Danny Evanishen's 1991 Newsletter

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Today be: 31 December 1991

This place be: Summerland, BC

I say: greetings!

I also say lots of other stuff. Lots has changed. I'll plead terminal confusion and say that I can't really remember if I told you what's been going on this past year. Things have been good for me, and a lot of fun, and a bit hectic, that I haven't been keeping track of my letter-writing. So here goes the story from last Xmas, 1990.

As I said in my last newsletter, which was written last December from Salt Spring Island, I was getting restless. One thing led to another, and by the end of January I had sold my Salt Spring holdings and moved to Summerland, BC.

I guess I'm just keeping occupied and doing whatever seems to be interesting, and I've been doing all sorts of odd jobs.

I did run a cinema here in July and August, in the community/school theater, which is a beautiful 300-seat facility, just to see how it would go, and unfortunately, it didn't go very well at all. Not sure if we'll try again this summer, but it sure was a lot of fun, so maybe.

Other than that, I have worked for the census (I was a "special agricultural representative" - wow, what a title!), and I did a bit of furniture moving for a company out of Kelowna, and I did my bit to destroy Canada's railroad heritage. This last job was with a salvage company hired by the CPR to dismantle most of the Kettle Valley Railway. What a horrible thing to do, when in Europe they're building railroads, and here we are ripping them up. I guess the government is more interested in subsidizing the roads and mass-polluting cars and trucks than in moving people and things efficiently.

Anyhow, I spent a couple of months busting my butt stacking ties and banding the bundles and moving them and generally wearing out my muscles. I have never done such a physically hard job in my whole life!! Sure glad it was fun or I wouldn't have done it.

The job was interesting, but more physically demanding than anything I've ever done. My arms stretched almost to my ankles lifting those ties. They averaged 135 pounds, and a lot of them were over 200. Most of them were a struggle for two guys. I was happy when that job was done.

Then worst part of it all is that after working so hard, the company declared bankruptcy, and I never did get paid. Revenue Canada scooped what money the company had, because the guys never paid any taxes. So Revenue Canada screws up by not keeping up on the company, and I work like crazy and get shafted.

Now I've got resumes in at all the nearby trucking and courier firms, hoping to get on as a driver. After all those years of carrying big heavy stuff between Salt Spring and Vancouver, I'm hoping that I can get a job driving a small van carrying small stuff. Or, if I can find work editing or rewriting or reading and reviewing stuff, I'd like to do that, and make my newtome Macintosh computer earn its keep. If you know anybody that has any pull in those directions, I'd sure like to hear from you.

My automobile world at present consists of a 1980 VW Rabbit diesel. Of course, I still have the Studebaker in the body shop on Salt Spring, and I do have the VW van which is being camperized, on Vancouver Island, but these days that's about it. I'm looking for a VW diesel pickup truck to buy, so if you know where there is one of these beasts, let me know and I'll come visit you when I buy it.

The computer scene is held down by this Macintosh, which is a lovely instrument. The Commodore became too unreliable, sometimes eating pages of documents, so it got sold in the general rush to leave the Island. I am still looking for a newer Macintosh at a reasonable price, but meanwhile, this old muzzle-loader does a great job. If I loved my Commodore, I guess I double-love my Mac. Not only does it do more than I dreamed a computer could do, but it's cute, too. And I do love that trash can in the corner of the screen.

What I bought from an ad in the paper is an ancient and honorable Macintosh 128. I didn't even know there was such a thing. It's got twice the memory of my old commodore 64, but compared to the Mac 512 or anything since, it's a pioneer.

My folks had a pretty good party for their 60th anniversary in November, and Dorene and I spent Xmas with them in Kelowna, as Dorene's kids were away. New Year's Eve we watched Rebel Without a Cause, then at midnight blew the horn and rang the bell and drank a beer. Big partiers, us.