n/a

Date: 1940's

When I was a kid I lived in Garneau but went to Normal Practice School, now renamed Garneau Hall. In those days school boundaries were rigidly defined. This saved me from going to Garneau School where my father (Mr. Night) was the principal.

Garneau skating rink played a large part in the community which in those days were like small towns. Unless you had a care, and these were depression times, you were focussed on community living except for occasional trips across the high level bridge on the street car. Once in a while we walked across the bridge. Later my friends and I had bicycles and were able to travel a little further afield.

The skating rink allowed us to become acquainted with students from Garneau School, later in high school to become good friends. I was shocked to hear in later years that Normal Practice was considered to be a "Sissy School" compared to Garneau. Anyway we got along well and if boys from Garneau School snowballed my friends, I used my prerogative to let them know my dad was principal at their school. That put and end to that.

The skating rink in the evening was run like a dance with ten bands, musical numbers, an intermission and then ten more bands. You hoped that some boy would ask you to have a numbered band with him and we skated round and round. In the crisp air, with the lights twinkling, if it snowed, and with the music playing, it was quite magical. At intermission, you could warm up inside the building and if you could afford it, have hot dog. The pungent smell of onions frying and the smell of sizzling wool from damp mitts by the gas heater, the cold air coming in with those arriving off the ice were all part of the noisy scene.

When spring was close, the ice became very slushy and we hated to see it disappear.