test
and notify the inspector; the
inspector would call Hydro
and the bubbling wallpaper
and wet drywall would be
saved.

’ The inspector refused to
give me his home phone
number. I would have to call
him a his office at 8:30 the
next morning.

The house remained in
darkness and without heat
Monday night. Prowlers
were reported seen in the
neighbourhood.

Tuesday morning at 7:00 I
met the electrician at the
house. He tested the wiring
and concluded that all was
safe. I typed a letter for him
to sign and a friend deliverd
it to the District Hall.

Meanwhile I phoned
Mayor Don Bell. He assured
me that he would look into
the matter immediately.
That was the last I heard
from him. Twenty minutes
later the electrical inspector
called. Our electrician’s test
had not been satisfactory.
We would have to have him
retest with a different meter.

Exasperated, I again
called the mayor’s office. He
was out so I explained the
worsening situation to his
secretary. She consoled me
and said she would have the
District building inspector
contact me. Shortly after, a
woman called me to report
that the building inspector

Diamond Rings
Signet Rings
Wedding Rings

House of Gkaries

Park Royal- South Mall an

AVOID LINE-UPS AT THE
DOWNTOWN AIRLINE OFFICES
— ROSEWAY CAN ISSUE YOUR

TICKETS FOR CHRISTMAS TRAVEL!

you have made reservations to travel al Christmas time
directly with a major airline. you can pick your tickets up

from our office

ous

AIR CANADA (#)
Westem Airlines

THE ONLY WAY TOFLY

€ Pacific Western

CP Air {«

Simpty phone us with the details and we wil ossuo your

tickets immediately

#106

100 Park Royal West Vancouver

AT NO ADDITIONAL COST

926-8616
926-4344

CS - Sunday News, November 22, 1981

had tried to reach me, but
my line had been busy. He
would be tied up in a
meeting for twenty minutes.
I agreed to wait by the
phone.

By this time my friend had
returned. We decided not to
wait for the inspector’s call,
but to quickly have the
necessary electrical test
performed. We arrived at
the District Hall by noon
with the newly signed proof
of testing. A secretary said
she would see that the
electrical inspector got the
letter when he returned at
4:00. I suggested that the
building inspector might
handle the matter sooner as
he knew of the problem and
had called me earler by
phone.

The building inspector
was located and he stared at
me blankly. He had never
heard of me or my probiem,
and had certainly never
phoned me.

He did, however, agree to

CONTINUED ON PAGE C7

Call Eaton's

Home improvement
Centre day or night
7 days a week
251-8335

Asphatt shingles

,
4

oy Tani

ICA ES
=<

CF
PT}

‘hes.

Y)
OF GS-

oN

railings & patio coves

Other Services Include:

© Roll-up awnings
© Atuc & wail insulation
* Chain tink fencing

Trust your home
improvement project
to Eaton's

EATON'S