Gower Bursey, Part 2

Calgary in the 1970s; photo courtesy of Temporal Tears

(I got to Calgary) at night, and I remember distinctly it was my birthday, March the 6th.  And, so I guess I had my brother’s address, ‘cause I arrived at my brother’s house somehow.  I was getting washed up and my brother and his brother-in-law Clarence-- they were out boozin’, I guess-- came in.  They called Clarence “June.”  I guess we were sort of friends…he was a little older than me.  He was a bit of a nutcase, but anyways, I guess we got along.  

So, they were up to no good.  I don’t think they held a job or whatever…y’know…they used to get odd jobs from time to time to keep going, and…I didn’t stay all that long, I was there for about a month.  We were all staying at my brother’s house, at that time he was married to Clarence’s sister-- and she had a temper, this one-- and back then, we got into a bit of trouble.  We got a bit rowdy and, uh…we ended up in the lock-up for a few nights, me and my brother.  Uh…Clarence came to pick me up from, it was a place called Spy Hill…that was where a people would lock people up short term for crazy stuff.  So you know, I remember driving back to my brother's place...June picked me up in a ’66 Pontiac, it was a sort of a greenish colour...great car, nice shape.  So anyway, we were getting close to my brother’s house and we were coming up over a hill and…(laughs)…I can see my bag out on the stoop, and Clarence’s bags were up there, too.  I guess that was our signal (chuckles)…we weren’t too welcome at my brother's house anymore.  So we threw the luggage in his car and we head, allright, here we go, westbound…west coast, headed for Vancouver.  

So we drove for about two hours, and we’re just getting in to the foothills of the Rockies, where the terrain starts to get into the mountains and stuff.  And we were talking back and forth and, I don’t know, but we decided to turn the car around and head to Toronto.  So I always wanted to go to Vancouver, but I never made it…so we turned the car and headed east towards Toronto. We were on the road for a long time.  Now keep in mind, it was still the wintertime.  We used to shovel snow, and make a few dollars here and there to find gas money to put in the car.  We were staying in hostels, sleeping in the car.  And in a place called Thunder Bay, up by Lake Superior, we got into an accident.  Somebody bolted out in front of the car and…oh…(laughs) and another humorous thing was June didn’t have a Driver’s License.  (Laughs) I don’t know if he ever had a Driver’s License, but I had a Newfoundland Driver’s License, and he only had a Learner’s Permit.  And we got stopped a couple of times by the cops but they let us go because I was the instructor.  No kidding!  I just thought of that…

Thunder Bay

But anyways, we had an accident in Thunder Bay, and we stayed at the Sally Ann and waited for the car because the car was out of commission...it was smashed up and everything else.  They had to get parts in because it was the weekend or they didn’t have the parts or something.  So they got us back on the road again, and we ended up in Downtown Toronto again.  I guess probably by this time it was early April…still the winter months, still cool.  And we ended up in a place, we had no money and we had a room, so we ended up at a place…at that time there were these big houses and they’d rent rooms or flats…people would supplement their income by renting a room out.  So we ended up at a house at 100 Seton Street…I don’t think the house is there now, it’s probably torn down.  So we had no money, but Junior had an electric razor.  So thinking back then, the room probably cost six bucks a week...so the guy (renting us the room) took the razor towards a week’s rent or something.  Back then, to get help from the government or social assistance -- I guess now welfare is what they call it-- you need an address, so by using Clarence’s razor to obtain the address that freed us up to qualify for welfare.  So I guess we stayed on there for a while, in this room.

Sherbourne Street and Howard Street; photo courtesy of Blog TO

100 Seaton Street today.  Photo: D. Bursey

Things get a little foggy at this time, ‘cause I left that house, and I think I probably moved to Scarborough.  I got out of the downtown core…it was crazy back then anyway.  I guess I probably got a job later on and…uh…I was driving a truck back then.  I guess that brought me to Scarborough.  June and I parted company so to speak, because I think he stayed on at Seton Street, and I lived in Scarborough, because I was working.  I had a small apartment over here. But I guess my brother ended up coming down from Alberta…after Clarence and I left Alberta, he brought his family down to Toronto.  June must have stayed on down at Seaton Street because my brother ended up looking after that rooming house later on.  I had a little place, and I was still boozin’ but being able to hold down I job…I spent all the money I made, but I muddled through.

My brother left the downtown core and moved to Scarborough.  Probably June stayed on down there for a little while longer because he ended up meeting my future sister-in-law through him visiting my brother on Birchmount Road after he moved from downtown.  And then I met my future wife.

It (was) one hell of a journey to get me to that point.  For the most part, I always had a job.  I moved to the point where I sort of kept down a job and I always seemed to have a few bucks in my pocket.

(Why did I leave Newfoundland?)  There were no jobs in Newfoundland.  I just wanted to do something.  I was young and restless.  So of course being here before with my parents in the 60s, I was sort of familiar with the place, so that’s why I came back to Toronto.

At first living, trying to put down stakes and to try to get started in life…meeting my future wife gave me a reason to do better, try harder.  Over time, yeah there was still an attraction to Newfoundland, but I guess my setting my own life up here in Toronto…my attraction to my old home diminished.  It was less and less a factor as time (went on).  (Of course this took time) because my life was fucked up.  I was in turmoil.  I was young and stupid, and a certain amount of rejection from my family didn’t help either, so anything I had to do to get on the path was a lot harder because actually I got next to no help, if not none.  Actually, probably no help from anyone.  I dunno…as time went by, I realized no rich relative was going to will me a billion dollars. I came to the conclusion if I’m ever going to have anything in my life…family, stuff…I was going to have to make it myself.  So I…worked a little harder.  Did a lot of working.  Ended up working for an outfit-- a sign and display company-- working there for ten years.  I learned a trade.

My home is Toronto.  There’s lots of things I like about this place-- lots of things I don’t like. Now I’m getting up to a point were retirement is sort of on the horizon.  Newfoundland has slowly, slowly slipped away.  I have fond memories of my childhood, but I’ve spent a total of 40 odd years in Toronto, and I’ve come to like the place.

Gower and Don Verge reunite in Newfoundland, late 2000s