I begin life in Canada

I left Southhampton England and traveled across the Atlantic to Quebec City on the SS Skaubryn with the Skaugen Line. It was an interesting ship with a strange history. It was actually a Norwegian ship that was loaned to the Germans under some old agreement to make one voyage a year across the Atlantic. The Norwegians were proud, so they made this their little flagship. It really was beautiful inside. The crew was German and the ship only held 1000 passengers - very small incomparison to today's liners. I was in a cabin with a lady with her two small children and we were both pleased to find that we got along fine considering we were expecting to spend the next eight days together. However, our first full day at sea, we hit the ocean and even though this was June, the swell was enormous and the sea very rough. Breakfast that first day had two full sittings in the dining area (it only seated 500). Lunch saw just one sitting and by dinner, there were only five long tables. By the next day we were down to two tables and that continued until we entered the St. Lawrence Seaway and calmer waters. I never saw my fellow passengers from the middle of that first day at sea until the day before we disembarked in Quebec. Considering I was not a good sailor and would usually get sick whenever I was on a boat, it is really remarkable that I made the whole voyage in good form. I think it had everything to do with being 20 years old, on a real 'high' at the adventure of the whole thing and the excitement at going to a new country.


Gordon and Irene met me off the boat and we drove to St. Paul l'Ermite, a small village outside Montreal where they lived with their three boys - David, Garry and Trevor. It was my first experience of living with small children and I really enjoyed my time. They called me Aunt Market!
The first winter was another totally new experience. I experienced 30 below weather and we had a record 24 feet of snow that winter. I loved it. It is hard to describe the absolute magic at walking at night with the street lights sparkling on the snow and the crunch of the dry snow beneath your feet. We had the first snow Halloween night, and a few snow falls after that but as Christmas approached, there was no snow and I was really disappointed - I had so wanted to experience a White Christmas. John and I had started dating by this time and he and I went to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We came out to a heavy snow fall that kept up all night - Bingo! A gorgeous white Christmas.
I can't believe I was ever this slim and this young!!!!!
My first work in Canada was with Canadian Steel. I had to commute into Montreal by bus which wasn't bad until winter came and we got held up by some of the snow storms. After about a year I went to work for Canadian Arsenals in St. Paul l'Ermite, so my commuting from then on was done on foot.

It would be April before we started to have a thaw and it was amazing how excited we would get walking to work on the country road to actually see the pavement. It was our first sign of spring. Canadian Arsenals had a canteen where we would take our coffee breaks and lunch breaks and it was in a separate building from where we worked. At work we would have our dresses/ skirts and blouses, hose and highheels - standard office wear. But to go across the grounds to the canteen, one would don the leotards over the stockings, then thick socks and boots. Then would come the sweaters, heavy wool coat, scarves, headgear (make sure to cover the ears), gloves and mittens on top of them. We were now ready to brave the 10 to 30 below weather and head for a cup of coffee!!