An Ancillary Education
Monday, September 22, 2014
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| Angela Grossmann & Lauren Stewart |
There used to be the
3Rs, reading, riting and rithmetic. If you added memorization of facts this was
all deemed as what you needed in a good education. My parents (and my
grandmother) knew better. I received from them much more than that. I sometimes
wonder why my parents would have taken me (I was 8) to a theatre in the round
version of Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo. It must have left a lasting impression as
I have loved the theatre since.
Since my granddaughter
Rebecca (17) and Lauren (12) were born, both Rosemary and I have done our best
to give these two girls as much ancillary education as we could. For some years
their parents disliked our use of the term culture and how the girls need just
that. Theatre, concerts and dance had to be packaged in other ways if we were
to convince the parents of the viability of this out-of-school education.
Of late I have taken
Lauren to town twice. I want to show her something of the city she was born in.
She knows little of it. I first wrote about our last Monday outing here.
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| Lauren & Len Brown |
Now I will write of
the second Monday.
I took her to see Engine
No. 374 which is displayed at what was originally the Drake Street Roundhouse. Not
to long ago when that roundhouse was still active I photographed the Royal
Hudson being repaired there for the CPR. Engine No. 374 was the first
locomotive to arrive to Vancouver,
May 23, 1887. But it was not the first in our area. Its sister engine, Engine
No. 371 brought the first Canadian Pacific Railway train to cross Canada
into Port Moody. No. 374 was built by the CPR in 1886.
Lauren was not all
that excited even though Scottish Driver Len Brown gave her a personal tour of
the works.
Lauren asked me what
else we were going to do as she wanted to go home soon. “I am 12, and I can
legally be left alone at home. I want to put Aengus (her cat) outside.” I told
her our next destination was a surprise. She wanted to know what it was so I
said, “If I tell you it won’t be a surprise.” I parked at a back alley (I have
municipal plates) near Cordova and Richards. We walked to Brioche, a fine
little eatery/coffee shop that has very good desserts. We shared a huge pear
and apple torte. Lining up at the till I spotted my favourite female Vancouver artist, Angela
Grossmann. With that delightful smile of hers and that warm and wonderful
cockney accent she sat down. I enquired as to where here studio was. She told
me it was nearby. I asked her if she would invite us to visit her. She told us
she would go back to her studio and prepare some of her stuff to show Lauren. We
visited and after a few minutes Grossman indicated that Lauren was getting
bored and that I should take her to our next surprise.
Our next surprise, a
mere three blocks (“When are we going home?”) was a place where I told her we
would see a million books. The place in question is the lesser known basement
of MacLeod’s Books. Don Stewart, the proprietor was not in. My guess was that
he was out to buy someone’s library. Two Albanian sisters from Portland were curious
about the basement so we all went down.
From MacLeod’s I took
Lauren to the Paper Hound. Lauren wasn’t all that excited but owner
Rod Clarke picked a charming book about a nanny in Australia who is hired to take care
a large family full of naughty children. Perhaps Lauren will read it.
By the time we left
Lauren was reminding me of my own nagging wife. “Are you taking me home now?” I
told her we were going to one more place. This was a place where they had sword
fights and displayed armour, broad swords, long swords, rapiers and foils. “It’s
called Academy Duello and your father visits the place frequently.”
Academy Duello was a
downer for Lauren so we walked back to the Malibu parked in the back alley. This
particular back alley has lots of huge murals. One of them was behind a dumpster.
Lauren refused my request to place her on it. It looked clean to me but she said it was
dirty. She may have been right. I could smell the urine. So I picked her up and
put her on the Malibu’s
trunk for the snap.
I was informed that we
would skip the next Monday in town but in the one after that I would take her
to the revolving tower on top of whatever the building that was once Sears is
called now.
I have not given up
yet. I should know better. At 12 when I was showing as much interest as Lauren is showing now my grandmother used to say, "Alex está en la edad del pavo." (Alex is in his turkey period."
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| Hilary and Rod Clarke at the Paper Hound |
