4 ~ Sunday, March 24, 1991 - North Shore News Ensnared ON THE West Coast, you never really think of yourself as a ‘‘snowbird.”’ A ‘‘wetbird,’* maybe. Or a rain refugee. In darkest Eastern Canada, however, the term snowbird makes sense, especially when that peculiar centralist holiday, the mid-term break, happens. By March, we have discovered after a couple of winters in On- tario, you start to go bananas. Not even the presence of two VCRs, three TVs and half-a-dozen video games can fend off the knowledge that you are trapped in a short-term cyclical Ice Age, and have been so since November. My best instinct is to avoid travelling during peak holiday seasons like Christmas or Easter. But I didn’t really have a reflex worked out for the mid-term break. Accordingly, when the reality set in that the kids were going to be home for a week, and my wife announced that she couldn’t stand the cold a minute more and wanted to head south, I didn’t have the good sense to say: “Tough.”” We decided, for the heck of it, to drive instead of flying. Our six-year-old, Emily, was delighted at the thought of going to ‘‘summer,’’ which is what she calls Hawaii and Florida. The trip began, as it was to end, in grid-lock. We both got off early on Friday afternoon, threw the luggage into the car, and hit Highway 401 shortly before 5 “mM. This was a major miscalcula- tion, the 401 being Toronto’s leg- endary eight-lane super parking lot. By the time we figured to be at the border, we were in fact still crawling along with the CN Tower in full view. Daddy had of course begun to freak out. The tension was broken by pull- ing off the so-called freeway and finding a pub to have dinner while waiting for the traffic to ease. ylvan heips students to succeed Through a variety of programs and teaching techniques Sylvan Learning Centres help students to reach their full potential, increase their skills, and build their confidence. All students, even the brightest ones, lack learning skills. The dual purpose of supplementary education is to fill in learning gaps in certain subjects and, most important, to help children acquire study habits that will serve them for a lifetime. Sylvan Achievement Progzams: Reading — Designed to teach young emergent readers word analysis skills, oral reading, fluency vocabulary and comprehension. For ihe older students, we strengthen vocabulary arid comprehension, teach listening skills, reference skills, outlining skills and much, much more. Bob Hunter STRICTLY PERSONAL The result was that we didn’t reach the border at Niagara Falls until much later than expected, and in the interests of not driving while tired and grumpy, took a motel near Buffalo. The next day started off OK. We crossed from New York State into Pennsylvania without inci- dent. **Pennsylvania?”’ cried Emily. ‘*Look out for vampires!”’ Her 12-year-old brother Will tried to explain the difference be- tween Pennsylvania and Tran- sylvania, but to no avail. It struck us as slightly amazing that the licence plates on nearly every car we passed or were pass- ed by on the entire length of the Pennsylvania Turnpike proved to be from Ontario. It was our first inkling that we were in fact part of a mass annual snowbird migra- tion. We duly hung a left at Erie, then again just north of Philadelphia, and rolled across the Allegeny Mountains into Maryland, then Virginia, before Your Child Can Do Better | In School T! 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We can keep our town!”* On that happy note, we arrived after 1,100 miles of driving at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the main nesting ground for the mighty snowbird flock. It was apparent immediately that the wily Southerners had fig- ured out their town was precisely the nearest balmy point as the turnpike goes to the frozen north. There were more Canadian flags flying in Myrtle Beach than I had seen in all of Toronto. Signs, cleverly designed to appeal to frugal Canucks said: ‘319 SUNGLASSES MARKED DOWN TO 39 CENTS — CANADIAN MONEY AT PAR.”’’ I mean, who could resist? We had booked a suite on the 13th floor of a hotel called The Reef, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and a stretch of nearly- white sand beach stretching as far as the eye could see to the north and south, lined its entire length with hotels and motels. Across the Grand Strand, which is the main drag, there were hun- dreds of fast-food family restau- rants, most of which did not serve booze. We were, after all, in the Bible Belt. On the television screens in the pizza parlors, you could watch the Christian Chan- nel, and that was about all. The dawn of our first day revealed an awesome spectacle. From the vantage point of our balcony we could see that the beach had come alive with a parade of pale-skinned creatures, almost all wearing $19 sunglasses marked down to 39 cents, pacing along the beach. There were thou- sands of them. The weather turned out to be Algebra - Concentrates on developing the basic skills for a solid foundation in a subject that is a student's first experience with theoretical math. Sylvan Program Benefits: ¢ MOTIVATION © IMPROVED SELF-ESTEEM ¢ IMPROVED REPORT CARD ¢ CATCH-UP ¢ ENRICHMENT Register Now for Spring Enrollment Helping kids do better.” NORTH SHORE 985-6811 Richmond — 273-3266 Coquitlam ~ 941-9166 too cold for swimming, and when it wasn’t near-freezing, it was raining. When it came time to head home, Emily came up with the best idea: ‘*Can’t we fly and tie the car on top of the plane?”’ Thinking we'd beat the last- minute Sunday line-up at the ALAN From England Wildlife Artist & Naturalist Alan Hunt is a Zooiogist and world class wildlife artist, winning the GOLD MERIT AWARD three years in a row from the Society of Animal Artists plus many other awards. Alan will be available for questions and signing of his limited edition prints and originals. —All are invited to — ART LOVERS PARK ROYAL SOUTH 2nd floor, next to Eatons * PLUS HUNDREDS OF GRAND OPENING SPECIALS * Following the conclusion of our Close Out Sale, the remaining assets of ARAD RUGS LTD. must be liquidated at the fall of the gavel. GIANT 3-DAY UNRESERVED PUBLIC AUCTION Hundreds of fine quality genuine hand knotted CARPETS Room size, area rugs and runners of all sizes in wool and silk-and-wool blend - al! must be tiquidated. If you visited ARAD RUGS ON GRANVILLE ST. in the past and saw carpets you wished you could afford, now is the time to take advantage of the EXTRA SAVINGS available at this unreserved auction Auction will be held at THE HOLIDAY INN 711 W BROADWAY MAIN FLOOR, ARBUTUS ROOM. in a flock of snowbirds border, we arrived at Niagara Falls at 6 p.m. Saturday. Roughly five and a half miles from the border, the traffic on the highway suddenly stopped. It was the full snowbird exodus in the return mode. A three-hour wait. Next year, Emily, we'll fly. HUNT in person with 12 originals Sunday March 24th, 12 to Spm SUNDAY MARCH 24th - VIEWING 12 NOON - 2PM AUCTION STARTS 2PM MONDAY MARCH 25th - VIEWING 4PM-7PM AUCTION STARTS 7PIA TUESDAY MARCH 26th - VIEWING 4PM-7PM AUCTION STARTS 7PM