Part five

As September faded into October the Bel-Air transformed itself into a little village.

Over the following weeks rigs would come in and there would be loud hails of welcome as our winter people arrived. People from Alberta, Saskatchewan and some from further east, returned to the campground for the winter.

A new sense of community would arrive with the winter campers, they enjoyed their winter home and each another and soon made themselves at home. Most of them had a preferred site and preferred neighbours and that was fine with us.

The prairie people seemed to all enjoy singing or playing instruments so Dave, with the help of most of the men, built a clubhouse. Here they could hold pot luck dinners and card games but mainly gather to sing and play. Not all visitors came from the prairies and they didn’t join in with the music, one of these guys dubbed the singers “the Ben Gay Choir”. However, they all got on well and winter was a fun time.

If there was any hostility at all it was over the coin laundry. The women seemed to challenge one another as to who got to the machines first. Dave opened the laundry at 8.00am but there were often baskets of linen, waiting to be washed, stacked outside the door.

Clean clothes went from the washing machine right on to the clothes lines, and there was a daily battle, to get the preferred lines. We had big lines strung across part of the area and linens blew dry in record time.

With winter came snowfalls. We had a contract, with a local company, for a backhoe to come and clear our driveways whenever three or more inches fell. The cleared snow would be piled on lawns, to leave the lanes and carparks clear. One year we had frequent snow falls and the mountains of snow lasted right through until Easter. Crisscrossing the snowy hills were hundreds of footprints. These were made by women who toted their laundry baskets over the snowbanks, in an effort to get to the clothes lines. A small version of Mount Everest would not keep prairie women from hanging out their linens.

We also had people rent motel rooms right through the winter, these were different kinds of people than the folks in R.V.s Nice people but quieter and rather private.

We had one couple who came out from Saskatchewan every fall and stay until Spring. They drove out so they had the use of their car all winter. I don’t know why they bothered bringing the car as they seldom used it.

For the winter rentals we charged a monthly rate, this was very reasonable but they didn’t get room service. Instead, I gave them lots of towels and tea towels. One day a week, I cleaned the rooms, changed all linens and made sure all was clean for the next week.

On this day, I asked people to leave the room for a couple of hours so I could get on with things, without people sitting in the room. This particular couple seemed to hate to go out but used the time to do their grocery shopping, usually back within an hour.

We provided all rooms with a big wall calendar and, on a couple of occasions, I noticed they had something written in for almost every day. This was strange as they didn’t go out at all, however, I could not see what was written on there without my glasses.

One day my curiosity got the better of me and I took my glasses with me. Imagine my surprise when I read – Monday..bowel movement, Tuesday, bowel movement, Wednesday Good bowel movement, etc right through the month. Dave and I both had a good laugh and even now, years later, Dave calls for me to mark the calendar, after using the bathroom. I am really happy to report that we have more interesting things filling the daily spaces.

This very quiet and unobtrusive couple once caused a big uproar in the motel. It was Thursday morning, cleaning day, and they were getting ready to go on their weekly shopping trip. I was cleaning one of the other rooms when there was a tremendous bang.

The gentleman had a habit of revving up for a few minutes before driving out. I guess his reflexes were getting slower and, when he switched from forward to reverse, he didn’t get his foot on the brake fast enough. The result was he ran into the motel, between two room doors.

In one of the rooms was another elderly gentleman and apparently he was sitting in the bathroom, suffering from constipation. Needless to say, his problem was helped along when a large car came crashing through his door.

Luckily, no-one was hurt and the insurance handled the cost of damage, Kevin Tomlin and his crew soon replaced our two doors and broken window and life got back to normal. However, we installed signs instructing people to reverse into the parking stalls, to prevent further damage to the motel. Behind the car park was a large grassy area and then the pool, lots of room to make mistakes.

Some of our residents were keen golfers and bought memberships at the local courses. Most of them played all through the winter and loved coming to Oliver for this very reason. On the couple of occasions when it was too icy to play, they would go down to the lake and practice taking shots across the ice.

It seemed that the women were happy to stay around the RV’s but the men were either kicked out or preferred to be outdoors, so there they would be, coffee in hand, looking for someone to talk to. There would be two of three guys having a conversation and pretty soon the entire male population would be assembled in the roadway.

They always enjoyed it if Dave was doing a project and would assemble like bees round a blossom. A special favourite would be a hole. I don’t know what it is about men and holes, but the appearance of a shovel would cause great excitement and word would spread like wildfire.

Within minutes of ground being broken, there would be ten or twelve men, coffee in hand, giving advice and peering into the crater. To me it looked like dirt and rocks but, obviously, the guys could see something wonderful down there. This was fine but made projects come to a halt as Dave found it impossible to talk and work. The harpy from the office would have to come over and spoil the play by insisting that things actually got done.

At my appearance, the guys would quietly disperse and hide behind trees until I left the area, but the thrill of a hole could not keep them away for long.

When plans were made to build the club house, everyone got on board. The guys swarmed round and everyone brought tools. The concrete base got poured and, in less than a week, the framing and roof was done.

Once the interior was finished and furniture installed, the winter folk couldn’t wait to claim it as their own special place. We hung a key on a tree, outside of the door, that was much simpler than everyone having their own key. Dishes and cups arrived from various places, even a dishwasher was donated, by someone’s friend. From then on, the room was well used. I hung a calendar so people could reserve a private evening, but there never seemed to be friction on use of the room.

These were good times, such a happy extended family who all cared for and enjoyed one another. We had some real characters and they all had their little quirks but this was the stuff memories are made of. Sadly, most of these much loved people are now gone, several of the services were held at the Bel Air, in the club house where they had shared such good times. They now just live in our memories but will always remain in our hearts. They were truly our winter family.