A2 - Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1981 - North Shore News strictly personal by Bob Hunter dull. Mild, persistent pleasure is nowhere. Yet this is the stuff of life, Id say, for most people on the West Coast. Oh, sure, working for a living is the pits and there’s enough domestic and social squabbling in everyone's life to make us wonder about the meaning of it all. But, given that, the truth is we are at peace. Despite nature's zeal when it comes to rammaking, the tem- perature is nearly perfect. And we are not oppressed by any real tyrants. Our very tranquillity defies journalism's fitful amid the ruins Happiness makes lousy copy. Contentment is attempts to portray the age with any degree of accuracy. I know, I slip into the trap all the time. I try to com- ment on “the news”. And the news — well. It's so gloomy. By the time I wade through the reams of copy about the Albert-Ottawa oil pricing agreement. | find that driving the car and heating the house is going to cost another fortune, and I get depressed. ; But then I go outside.-The sky is a gauze of pearly illumination. The smell of the earth fills my lungs with a delicate piquancy. Cobwebs have been turned by mor- ning dew into chains of jewels, a bluejay lands at my feet, demanding some of the scraps intended for the chickens. And 1 think to myself, “Maybe I should write a piece warning that the recent appearance of Soviet warships off the coast is a grim reminder of just how vulnerable.we are to the new Communist menace.” oe I get to the chicken coop. Many jobholders work on N. Shore The economy of the North Shore presently provides pay packets for nearly half of its working residents. Nine out of every ten North Shore households currently have at least one person in a regular job - and almost one in every two of those jobholders works in North or West Vancouver. This ability of North Shore business and industry to create work for local people was revealed in a recent survey of the employment situation north of the Inlet. The survey was conducted August 12 by the Public Opinion Research Division of the North Shore News. DOLOMITE BOOTS RAMY POLES SALOMON 222 BLUE A geographically balanced sample of 398 households from Deep Cove to Hor- seshoe Bay was asked: “How many people in your household have regular jobs (1) on the North Shore? (2) elsewhere in Greater Vancouver?” Overall, 9G per cent of the households had one or more members in a regular job -- 44 per cent of them working on the North Shore and 46 per cent elsewhere in Greater Vancouver. In North Vancouver - where 98 percent of the households questioned had at least one working member - the breakdown was exactly NORTH SHORE SKI SWAP FOR THE with SALOMON 101 USED EQUIPMENT 3 p. ROSSIGNOL SM COMP 3 Pp. ROSSIGNOL ST COMP USED SALOMON 555 BINDINGS (DEMOS) PLUS MANY MORE SAVINGS UP TO 50% OFF Bring In your old ski equipment and we will seli (tt for you 1981-82 SKI SEASON NEW SKIS ROSSIGNOL OMEGA SKIS FISCHER SPRINTSKISJR. ssi‘(i(‘(“ 6925 ROSSIGNOL JAGUAR _ even: 49 percent with North Shore jobs and 49 percent with jobs elsewhere. In West Vancouver the total employment level was lower (presumably reflecting that community's larger proportion of senior citizens) and the percentage of those with jobs on the North Shore was also relatively smaller. Of the West Vancouver households questioned, 73 percent had at least one working member - 33 percent employed on the North Shore and 40 percent elsewhere. The survey also indicated that the number of single- breadwinner households 1s 13995 129° | 299° 15%-40% Off 19°5 reg 35°° 39° reg 59°° steadily declining, as shown by the following breakdown of the 90 percent of “working” households: JOBS PER HOUSEHOLD One ........22-02e- 56% Two ..... cee cee tee 24% Three or more ....... 10% On the same basis - and somewhat surprisingly - the percentage of “working” households with more than one person regulary em- ployed was higher in West Van (40%) than in North Van (35%). ‘The birds get underfoot. I give them their scraps, fill “the hopper ‘with bagged feed, check the water supply, and collect the eggs. One broken. Hm. Have. to buy some more straw soon. One of the hens is broody. What's her problem? Then I remember: “The Supreme Court might rule in favor of. the Trudeau con- ’ stitution. with its centralist bias. Gee, ‘I'd better do something about that.” Just to” settle ' ‘my agitated psyche, I usually: take a walk after feeding the chickens. The alders.are. pushing up through’ the spiky swamp grass.. The salmonberry bushes will have to be cut again. The birds got the rest of the plums, Tsee. “Yes, yes,” 1 think, “but what about mortgage, ‘the interest rafes, the postal service, threats’ of ‘war in the Middle East?” ~-PACKAGED OFFICES © Large, private offices ¢ Quiet, convenient location ¢ From $425 per month 140 - 225 sq. ft. Execwest Services #409 - 545 Clyde Ave., West Van Cail Jessie Anne Boyd at: RIVIERA SPA Swimming & Fitness Centre Men, Women — Swim 7 Days a Week 2 MO. FOR *40 . Now featuring ladies’ water therapy & aquatc exercise classes e= Guaranteed Lowest Prices © Aerobic Training © 10 Supervised Ladies © Conditioning body © Remedial Mineralized © Heot 78° F Swimming Pool © Sauna © Access to “ mile track - ° VANCOUVER NORTH VANCOUVER a : 327-0408 41st&Froser West of Lonsdale on ) 4th 922-0135 Exercise classes per day building crea Whirlpool 108° F 980-9358 Maybe Now Is The Time To Remodel! If you planning on renovating your bathroom before Christmas, now is the best time to begin, and may we suggest you begin with us! Drop in and disc over the finest in designs with the sales and in stallation experts at the largest bathroom: showcase on the North Shore! To Serve You Better, We Are Open Friday Night M. wae faay, Showroom Hours tarot) Pbarsday A $Qaen Priddy Gane Open Saturday 1Oan 2? yor VSO}, LUXURY RENOVATIONS North Shore Ski Swap 228 Lonsdale 980-1911 Tuesday — Saturday 10-6 p.m 211 W. Ist St. North Vancouver 987-3055 “SERVING YOU SINCE 1969”