This reminds me of something...
Jun. 15th, 2005 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebitterguyThis here reminds me of something from a long time ago.
(Oh, Christ, Bitter Guy, I can hear you saying, not another fucking nostalgia fest?!? Well, yes. Your mouse has a little rolly thingy on it, right?)
Back in the Ottawa days (Jesus, I know like four people from back then. Gary, Wes, Brad and the theoretical Gabe; and Big T, of course, but I met her there, really; didn't know her there. No, no, trust me. It all makes sense. When you meet someone is not when you know them, or vice versa), there was a store. It was called Savanna DeVilles. It sold a variety of merchandise for the goth and punks among us.
It was run by Linda. Linda Secasspina. Linda was cool. Early middle aged mother, she used to run a store called Flash Cadillac that sold couture reproductions. She was a whiz with a needle & thread (to be honest, I think she and Laurie could be Seperated At Birth). She had a signed photo of the Ramones that said "thanks for the spaghetti!" because she'd made them spaghetti at a show they did in Ottawa once. Just a cool lady.
And, and here's the relevance, she took care of the kids. Ottawa, a grey haven of icy beuraucratia, was not a city that embraced 'different' youth. Her clientele were not terribly well heeled, and did not seem to be suburban youth downtown. They all were very much the almost stereotypical urban primitives, huddling masses of yearnings for freedom and peace, if not acceptance. Some were from broken homes, some had no homes at all.
But she loved them all; she'd give them an ear or a shoulder, and bus fare home, or a few bucks out of the till to get a sandwich. She treated them as well as she did her own kids.
Now, I don't know how good a businesswoman she was (well, the store DID close down), but she was a good person. The last I heard from her, she'd retreated to her family home in Carlton Place to watch Showgirls and sexually harass whatever workmen her husband had in to fix the place up.
(Oh, Christ, Bitter Guy, I can hear you saying, not another fucking nostalgia fest?!? Well, yes. Your mouse has a little rolly thingy on it, right?)
Back in the Ottawa days (Jesus, I know like four people from back then. Gary, Wes, Brad and the theoretical Gabe; and Big T, of course, but I met her there, really; didn't know her there. No, no, trust me. It all makes sense. When you meet someone is not when you know them, or vice versa), there was a store. It was called Savanna DeVilles. It sold a variety of merchandise for the goth and punks among us.
It was run by Linda. Linda Secasspina. Linda was cool. Early middle aged mother, she used to run a store called Flash Cadillac that sold couture reproductions. She was a whiz with a needle & thread (to be honest, I think she and Laurie could be Seperated At Birth). She had a signed photo of the Ramones that said "thanks for the spaghetti!" because she'd made them spaghetti at a show they did in Ottawa once. Just a cool lady.
And, and here's the relevance, she took care of the kids. Ottawa, a grey haven of icy beuraucratia, was not a city that embraced 'different' youth. Her clientele were not terribly well heeled, and did not seem to be suburban youth downtown. They all were very much the almost stereotypical urban primitives, huddling masses of yearnings for freedom and peace, if not acceptance. Some were from broken homes, some had no homes at all.
But she loved them all; she'd give them an ear or a shoulder, and bus fare home, or a few bucks out of the till to get a sandwich. She treated them as well as she did her own kids.
Now, I don't know how good a businesswoman she was (well, the store DID close down), but she was a good person. The last I heard from her, she'd retreated to her family home in Carlton Place to watch Showgirls and sexually harass whatever workmen her husband had in to fix the place up.
