Our Colonial Life
- eddiecanuck
- May 16, 2020
- 2 min read
This is the two-four weekend in Ontario. When I was young, the 24th was known as Empire day or simply the 24th of May. It was a date chosen to honour the birthday of Queen Victoria and Victoria the city, being her namesake, took seriously. We knew it through a ditty...”The 24th of May is the Queen's Birthday and if we don't get a holiday we will all run away”. At some point the powers that be slid it around to the Monday preceding the 25th of May so as to create a long weekend but it was always the start of summer on the west coast.
The focal event was a parade. An exciting parade as I remember it. It generally fed into being the first day we could go swimming in the frigid waters of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. If weather was inclement a trip to the Crystal Gardens was on offer. The Crystal, an indoor salt water pool in a gorgeous structure designed by Francis Rattenbury, an influential British architect that settled in Victoria, lived a scandalous life and was murdered at age 67 by his second wife's lover; if we are to believe Wikipedia. These details were of course unknown to us as kids.
It has been years since I lived in Victoria and I am now adjusted to the Ontario designation of the day as the 2...4..weekend. This is generally taken to be a reference to the fact that a case of beer in Ontario has 24 bottles or cans. I wonder if the Queen would be amused.
I hope she would appreciate the fact that Canada is the only former colonial state that continues with the holiday.
Ah yes, the May 24th parade; in particular I remember the great American marching bands.
I attended my first concert in the USA when I attended the Little Richard performance. I remember that the white kids were on the main floor and the black kids were all upstairs at first. Things changed later.
My first concert although not really a big venue was at UBC.It was 1963 and I was in first year law and went one day to Brock Hall for lunch in the cafeteria.On the way back to class there was a band playing so I stopped to look and listen.Jesus, I thought, what a scruffy long haired bunch of weirdos but the girl singer was very attractive .The singer was Grace Slick and the band was Jefferson Airplane