GLIMPSES of how Canada worked: a writer's memoir.

32. A Canadienne to remember as the world changed ever faster

ON THE HOME FRONT, I HAD SO MANY ACHES and pains that we decided to hire someone to do things that might be causing them -- lifting furniture, bending to clean, especially vacuuming, which my left hip protested for days afterwards.

A tall, lean Canadienne named Josephine Woods worked one a afternoon a week for neighbours and would gladly clean our place in the morning. Jo charged $2 an hour plus two bus tickets. Her lunches varied from things she brought to snacks from our kitchen. That suited clients because she occasionally left notes, e.g. "2 teabags left" or "buy eggs".

(Everybody trusted everybody else in those days. Jo found clients through word of mouth, the path everyone followed when they needed something, especially for a long-term commitment such as with a house cleaner or car mechanic.)

We developed a routine: Jo arrived as Charlie left for work, I poured two coffees, we sat down in the kitchen and talked for half an hour about anything from girl stuff to the Cold War. Her English was very good. My French was so slow that we both lost patience with it. CFCF paid for subscriptions to a few Canadian and U.S. newsmagazines mailed to our apartment, which Charlie and I read for our jobs, but then recycled through Jo. She told me juicy news from the daily Allo Police tabloid but couldn't bring it because she and neighbours shared it on the same day. They all studied CFCF's magazines eagerly.  

Jo worked for me so that I could work to pay her, and we really appreciated each other. 

She liked cleaning other people's homes, seeing various tastes and decors, polishing interesting dust-catchers, watching the seasons change through different windows. She especially enjoyed using various cleaning products and comparing them. On rare occasions she described an item in someone's home, but she never mentioned a name or address, never betrayed privacy.

Jo gave me household tips I use to this day: Leave clothes closet doors open to circulate air, except when company comes. Shower with the bathroom door open to prevent mould in the bathroom and humidify other rooms. White vinegar in small ceramic or glass bowls in bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom absorbs odors, especially cigarette smoke and grease from frying. Use washing soda (not baking). A tablespoon of washing soda boosts the cleaning action of soap or detergent and it's the perfect 'basin, tub and tile cleaner', never scratching, which baking soda does. Two or three tablespoons of washing soda in water covering a burned pot bottom and left standing for 24 hours will soften and detach all the black gunk. Wipe and rinse.

Since Jo, I've bought only washing soda and vinegar for cleaning.

She washed windows with vinegar in hot water, drying them with crumpled newspapers. "It's the fastest way to make a place sparkle", she insisted. I argued that it made dust more visible! She said visitors focus on clean windows and the view.

While Jo used washing soda and vinegar, she owned and kept buying shares in companies which manufactured and advertised cleaning products, as well as blue-chips such as Bell Telephone and Canadian Pacific Railway. She saved coins in a jar for a while, then asked a neighbour to buy something for her. You could buy only one share in those days, from a friend or acquaintance who sold insurance for a living and stocks as a sideline. Agents didn't urge clients to sell; they weren't greedy.

Jo only bought, never mentioned selling.

Charlie and I discussed following her example, but kept postponing because we grew up in families that put money into banks until they'd saved enough for a specific item.

Jo rented the house she grew up in, a semi-detached, clapboard-sided two-storey owned by people living in the other half. It was very old and just two blocks from the Montreal Forum (a sports arena). Jo shared it with her mother -- a diabetic who had lost most of one leg -- and a couple of male boarders. Jo did all the housework while the men, one a car mechanic, the other an electrician, did whatever maintenance both halves of the building needed.