TRANSCRIBED:
Still no work from Carl (another of Rob’s brothers) and let me tell you, this is not the way to start off 1980. Un, I guess Rob has heard from Myra. It appears that Debbie (Carl’s wife) intercepted some mail between, letters that Rob had written while he was in jail. Now that just isn’t right.
I dropped into the taxation office to apply for that part-time job. As usual, I was the odd man out, in this case, the only man. About 400 girls had applied. I stopped for coffee with Rob and later we had a few at the Royal Towers. This area in New West is to the area what the east end is to Seattle.
[Author’s note: yes, my journals back then did contain somewhat more gossip. Myra was Rob’s girlfriend. One of the topics I had studied in school was accounting, and I understood Canadian tax law. That part-time job paid $18 per hour, a fortune in those days. One reason I was the only male had to do with the requirement to type 50 wpm, something few men could do in 1980.]
[Author’s note 2016: New Westminster was the largest city near to where I lived by highway, but it involved crossing the border into Canada. Back then, there was rarely any lineups or delays. Rob is the Canadian truck driver I met in Montana working for Halliburton. I crashed at his place when visiting.]
[Author’s note 2016: the reader should be aware in 1980, the Canadian dollar was worth considerably more than today, and the higher paying jobs were closer across the Canadian border to where I lived in 1980. These were union jobs that often paid twice what I could get driving to Seattle every day--and only half as far away. Remember, my mother was Canadian and I can work there any time I want. I would not do so today, as the dollar is 75 cents and the tax rate on single men (blended) is close to 60%.]
