September 26, 1966

On Monday we went to the University of Manitoba and met with various members of the administration. Much paper-work was done. We met with some other members of the department – Professors Hank Finlayson, Diane Johnson, Gerry and Nora Losey, all of whom have been our friends ever since. . There were several others – Professor Ewell and Professor Ewing, one of them was a young African American, I forget who and the other close to retirement. Another colleague was Brent Prendergast, who became a very good helper in our process of settling down. He was a wonderful conversationalist and kept us in fits of laughter.

Roy had told us we could take our time looking for a place to live because our moving expenses would take care of our hotel charges for some days, but we found that even our plane-tickets were well over the allotted moving expenses of $1000, and so we figured we should first move to a less expensive motel. We did, to a motel on Pembina Highway, that was close to the University and on the bus route as well.

I recall our apartment hunting – Brent said there was a new block on Mayfair Place and offered to drive us there, but it is on a one-way street off Donald and could not be accessed while driving north, and he kept crossing the Donald Bridge several times and turning around but never turning off on the right street when driving south, and after several such attempts to see the new highrise building, we gave up.

I distinctly remember looking at Adamar Manor on Pembina but the other day I was told it was built only in 1972!! So it must have been another building – perhaps Arizona Plaza – but it would not take pets or children we were informed and since we definitely planned on starting a family, we had to find some place else.

(As an aside, our health insurance papers said we would not get pregnancy-maternity coverage unless we had been in the country for nine months prior to a baby’s birth, and so I was keeping my fingers crossed that I was not already pregnant! I needn't have worried; my first - and only - child was a long time coming.)

Next day, we drove along Grant Avenue, where there were several apartment blocks. But then we noticed in the newspaper that an apartment was for sublet, on Wellington Crescent. Since Brent lived on that street, first we saw a couple of highrises that were newly built on the river-bank. The rent seemed high, but the laundry was free and Brent joked that I could always take in other people’s laundry and make up for the high rent. Then we went to the advertised sublet - #608 at 250 Wellington Crescent. It was a luxuriously furnished apartment, owned by Mrs. Genser whose family ran one of the very successful furniture businesses in the city. She was an old lady, who spent her winters in warm Florida and rented out her apartment October 1 to April 30 every year. On knowing the rent was a high $180 per month, Brent thought it was just right for maharajahs from India and we signed the papers and moved in on October 1.

Next came the choice of a car. Having worked for two years (1963-1965) in the U.S., Parameswaran had his driving license (I had taken my driving school course at Indiana University where I studied on a Smith Mundt-Fulbright scholarship for a year, but I had not driven much at all). We went to several dealerships and decided on Inman Motors – on Main Street - and bought a turquoisish-blue1966 Chevrolet Biscayne for $2750. Parameswaran had some money saved, and he paid cash for the car, the logic of which totally eluded Brent, (why pay cash when one could get credit?) but which was consistent with the way we had been brought up – never to buy anything we could not afford to pay in cash!

Our apartment block had an underground garage, and on the very first day we got a scratch steering through what I thought was a garage door that was far too narrow. But I think the dealer had the scratch painted over and it didn’t show at all, and the door expanded with practice:)