Now in every class or every group there is always the one guy who just makes you laugh non-stop. At the Muskoka Sands Inn in 1970 that person for me was Henry Schregardus. He was the son of my boss and worked as a carpenter in the maintenance department or at least he wore the belt with the hammers and stuff and looked like he knew what he was doing. He was a fairly heavy set guy for 1970 – pre fast food – and had an infectious giggle. He introduced me to gin. Then it was rum. And finally it was rye. To this day I cannot even stand the smell of any of those liquors. We spent most of our down time at the snack bar in the boathouse, a guest hangout as well, and usually full of young people – staff and guests. We played pinball and listened to tunes on the juke box. Woodstock was the rage, ‘The Letter’ was the hot Joe Cocker tune and we played it over and over. Henry had a small tape player and he introduced me to a variety of music and artists, my favourite being Emerson, Lake and Palmer and their album ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. I want to hear ‘Nutrocker’ – last song second side – one more time.
Henry and I were good for each other. He made me laugh and I did the same for him. It was a good idea that we did not work together as zero would have been accomplished. We took lunch together and usually met up after work for a beer. He had access to a vehicle so if he was going anywhere I was riding shotgun. Sometimes when I was running an errand in the Queen Mary he would join me for the trip. He said he had a girl friend from some small town somewhere and they saw each other only occasionally so I guess things were not that serious. We spent most of our free time trying to pick up girls and had modest success. We could entertain them all right but getting them back to the cabin for some real action was another matter. Nothing ever happened. We usually drove around listening to tunes and going for an ice cream but we always bragged about our conquests to the other staff members at breakfast the next day.
Henry left part way through the summer to work on a project at our sister resort in Killarney, but more on that later.
