Willy Williamson / Winnipeg Free Press
Laurie Mustard
Laurie Mustard / Winnipeg Free Press
Eatons clock saved by Laurie Mustard.
Many thanks to my new editor and old friend Willy Williamson for inviting me to sit down and write a column again. In case you’ve wondered where I’ve been, I’m semi-retired and loving it. This new gig writing once a week right here in the Winnipeg Free Press Homes section is a perfect fit for me.
Willy and I have a lot in common, a couple of hard-wired similarities being our love of old cars, and hauling stuff home that’s old or odd and looks like it needs "rescuing." So in other words, pretty much anything, the qualifier being "value is in the eye of the beholder."
One of the treasures I have yet to restore — there’s a lot on the project list — is the Eaton’s clock. Yes, the actual downtown-Winnipeg Eaton’s clock that so many people met under up until Eaton’s was demolished to build the MTS Centre. Two sides of it are presently missing due to a forklift accident when it was being removed. I intend to get around to fixing that, like you know, soon. Been saying that for a few years now.
My current plan is for it to reside in the Jim’s Vintage Garages Heritage Museum we have here in Headingley (opposite Nick’s on the Trans-Canada Highway), and also to take it out to charity events to hang on a custom-designed and -built stand so people can once again "meet under the Eaton’s clock," this time perhaps by the donations desk. Cool place to get your picture taken.
Right about now you’re probably saying to someone, "Hey look, Mustard’s got the Eaton’s clock, wonder how he ended up with it?" Good question, good story, too long to tell here. Meet you under the clock someday and tell you all about it.
Now the good news is, although Willy and I both haul a lot of stuff home — or rescue it as we prefer to describe it — we are not "hoarders." That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Y’see, I save stuff, like a beautiful quarter-sawn oak pump organ discarded at the Killarney dump, sitting alongside a beautiful old cherry wood piano lying on its face that I couldn’t save. Then I do my best to see it gets into the hands of someone who appreciates it and lives to be admired and enjoyed once again.
Willy does the same, having once given me an antique fire call box that I love. He reminded me recently that he gave it to me in turn for two old cars I gave him — which I’d forgotten about.
One antique specialist that was here in my yard one day, picking up something or other, said, "Laurie, you’re not a hoarder, you’re a cultural anthropologist."
And I’m good with that. So if you’ve got something cool at your house you’re thinking of discarding, DON’T chuck it, call me or Willy — OK, call me first, and I’ll come over and see if it’s something that must be rescued and preserved, as opposed to unceremoniously hauled off as junk. That is a sin. Do that and you will not go to heaven.
The bottom line for Mustard on Everything is if it fits under the Free Press Homes umbrella, sooner or later, I’ll be writing about it. I mean it could be anything from a lawn mower to a snow blower that kicks butt, to exploring some abandoned old farm homes on the Prairie (already have a beaut I can’t wait to show you), and haunted houses are always welcome, as well as pretty much anything that fits in the "living regular life" category, and that certainly includes talking about that old car you have in your amazing old barn. Again, always ... remember this ... call me before you call Willy. And thank you. Good to be back.
lmustard1948@gmail.com
