Memory Box One : J.F. O'Neil and Phoenix

In the first year of going out with this young lady from Wigan who became my wife, I had some bad luck with cars in general, wrote one off, had one stolen, made silly mistakes with other cars and needed to change the engine on a Hillman Imp, so as a stop gap measure, I bought a moped.

Karen had just started working at Phoenix Video in Wigan Town Centre and once a week I would meet her there on her evening shift and keep her company, we would have a meal that she had bought, sometimes goodies from Marks and Spencer, Scotch eggs or something else yummy. I would usually give her a lift home or walk her to the bus stop after she locked up and made sure she was home safely.

I strolled in one night after parking my new acquisition and delivered the news that I was back on the road, well, she gave me the trademark 'what a daft bugger' look. Karen was right, the pressure of the Hillman Imp being off the road and the long train journeys to my job at APPH in Speke had finally made me snap, I bought this thing without thinking it through, I should have just had the car fixed or replaced, but as we know, we do what we do.

The Honda Melody, with 50cc of raw power, would be my curse over those winter months, probably the worst decision I have ever made with a vehicle (and I have made a few terrible choices) and it soon became clear that this exact replica of Steve Zodiacs Fireball XL5 Hovertron would be my undoing.

J.F. O'Neil was a small electronics-related business in two locations, 78 Market Street in Wigan and eventually Smithy Green in Ince and there is almost zero information online about the store. There is nothing about Phoenix either, which occupied the same property on Market Street, but today, accidently after being triggered by another Wigan memory, I searched for Market Square and found this gem.

There it is, large as life. I bought the moped in November of 1982 and that puts a press pin into the corkboard about when this photo was taken. I recall like it was yesterday, proudly parking the hovertron in the market square car park, in front of the store.

I will add some more information about the two companies, J.F. O'Neil rented and sold TVs and Video Cassette Recorders, what we called VCRs and in both formats at the time, VHS and BetaMax. The rental and repair business was also in full flight around that timeline, a large proportion of British people did not own their TV sets and some would rent for decades, even refusing free upgrades to colour TV sets when their ancient black and white sets needed constant repair, refusing because they did not want to pay extra for the colour licence or just liked black and white.

Phoenix Video, the Video Centre, shared the premises and stocked a broad range of VHS and a limited stock of Betamax, plus the usual adult section of videos, although in the UK at that time, adult videos were pretty tame (if my memory serves me well) and the main video store was in the back room with a stockroom upstairs. The shop was run by a chap called Steve and his wife, Jennifer who saw an opportunity when the video industry was really taking off.

It was a weekly event at Karen's house, video night, watching the latest releases, the perks of working at a video rental store, my particular perk was going out with someone who worked at a video rental store, I was never that interested in the movies, just liked sharing a couch with the young lady.

When the VHS business faded, just within a few years really, either from dwindling demand or just plain old bad management, Karen would move jobs to the J.F. O'Neil location in Ince and when she moved in with me in early 1987 we would rent a lovely Tatung TV and VCR and cuddle up on our own couch on movie nights until we left for Canada. 

“I wish I was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive, I’d fly around the Universe, on Fireball XL5"

Bed Day

Yesterday was a very interesting day, and it was a bed day.

On marketplace we noticed that a place nearby, the Grouse Nest off Gillespie Road in Sooke, was selling off some old furniture and one particular bed caught our eye, mainly because it had solid wood baseboard and headboard, the bed spring was covered up by a mattress, so we had no idea what we would find.

The Grouse Nest has been many things over the last 100 years, a massive waterfront mansion and out buildings, 80 acres now but has been much bigger in it's history, well worth checking out on the internet if you have the time. It was a home to millionaires, a resort (more than once as it burnt down) and over the last few years has been a refuge for displaced Ukrainian refugees, unfortunately the owner recently died and it is now up for sale again, hence the estate sale.

There were two beds, serving as a basis for a much larger bed, once we had uncovered them, this is what we found, rock solid bed frame, tool free design and an intriguing bed spring arrangement as can be seen. As we had a future need for another single bed, we bought the frame and transported it back to the house inside the Acura.

We were not sure about the bed spring and just bought the frame, however, after some consideration later we drove back to the Grouse Nest and picked up the extra bit, the lady had also found an unused Sealy Posturepedic mattresses in the storage area, so we picked that up too. It was quite the exciting (if that is the word for it) drive back home with the bed spring and mattress strapped onto the roof rack, the bed spring being a significant weight and the mattress was flapping at the front as other drivers tried to push our speed on the highway, impatient people, wanting to get places faster.

I tried to do some research on the design of that bed spring, it does seem to be potentially a hundred years old, perhaps they were used for servant's beds back in the 1920s, quite remarkable to be in such good condition and a high quality, solid wood and steel bed with a lot of life left, try buying something like that from the Brick nowadays and expect it to last.

All safe and sound in our house now though, it was an odd thing, we had not realised that a bed day could make you feel so tired.

How the gardens grow

It has been quite the thing over the last eight or so years to watch our garden evolve, this time of the year is perfect for creating new features, the weather is good, not too hot and even a little shower is welcomed during our daily, short, gardening adventures.

The latest addition is a short path of stepping stones that make access to the left side of the garden a little easier, these little concrete pavers were less than five dollars each and look quite neat snaking across to the gravel path and beyond.

It is also quite amazing how much the right side of the garden has grown over the years, with most of the shrubs being provided by yearly nursery gift cards from Karen's mum and brother. The shrubs were originally small enough to get about five or so in the back of the car, now it would be impossible to squeeze one of them in, although we're not rushing to dig any up to find out.

It is impressive how the small shrubs grow into monsters and especially so as this portion of the garden was basically a patch of scorched grass and earth when we first moved in. There are more projects planned for the next few months and another gift card available to buy more shrubs and ground cover plants, which will of course provide more opportunities to be out in the fresh air, weeding and watching our garden grow.

Snow Days

It has been about three weeks since we had that amazing weather that allowed our roof to be completely done and the cash, that was in the bank, is now a distant memory, but it is lovely to have a new covering to the house. I would take a photo to show it, but it is currently covered in snow.

Everything is covered in snow and there will be snow days, good job we have provisions.

This is turning out to be a rather strange start to the year, for a week or so there we had a big dumpster parked on our driveway and there was disruption, then I was sick with a quite impressive wheezing and creaking set of lungs, plus having blood tests for other phenomenon going on in my body, and now snow everywhere and we're not going nowhere.

Which means we are somewhere, which is here, indoors, looking outwards.

And so it begins....

Our contractor contacted us last week and asked if we were ok with starting the roof project today, mainly as there is a forecast for three or four days of suitable weather for the crew, and for the customer. It was of course a big yes as it will be great to get it out of the way and move on with the year.

The shingles are being delivered as I type.

This is only the third roof we have had replaced in our time in Canada, but by far it is the most complicated. Somewhat similar to the one you can see in the background but with the garage to one side, prices have certainly gone up over the years, in 2002 we paid less than three thousand, in 2009 less than six and today it is just over seventeen.

It's only money.