A2- Sunday, August 1,, 1982 - North Shore News WHAT WITH the Canadian dollar looking as bad as it did even then, back at Easter, my wife and I decided to try something different for a family holiday. Instead of heading for the great out- doors, we drove down to Reno. Now everybody knows that Reno is a Mom & Pop Winnebago town. The women cali everybody Honey and Canadians are popular because we account for 12 per cent of the Biggest Little City In The World's Our theory was that we could beat the system, not in terms of gambling, but by taking advantage of the low costs of just about everything, including steak n’ egg breakfasts for 96 cents. I don’t gamble, as a rule. When I was 2 young man, | made the mistake of stop- ping in Las Vegas en route to Los Angeles where I was to hop a freighter to Australia. I thought [d devised a perfect system of blackjack. To make a sad story short, I left Vegas with only enough money to get to Vancouver. When _ the waitress angels started saying, “Free drinks on the house for the winners, sir,” I was doomed. So here I was, many moons later, grey hairs in the beard, going with wife, 15- year-old daughter and three- year-old son down to Reno, to save bucks and frolic in the sun and not gamble. It’s true, the ac- commodation is cheap, as these things go. We booked in at the Comstock, which costs $72 (U.S.) for three nights and four days, luxurious rooms, with all sorts of extra goodies thrown im, like free breakfasts. After five days, I was almost tired of steak n’ eggs, 1 admit. Our theory about a cheap holiday had been built in part on a hot tip we'd been given about a perfectly legal trick you can play with your Canadian pesos. You can go to the casino cashier and have your pathetic Canadian bucks changed into gambling coins or chips at a far lower rate of exchange than you would | strictly personal . by Bob Hunter ing the system - pay at the bank. At Easter, it was 10 per cent. Now it's 15, but still a bargain. You don't have to use the coins or chips to gamble. You can cash them in for American money and come out quite a bit ahead in the game. Isn't that wicked and wonderful? Well. There we were, feeling smug, except for one minor detail. The sun. We'd come down for the sun, remember? In fact, we got hit by the worst spring blizzard in 100 years. Seven people were killed in an avalanche just one highway south of where we crossed the Sierra Nevadas, spinning our tires in the wake of a lumbering snowplow. As we sat in our hotel room, watching the snowflakes wafting past the windows, my wife had a sort of a nervous breakdown. I thought an evening out to see an Elvis clone might help, but it didn’t really. We had to wade through snowdrifts to get to the beach at Lake Tahoe. At least the kid had a great time. As the first small person on the beach since last autumn, he got to dis- cover the toys left, behind, Further challenges may await City’s strata policy FROM PAGE A1 Mortgage and Housing Corporation figures, which produced the statistics under “The report didn’t answer the questions I was after,” he said, adding that he wanted to know the rental rates of the vacant apartments in the City. But Sorenson appeared to put his concerns aside when he joined the other aldermen in turning down applications from landlords at 531 Lonsdale, 240 St. Andrews and 326 West Third to convert their rental suites into privately owned strata udes. He offered no comment on the last (wo applications, but did say he supported council's decision on 531 Lonsdale because “the landlord has shown there is no hardship involved to support such a move ~ The decision now con- firms as precedent council's new policy which forbids any Strata conversion from taking place within the City until the rental vacancy rate exceeds three per cent. The current vacancy rate, according to CMHC, is 0.9 per cent. However, the policy could still be challenged, par ticularly by landlords of high rent suites who can demonstrate they are suf- fering hardships from prolonged vacancies and that their particular class of tenant would not be ad- versely affected by con- version and the resulting mortgage rates. Sorenson's interest in rental rates of vacant apartments would indicate he favours this approach to conversion. Alderman Prank Marcino, however, wants to maintain the policy as a flat three per cent vacancy rate Spectatist in tnter-tocking paver Sidewatka, driveways Patios and pools etc We offer the largest selection of colours and shapes Elan Paving Stone Company Ltd. We can refer you to many jobs done by us on the North Shore FREE ESTIMATES Tetephone. 434-5927 oe 253-6866 covered by snow until now. Frisbees, plastic shovels, water pistols, tennis balls. Wow. You can tell a little bit about Nevada attitudes by the bumper stickers that ask: Have you hugged your horse today? In Reno, there are 24-hour marriage offices with names like Cupid's of Love and the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel. Our El Cheapo holiday theory was based on a fatal assumption, it turned out. The assumption was that we could resist the crap tables, the Keno seats, the slot machines, the blackjack games and the roulette wheels, day in, day out. I won't say how much we lost. We didn’t really totally destroy ourselves, as I had done en route to Australia so long ago. Let’s just say the old plastic credit card had to come out of its holster and smoke a bit before the vacation was over. Oh well. We came home a trifle poorer, a wee bit wiser, and a whole lot heavier. The kid keeps pestering me, “Daddy, I wanna go to Reno.” Maybe it was the breakfasts. Oil € Filter Special $7 788 37a ay Esso 676 Gahete breve Wost Vancouver 922-2111 West Van Eseo 022-0138 988-1916 * Government certified mechanics * 6 month-6,000 mile warantee, 10,000 kilometer Summer Tune Up Special * 4 Cyl.from*49° _ * 6 Cyl from °54% | * 8 Cyl from *59°° Vans, Trucks and other special type vehicles are extra. includes imported/domestic Plugs & Points 1302 Marine Drive Weal Vancouver ‘MOST CARS: cars LOW! SPECIAL SUMMER CLEARANCE! Chai FIVE DAYS ONLY! Chait DRESSES SUMMER SUITS SPORTSWEAR 50-60 % OFF! Chai AND SOME SPECIAL BOULEVARD BARGAINS (anlail?’ THIS WEEK IN PARK ROYAL! (ates — LOW!