Marville France

While living in The Maple Leaf Trailer Park at Marville, France I ran for public office but was defeated. A friend of mine who ran against me was elected to the committee in charge of street lighting. He appointed me as his paid assistant at the rate of one dollar per hour. (US funds!)

One of our first tasks was to inspect each and every light pole in the park for burned out bulbs. During our inspection we discovered over half of the street lights were burned out or the bulb was missing all together. The next problem was how to reach the top of the poles that were perhaps thirty feet high or ten metres, as after all we were in Europe.

We searched around and found a four-wheeled rubber tired cart with a ladder secured in the perpendicular position that had been constructed for the purpose and stored near the Supply building. We were a strange looking pair as we made our way out the gate with the ladder pointing towards the sky on a Friday after work. I'm not going to ask, the military policeman said as we passed and struggled up the hill into the trailer park.

Early Saturday morning Charlie Cox and I met on “C Row” as we had stored our wagon near my trailer so I could keep an eye on it. We did not want to have such a valuable item stolen!

As fate would have it the third light on “C Row” was burned out and this would be our first electrical job of the day. The cart barely fit between the fences that bordered our front yards and there was no room to attach the stabilizers to prevent it from tipping over as we ascended the ladder, which had to be elevated to it’s maximum to reach the bulbs.

By now we were gathering an audience of trailer park kids and adults who stood nearby to witness the historic event. No longer would they have to find their way home in the dark of night from the theatre, skating rink, curling club and especially the Corporals and Airmen’s messes.

Okay, Charlie announced to me you go on up and change the bulb. I’m not going up that contraption I told him, you’re the boss, you go. I’ll be back in a few minutes he said, and cut across my lawn and disappeared behind the trailers. An exceedingly long time passed, the audience grew restless and in ones and twos wandered back to their trailers. A few kids hung around and someone from the far end of “C Row” walked up and asked when I was going to move the cart as they wanted to get past.

Finally Charlie returned and I inquired as to where he had been and what had taken him so long? I was at the Arab Shack last night until it closed and I had to go home for a nip of the hair of the dog that bit me, he laughingly said.