Salt Spring Island Archives

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Audio

George Laundry

interviewed by Frank Neumann, June 2017

Accession Number
Date June 2017
Media digital recording Audio mp3 √
duration 26

381_George-Laundry_Frank-Neumann-interview-about-life_06-2017.mp3

otter.ai

12.02.2024

no

Outline

    Creating a TV series with personal anecdotes.
  • George produced a series for TVO after being asked by his editor, who had moved from TV production, and created a DI program for gifted and enriched students.
  • George worked on the project for 6 days, including a Friday deadline, and the show was a success, earning money for the students and recognition for George.
  • Emily shares stories of lost movies and stressful interactions with bureaucrats.
    Firewood, track coaching, and personal stories.
  • Dave tries to dig up a plum tree in a neighbor's yard, but the owner refuses and Dave bangs on the door with a shovel.
  • Dave Harris chased off intruders with a shovel and nearly threw someone off a ferry.
  • Speaker 1 mentions a photo book with names of people from the Boer War, including Captain Drummond, and asks if it has been found.
    Veterans, names, and memories.
  • Speaker 1 mentions a brown plaque given to them by their father, which they can show to others.
  • Unknown speaker mentions personal connections to Saltspring Island.
    Community service and recognition for a family.
  • The speaker reflects on the history of a local community and the importance of recognizing individuals who have contributed to it.
  • Woman shares story of husband's near-death experience, but others on the island have similar tales of unfulfilled promises.
    Gardening, potatoes, and protein enhancement.
  • Speaker 1 discusses gardening progress with unknown speaker, mentioning zucchinis and garlic harvests.
  • Speaker 1 discusses planting eggs and potatoes with an unknown speaker.

Speaker 1 0:00
As your TV production company shows, new stuff, and TV are one of the best records of sales, they sold everything. And so my job was to produce a program to go, series to go. So I've I just done a textbook on energy with McGraw Hill. And the woman who was my editor had moved over to TVO. So I get a call one day she said, George, she said, Hey, would you like to do a series for TVO? I said, Well, I'll come down next week, and we can talk about it. And she said, No, George said, you'll do it. Because he'd fucked it up so badly that they got 12 days to go for a quarter million dollar project, in other words been written. So I took you there and I made a DI, enrich gifted class. And I made a deal with them that is going to show them a movie every day that nobody else has ever seen outside of them. And I said, what I need from you is help I need you to tell talk to me about right to questions that you would like, what support material do you think there might be anything? And they were wonderful. Wonderful. One of those guys is now the number three guy and Microsoft Dr. David basketball. They were a gifted and enriched wonderful kids. So they did I took it in on the Friday it's due Monday morning, nine o'clock. I took it on Friday. Who is this fucking guy never in their life had ever had a program a series six parts two series come in early. So they're allowed to assemble their teams and and be ready for Monday morning are incredible things for them. So they sold they they did a lot of money down there. I didn't get that money. You know, that's their money, but they paid me $360 A day plus expenses. And I'm making like $175 a day teaching. So I'm teaching like this one class is doing 45 minutes of work for me. And then I work at night till about two in the morning. I took it in Friday, and they were so pleased Saturday morning. I could mean they took me up to the hospital. I thought it was a stroke. So they got me under they got so many fucking things. Emily, if you ever saw the movie Westworld, I felt like the robot being repaired at night. A couple of days go by and nothing and nothing, I'm getting better about nothing. And finally, the diagnosis as system shut down. The stress level gets so high that you can't function. And of course, I'm a high stress person, you probably wouldn't know that

Speaker 1 3:07
so I'll show you the series. It's still a wonderful series done long time and a wonderful series. And the research work I had I called in some IOUs from people

Speaker 2 3:20
videos, the video series years

Speaker 1 3:24
it'll be I don't have one left. They've all been taken from me but it isn't. It'll it will be on the banks of TV Oh, there'll be on their libraries. It isn't the librarian. I may have one or two of the movies but unfortunately I'm a kind of personal lens things and you never get them back. One guy took all six of them and died and I couldn't get his wife wouldn't give them back

Speaker 1 4:06
but I love the stress of that kind of stress. I love this dress I can control and I can't deal with a choice. I can't stress I can't you're dealing with a bureaucrat on the phone like the

Speaker 1 4:29
classic loner and he hung up on the gooey thought with Bob beep and I've told you that story the other day about but at any point stop me there was this all lager Hopkins and there was a guy that we lost the most wonderful stories in history. He was he was the last of the gypo loggers worked brown paper bag and things like that and all of these guys who especially but yeah, Your sense of humor and he phones Dave Harris one night. Mr. Harris. This is Robert Bateman. Perhaps you've heard of him? Do you sell firewood? Mr. Well, is it good dry firewood? Well, yes, he said it's well seasoned. He sounded a bit of a naughty sub as well, Susan always said, Oh, one other thing I missed out was Is it organic? And all he can hear us and then he sits there for a while and two things are happening. And he's thinking maybe I should phone Dave and tell him that's not real. But in the meantime, Dave Harris is trying to get Robert Pitman's phone number fortunately for us and there's no no answer. And then Bob gets sued tells the job can you imagine if he got to

Unknown Speaker 5:54
but this is the standard line whenever he got fed up with some I miss him I miss Dave. He didn't take any prisoners. He goes down. He's done at the old Maxwell House across to in the old stone barn and he decided to go down and dig out a fucking plum tree

Speaker 1 6:23
because he wants 100 Quite naturally one and now he's done digging when there's a guy rent in the house and the guy comes out he said what are you doing? He said well I'm digging up a fucking notary or whatever. He said we can't do it. He said I'll do the fucking well like and the guy so you can't just come in and start digging things up and they said the fucking house all Hickey with this and the guy goes and he locks the door. And Dave decides you've got to give him a little bit blessing. So he's banging on the door with a shovel. And Dave said all of a sudden I see him looking out the window. He's got that look on his face. Maybe I'm not safe

Speaker 1 7:02
people don't a lot of people don't know that Dave Harris used to was kind of a track coach. Did you know that? Well, people would go in there and steal stuff from him. And he would chase them off the road with a shovel teach them how to get the knees up and it saved one guy to take place and if he'd caught the guy he wouldn't be with a shovel. Now that's good for track practice. He was in his chicken house one night and otter had gotten and killed a lot of chicken and the audit was going to go after him these things are as big as adults. And that was a mistake because Dave beat it to death with a shovel

Unknown Speaker 8:01
Mr Harris is your firewood organic

Speaker 1 8:09
and he almost threw that right or off the boat off the ferry No way I will own the very Who's that guy who thinks he's a writer wins all sorts of awards here on Saltspring trauma farm I don't have a lot of time for him. I was on coming home on an air flight when he was on it and he was if he was if this was these days he would have been in jail. But remember the old days Americana when you got free booze you don't use and fly. Okay, well, you took the airline have the best because meals are free. And the movies are up to a certain point where for him he had been a little too far into it and one of them stewardesses cut him off and he created a seat. Well nowadays he would have been taken down by the security and in jail. But he behaved like I told him and then I've been on a number of committees with them I've been too impressed

Unknown Speaker 9:23
Brett Brian, Brett,

Unknown Speaker 9:28
something like this

Speaker 1 9:42
you sent me a picture once at the Boer War guy with my dad's name on it. And I'm not so uncertain that I may have brought you up that picture and a book of my sister a notebook with all those clippings from Punisher review at some point because I wouldn't remember But it seems to me we had talked about a long, long time ago. So if you ever go through your records and find a photo book with paper and all of the guidelines for about 10 user headlines from now, and I can't find it to house and I have a sense that I may have brought it up for I didn't know, I can't remember now. So if you ever come across it, and it had the picture of my group with all of the names except one into the

Unknown Speaker 10:31
picture, but

Speaker 1 10:36
anyhow, if you've come across it, it may be I'm not saying I don't remember.

Speaker 2 10:41
It was a little picture. It

Speaker 1 10:45
was it was the picture and on a piece of paper with it. It had the names of the people when there was only one missing is Captain Drummond and there's Piatt and people like that so if you ever go through it, come come up with it. There'll be handwritten notes with it with the names not know Frank

Unknown Speaker 11:14
remember

Speaker 1 11:25
someday you'll come across it and just have a second look at it when you do

Speaker 2 11:31
Yeah, they're gonna dream it with a piece of paper with it. And I've got a home I've got

Speaker 1 11:38
a brown my dad got the night of the night was the last board war veterans dinner to Legion and I've got a brass plaque that they gave down I can show that to you because that was the last celebration after legion had before the Boer War veterans

Unknown Speaker 12:01
temporarily bring it up on this thing here

Speaker 1 12:22
see that system that you're using really wouldn't work for me because I most time can't find in my computer

Unknown Speaker 13:00
just a little slow and fancies fingers okay. I think I think we can

Speaker 1 13:10
maybe pilot majors that we got that's a major that's gotten drama of drama apart that may be pilot I'm not sure the male driver that's my dad Of course there but that would be a good contest at some time in the drift

Speaker 2 13:35
No, I don't have any names. Or numbers. thing

Speaker 1 13:38
you told me. There's my dad number two. I pretty sure that that's Captain Drummond is putting a hold it with the glasses where they're they're they're pretty sure but but I can I'll have another look and go through and see

Speaker 2 13:56
if I can find them just number nine. And your dad is number two. For sure. That's

Speaker 1 14:01
not he's number two that maybe pie at the mailman. I'm not sure it's number but don't put that in. I'll see what I can

Unknown Speaker 14:13
do. Number five hear me? Yeah. Might

Speaker 1 14:16
might be might be now. There was some around that I was going to talk to about who might remember I could go on Ask Evelyn Lee. She'll know some of those guys.

Unknown Speaker 14:35
She's still pretty shocked

Unknown Speaker 14:37
at all the personal Saltspring now Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 14:40
She must be almost almost. Yeah, I think Sorry.

Unknown Speaker 14:54
Okay, I'll see what I can do on that. But that was the last dinner where they celebrated And they gave each of those guys a little brass. I guess it's like an ashtray kind of thing. I'll show you

Unknown Speaker 15:16
what I'm using,

Unknown Speaker 15:16
I guess they're all gone now.

Speaker 2 15:20
That's what I'm using the bureau well over 100 would not cry. Using full my cell phone as battery. That's my phone, they can just plug it in.

Speaker 1 15:34
So that's great. You plug into that and then you recharge just by plugging into the wall

Unknown Speaker 15:41
will last for a

Speaker 1 15:45
while I'm gonna get organized and then get get a phone, I guess and see how much I have to pay. That's actually a good picture. I remember the Navy went to that. The policeman came to pick him up. Because he had no way of getting air. So we had no cars and nobody had gloves on. So the policeman said he'd come in take down

Speaker 1 16:12
is there a Patterson there? See, we were going to do a I got up in old timers meeting couple of years ago when Bruce Patterson left and I wanted a plaque or something some recognition in the Valley for 75 years of community service. Three generations of persons. And a certain person decided that oh, gee, that's great. I'll do that. Don't do what I think I'll do a whole fucking thing. So she leaves y'all know there hasn't been a thing done. So I don't know what to do. I don't have a lot of time. But maybe the thing to do is to approach BC Ferries and see if they are interested in having a plaque because they bought looses property. But there's got to be three quarters of a century. The stories I could tell you about in that those little stores. I mean, that store wasn't as big as its room. And they weren't money grubbers not like the fucking people up here. They were community people. Each one has special characteristics. I mean, Bruce, Bob, Bobby, Lone. I mean, that was during the tough times and they loaned credit to everybody I mean credible and Bruce was one of the most important community kind of people. I told the third what you remember when he and that other guy after a bridge got fired from the fire department for complaining? Well the forefront don't know they have a ceremony for the two of them for thanking hundreds of hundreds of people crowded. And this woman got up and she told her story that she she and her husband had just had their own affair just out into the bay and my husband had a heart attack. And she said before the ferry could turn around and get back and Bruce was out there providing recitations. I told her my story that she accuses various of saving her husband's life. But stories like that came out that day. So here's a family that got to be remembered somehow. And this particular woman you nor well. And from the earliest days I remember her as a person who was self serving. Now the two of them left the island

Unknown Speaker 19:08
wasn't Emily, you know the name?

Unknown Speaker 19:12
She used to be a nun.

Speaker 2 19:15
Emily? Oh, I wouldn't I wouldn't mention

Unknown Speaker 19:23
every committee in the fucking Island and nothing gets done that's our impression. That may not be your impression Oh, I'm sorry. We have a dress code here. Oh.

Speaker 1 19:45
Sorry about my car. That's okay. Are you do you want to come out and change it? I'll I have to go here. No, he's he's boring the hell out of me. Oh, that's fine. I'm gonna go I upgraded my dress so I can still okay. So that was your impression? Not really no, yeah. I grew up with Duncan, of course. He was a little bit younger, quite a bit younger, but we always got along fine and we always go like playing with her. But I saw her. She tried to take over the adults, that Fulford, you see, and then that lasted a season and then she's on to something more important. And she was with their foundation for a while and then moves on.

Speaker 2 20:37
No, she's certainly was involved in everything. She certainly was involved with everything.

Speaker 1 20:46
Anyhow, many people thought that this was something and she had promised to do the whole thing, she would get all done, nothing was done. So something has to be done. We can't let them family leave without something.

Speaker 1 21:11
And then we did have a day for the Pattersons when they left, I gave a talk to them. had lots of fun because Bruce is sitting there and Tom Toynbee and all of the all of the other businessmen came down because they knew it was neighbors

Unknown Speaker 21:41
yeah

Unknown Speaker 21:45
well, I'm gonna go home and work in my garden.

Unknown Speaker 21:50
work in the garden, it's too. too sunny to

Speaker 1 21:54
know what's going on now. I've wasted enough of your time. Doing this. Way behind, not going well. The nights are cold. Now 10 to 12 degrees at night. Nothing's going during the day, this is fine, but there's a breeze every day. Breathing direct sunlight on something is fine that there that stuff is working. But scars are coming. But a lot of the stuff didn't come up because it was too damp. And too we're cool. And that's what you call it at the beginning so they'll be glad to do second planning is that seems like no,

Unknown Speaker 22:33
it's going.

Speaker 1 22:35
No, it's going Oh yeah. For sure coming nicely now. I have my first BlackBerry. I haven't had mine yet but I've had my first zucchinis and that and things like that. They're coming in the first one last night cooked up for us to have a special roasting for mommy and

Unknown Speaker 22:56
we've had no potatoes no lettuce and stuff like lots of green onions have you got a good crop of garlic that I'm just picking just starting to harvest now

Speaker 1 23:17
wasn't able to grow any chickens this year? Well, I had Malcolm come down and see what was going wrong. And he said yeah, George he says, I think you're planting the eggs to do

Unknown Speaker 23:35
the problem yeah

Speaker 1 23:44
Can I go now? I was in another class that I better not. I go home on when my wife comes home. I'll give her a little white wine. One download. I've got I do have to cut back. Thank you very much, but I like to have they recommend every second day you don't have forgotten me. Oh, you know two or three glasses at night is fine, but not every day. And I can tell that there's some problems in there. Oh, there we go. Can I stay now? Oh good. I'll go hang up these wet things

Speaker 1 24:33
so soon I shouldn't have some zucchinis for yourself like I can I could bring you new potatoes probably. No. Yeah. You got lots of new potatoes. You

Unknown Speaker 24:42
don't have anybody. I guess we should be somewhat

Speaker 1 24:47
while the potatoes all called dig them up and bring them up and their protein enhance these potatoes. They're someone who bugs. Worms a high level pro Do you mean he asked any Robert

Unknown Speaker 25:08
Yeah, I better go and give you a break

Speaker 1 25:25
my dear I'm gonna get out of his hair which he doesn't have a lot while you take care to see if I can dig some potatoes I'll bring you up some potatoes wow these are special ones I've been growing up protein enhanced. Oh they're worms No I said you ask any Robin boy they love me. Yeah I bet we'll see you next Thursday for sure. Okay, take care

Unknown Speaker 26:02
so that was quite a good swim

Unknown Speaker 26:14
one came up in my head