For a number of days, we had noticed an odour during certain hours. Chris had visited some friends and I guess this strange smell had worked its way into the conversation. His friends hypothesized that the smell was natural gas. It seemed that these friends had a disturbing experience with natural gas once before (they had to evacuate their house for a period of time) so they were quite knowledgable and versed with the subject.

So upon smelling the odour for a third day, I called the gas company. They sent someone out immediately and the service man found TWO leaks - one from the furnace and one from the hot water tank. Needless to say, the leaks were corrected immediately at Mr. Ng's expense. It's just a good thing we didn't blow up else James wouldn't have gotten November's rent!

B

irsen's Has EVERYTHING

There's not much to this one, but Andrew thought that I should include this in the Ladouceur Experience II.

Birsen's Variety was our corner store, literally! The place was tiny. It had been constructed on a corner which probably was a 70 degree angle. For those of you who can imagine the layout, keep imagining. The place was a heap. To get to the dairy section, you had to weave your way in and out of counters, go down a couple steps, and turn around. Odd. And the public phone was at that same dairy section spot too. Don't ask...

I had to get Kleenex one day and bought it there. MISTAKE! It smelled like cigarette smoke, and indicative of the remaining goods they sold there. I wouldn't be surprised if the place went out of business. Afterall, there are three variety stores within two blocks of 44-1/2 Ladouceur Avenue.

O

72. BINGO!

Opposite the mighty Subway on Wellington and Merton is the traditional Bingo Hall. No low-income part of town is complete without a Bingo parlour where they can waste their welfare cheque away.

It was always a full house at the Bingo Hall. It was so full of smokers that the billows of stench could be seen for miles. Well, that's a slight exaggeration, but walking by the building, one can get a lifetime's worth of lung cancer from all the second hand smoke. Again, my eyes are tearing up. Sorry, that's just smoke in my eyes.