JAMES (JIM) ALLAN SMITH

Condolences & Memories (1 entries)

• I was saddened to learn of Jim's death, although I hadn't seen him for some 26 years. Jim and I began our aquaintanceship one day in The Paddlewheel in The Bay, where I was introduced to him by my brother, Ian, shortly after my return from a working holiday and hitchhiking trip in Britain and Continental Europe. We took to each other immediately because, like me, Jim had a fancy to see something of the world. In fact, we soon commemorated that common interest by departing on a hitchhiking trip together to Vancouver. One episode from that journey remains embeded in my memory forever. Somewhere before the Rockies we got a lift with the driver of a half-ton truck. He turned out to be a fellow from Blackpool in Lancashire who had immigrated to Saskatchewan and bought a farm there. I can't remember where he was headed to, but when we got into the mountains he turned off the road to bed down for the night. Jim and I unfurled our sleeping bags in the open back and sguiggled into them, while our driver unloaded a horse's saddle and a blanket. He then stretched himself on the ground with the saddle supporting his head, pulled his cowboy hat down over his eyes and settled for sleep. About 20 minutes later he rose and stashed his saddle and blanket into the cab and then got in too. Night is rather cool in the mountains. In the morning, the vehicle pulled out once more onto the road and gathered speed, while we two friends lingered in our warm sleeping bags, contemplating the retreating line of mountains to either side of the highway. Where our driver stopped to let us off before turning off the road, I no longer recall, but from that time on he was always known to us as the Blackpool Cowboy. In those days, I talked to Jim a lot about England and when I returned to that country with my wife, Jim and his wife, as well as two other friends and their wives joined us. Jim remained for two years in England before deciding to return to Canada. What I remember most about Jim at that time was his unflagging zest for life, his criticism and mockery of bourgeois society and his instinct to make jokes about everything. May he rest in peace. Colin (and Judith) Wingfield - Posted by: Colin Wingfield (Friend) on: May 10, 2019