Friends.......about 25 years ago when I worked in the family run restaurant in Nanaimo a lot of my customers were regulars and I got to know them quite well and made some good friends...
One such couple was Heather and Mel, they actually had their pre wedding dinner at the restaurant......
Over the years we have remained friends and a few years ago I invested some of my money with an Insurance company that Mel worked for.....these funds have been doing well for me over the years.
This afternoon I went and had a visit with Mel and we talked about my investments and some strategies for me to employ in the future.
What I have not told told you is that Mel is blind!!!
A little history about him he was one of the first blind lawyers to graduate in British Columbia .....he is an incredible piano player and all round decent man and his favourite story when someone asks him how he and Heather met is to be so serious and say, we actually met on a blind date!!!!
He is an amazing man!!
Another couple I met in the restaurant was Pat and Chris....they came in one night I had never seen them before.. we chatted a little and then they came in every night for a long time......
Their story...Pat was a retired Nurse and Chris a retired police office from Toronto...when they retired they decided they wanted to move to the Island, they had never been here before, so they bravely sent all their possessions on a container to the island and took the cross country train....they were staying in a motel close by whilst they looked for a home..
It turns out that in 1972 whilst I was a police officer in Bermuda we took a soccer trip to Toronto and I stayed with a police man and his wife during the trip and this same officer used to be Chris’s partner...small world....
We also have remained friends through all these years.
This afternoon after I saw Mel I went and picked up Chris and we went out for coffee and a nice catch up chat!!
I did have many great experiences in the restaurant and I got to meet and serve Diana Krall, the famous jazz performer....I served the nanny to one of Winston Churchill’s children...I served a man who had served in the French Foreign Legion...I served Glenn Anderson a famous hockey player and I served this amazing woman who competed for Canada in the 1936 Olympics in long jump!!! I shall also never forget the couple that came in the restaurant only one time, never saw them before or after, he was in a wheel chair and they left me a 55 dollar tip!!!!
At 5pm went again to pickle ball and I am really enjoying my time there...everyone is so friendly and the level of play is good I get a great workout....
The history of Pickle Ball..
Rep. Joel Pritchard
1965 – After playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net.As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
We all watched the second evening of the American debates this evening....
Yashi Kochi!!!
