Post #13

 

I can't quite remember the year of this exactly, except it was likely the early 80s.  As the clipping says, this is a fellow named Henry Cormier, who used to be the rink attendant at the old Dud James Arena just a hop skip and a jump from our house on Emmerson Street.
There are folks in my family that will recognize the name, but Henry's under a Halloween mask here. I remember my brother Rick and me would be a couple of the designated 'rink rats' that would revel in going to the arena and helping Henry around the building.  In particular I remember shoveling the snow left behind by the Zamboni machine on the ice after it was flooded, and the Zamboni would dump the bigger heap of snow from its front cabin into this room with a grate and a drain where we'd take a big hot hose to it and melt it.  We'd also sweep the arena a lot and do odd jobs; and maybe run to the store for Henry if he wanted cigarettes or a newspaper or something.  We loved doing that stuff because it made us feel useful.  Sometimes Henry would even give us a buck or two.  But he was like this hyper-friendly guy that was hard not to like.  He had patience with the likes of me, I think.  'Ricky' was the gold standard of all us rink rats!
I remember my brother Pete's girlfriend in the 70s, and future wife, Heather would figure skate at the Dud James, too.  I'd watch her and wonder how the hell she could keep her balance.  Or any skater for that matter, but she had a lot of grace.
So many memories at the Dud James.  Now it's not even a skating rink, it's some kind of gymnastics thing.  I'm annoyed at the fact that most of the neighborhood rinks were either torn down or repurposed in favor of the 'four-ice' complex that replaced them.  Not all kids have the means to go to a rink like that outside of their own neighborhood.  Moncton, though, has a habit of not respecting its own historical buildings.  
Henry here actually wound up being the dad to one of my friends from school named Louise, a really, really pretty girl-next-door kind of stunner.  If she somehow reads this, I can actually see her face reddening.  If you are, Louise, I'm serious!  And say hi to Mike the Man for me.  And your dad.  Mike is actually the guy who very, very patiently trained me when I started working for Shoppers Drug Mart.  I say this about quite a few people, but Mike is one of the planet's nicest guys.  And I'm serious.