Calendars continue to count

Eleanor
Godley _

YOU KNOW, when you look
around at the world we're in,
its electronic marvels, its
astonishing capabilities when
it comes to communication,
doesn’t it strike you as weird
that we’re still using calen-
dars?

I mean, it’s a total anachronism
that we still hang these compila-

- tions of organized numbers on our
walls and depend on them day and
night to keep us right side up and
connected to our world.

And isn’t that nice? We can’t
point to much else that has survived
our restless push to quicken and
improve on all our tools and toys,
and to discard those other things
that are deemed passe. It's also
amazing that the calendars them-
selves have kept the same form, use
the same design, and are still

. regarded as effective for advertis-
ing.

“Just think, when the year 2000
dawns in a very short time, with all
- its promises of science-fiction, we
_are still going to go out and pick up
‘a new calendar. in the first week and
it will have'a view of Grouse

Mountain on it or a fat baby in dia-

-pers. Betcha.

‘’- The most spectacular of those
that come to our house are from our
Japanese casings suppliers — huge,

. including the much appreciated
nurnerals and bearing always gor-
geous views of Mount Fuji as well
as of the delicious geishas.

: The others we receive are much
. More modest in size, and amongst

those this year is the most interest-

ing calendar that Fred Thirkell and

Bob Scullion prepared for the

Vancouver Sun, using some of the

*- hundreds of old snapshots that Fred

. has been collecting for donkey's

years, .

You remember, for a long time

;, there was a special feature in the
: Sun's. weekend supplement, show-

ing one of those photos accompa-

vintage years

nied by reminiscent text. We miss
it, So it’s lovely to have the calen-
dar.

You may still be able to get one.
FH tell you how. The pictures are
very reminiscent of old silent
movies, and there’s text to support
each one, a lot of which makes you
smile. As does the sight of the old
touring cars, big heavy
MacGiaughlins, straight up and
down Fords, flimsy looking jitneys
that the vegetable peddlers drove, as
well as the streetcars, everyone on

. the wrong side of the street!

For July, for instance, you get a
wide view of English Bay, taken
about 1910 when they still had the
Imperial Roller Rink at the edge of
the sand, and all sorts of figures in
what was then called a “bathing
costume” standing thigh-deep in the
water. Do you remember the old
bandstand -~ which I can recall
from a summer month spent with
Aunt Adelaide who lived close to
the foot of Davie Street — at
Bidwell?

It decorates April of this year,
and for August there's a snap of a
chap driving east on Marine Drive
in West Vancouver. It’s hardly up to
its description as a “Drive,” looks
more like a cart track..And the car,
a two-seater without any top, only a
windshield, is making its brave way

‘also on the wrong side. They didn’t

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change that driving law until 1922,
the text reveals. Do you remember
that?

September features the ferry pas-
sengers who have just debouched
on to the walkway that will take
them to the tram at the foot of
Lonsdale. The trip to and from the
big city took just about the same
time as it does today —- 20 minutes
all told, but the fare in those days
was a nickel only.

I wasn‘t teasing you. There are
still some of these calendars avail-
able, should you covet your own.
Try the Sen first, they still had some
last week. There's another possibili-
ty, that makes a shorter journey for -
us on this shore — Birks has some
copies too. I puzzled over their rea-
son for wanting to carry the calen-
dars. It must be because somewhere
on the pages there is a photo or a
reference to their early store in the
city, but though f looked at each

“Because you love
give them

them,

photograph carefully 1 couldn't see
a Birks sign on any one of them.

It had to be there, though, so I
went through again, reading all the
references this time, and sure
enough, hard to define, but there it
was, on the December page. The
photo is of Hastings and Granville
in an ugly snowstorm, ladies’ skirts
dragging in the slush, and on the
southeast comer, barely discernible,
is what we came to know as Birks’
clock.

At the time of the picture-taking
it was known as Trorey’s Clock,
Trorey’s being a jewelry store
which Henry Birks bought out
when his store came here from
Montreal.

This calendar will be around for
longer than the year, I'm sure.
People are going to feel they can’t
just throw it out.

it’s to bring out and say to old
friends, “Say, remember this?”

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