My mother, father and I arrived in Victoria to 3493 Lovat Ave around Thanksgiving. The small bungalow was brand spanking new and sat on a fairly narrow lot which, however was very deep with a huge old Gary Oak tree at the back. The region was originally the estate of S.F. Tolmie, an early B.C. Premier. The original manor house still existed across the street in a large wooded area with a locked gate.. it was empty except for a care taker. Later we used to sneak in to swipe some of the profusion of daffodils and tulips in the old flowerbeds.
A smaller home abutted the back of our lot which was an out-building belonging to the estate and was occupied by a family. We quickly came to know the families on each side who made us feel welcome. One had chickens. Across the street were two older ladies, sisters, and the district nurse Margaret Beveridge boarded there. She later married brother Don. I was Cupid because she came in professionally to go over my health history and immunization.Thats when they met .
Settling me in school was a priority as I was a month late, thirteen years old, and a bit bewildered by the disruption and the move. I was registered into Mount View High School which had grades 8 to 12, a twenty minute walk, on Carey Road. Later we found out that I should have gone to grade eight in a closer elementary school named Cloverdale up on Quadra Street but they decided that they would not disrupt my school year any more than had already taken place so I stayed at Mount View.
So away I went, a shy fat kid with a tweed cap and funny clothes. I was immediately labelled a “stubble jumper”. I was seated at the last seat just inside the door. In front of me and across the aisle were pimply girls who peeked at me and giggled a lot. The lady teacher was older and nice. It immediately came to me as I got into the subjects that I had been exposed to a lot of the material in Grade 7 in Alberta. As a result I guess I appeared smarter than I felt.
I was socially isolated which was not unusual concerning the farm situation. However gradually I became friends with another shy guy called Bob and we ate lunch together. He was having learning problems and was considered to be “ dumb”. In retrospect I think he now would be considered to be on the autism spectrum and be in a special program. I was able to help him with his homework.
The school had various clubs and - believe it or not - it had a RIFLE club which I happily joined. There is a surviving picture of the club with our rifles held in “ shoulder arms” position across our chests. We had target shoots at the near by Bay Street Armoury basement range. Piece of cake. The supervising 5th Regiment officer joked something about a blossoming Bisley competitor which didn’t mean anything to me. It's an international military shooting contest.
The Federal government had funded a fitness program called “Pro Rec” run out of community centres. It featured all sorts of programs designed to increase the fitness of the population. Boxing,wrestling, judo, racquet sports, gym, weight lifting all provided. I attended a lot of these until they were discontinued a year or two after the war.
I became quite slick with some judo holds. We actually called it “Ju Jitsu” the original Japanese unarmed fighting technique. You used your opponents weight and strength against him. One time in grade ten in the boys washroom one of the grade 12 boys was teasing me about my judo lessons and wanted to see some holds. So I extended my right arm and hand and said shake my hand. He stuck his hand out and I gave him a reverse elbow flip. He staggered back and ended up sitting in the wall urinal spluttering and swearing. I retreated at top speed in case he decided to retaliate.
I owe a great deal to my gradual participation to team sports. Initially I just played noon hour pick up volleyball and physical education class softball, soccer and basketball. I started to grow and stretch out and by grade eleven I was 6ft-2 inches and 200 pounds and as my skills improved my social acceptance and confidence grew. I gradually became part of a group of guys that ate lunch together and actually formed the nucleus of many of the school sports teams. Most had nick names. There was Spike, Mugs, Bumbo and several unprintable ones .One guy was called “ Monk” because of his simian appearance. Only Mugs smoked. I was shocked later to hear how many had died very young, several in industrial accidents, one drowned, another in a bar room incident, another of kidney failure. Doug was one of the few that I kept in touch with later.He became a talented builder and built a lot of beautiful houses having formed his own company.
Our only South Asian kid did play rugby. Years later I was waiting for a green light in downtown Victoria standing beside a huge turbaned Sikh with a profuse black beard . Suddenly he rumbled “ hello Charlie” and it was Sardara. I apologized for not recognizing him and he laughed and said” I got religion”
Doug starred at soccer and basketball. He told me that the only reason he stayed in school was to play sports. Kids could leave school at age 16 and with lots of jobs quite a few of the boys did so with the lure of money in the pocket and an old car at the curb. Very few went on to post secondary education. Only three out of my grad class of 45 did so. The guys at other schools that I played rugby against pressured me to attend Victoria College ( later U Vic) as we could have a great rugby team there together. So after a summer of wheeling wet cement on construction I was eating breakfast one morning with my mother and I mentioned that I was thinking of College. She looked up from her paper and said “ that’s nice dear” and went back to her paper. So much for parental pressure !!