Staying afloat on an achy Sunday

Last Sunday I felt like death warmed over. I was nursing a chest cold, you know the type where coughing brings tears to your eyes it's so painful? All I wanted to do was stay in bed and die.

But something was preventing me from remaining under the covers all hopped up on cold medication. Sunday was my 5-year-old daughter's final swimming lesson. She had to go to the pool, blow bubbles, float on her back and dip her head in the water in order to earn her Sea Turtle badge. She couldn't do that without me however because her mother doesn't do pools. Heather has always been more than happy to watch from the gallery but ask her to participate in the water at the Sea Turtle level and she's gone, outta here, vanished, poof!

No matter what I said Heather remained adamant that she was not going to this final swimming lesson. It was all up to me.

Bronwyn with  her Sea Turtle badge.

So I sucked up some courage, threw back some cough syrup and went up to Legends Centre with Bronwyn. I dreaded the chills I knew I was in for after we got out of the pool. Those suck most days but when you're already shaking before submerging yourself in the water you know it's going to be bad when you get out.

Dressed for the pool, or undressed you might say considering the scant warmth a bathing suit provides, we headed to the pool deck. As we walked out into the waiting area the class before us was scrambling to get out of the water. Wet kids and parents with concerned looks on their faces brushed by me making me shake even more. What was wrong? Did somebody yell shark?

As it turned out a child in the class was feeling even worse than I was and threw up in the pool. The earlier class was cancelled and ours was over before it even started. The swimming instructor handed out the Sea Turtle badges and Bronwyn was thrilled to pass. I was happy for her because she's really tried hard over the past six weeks. But more than that I was happy for myself because I didn't have to go in the water!

Bronwyn got changed in record time and we went home to show Mom her new Sea Turtle badge. I went straight back to bed and mumbled to Heather she could present me my Father of the Year award once I felt better. I hope that day arrives sooner rather than later!

Ghost stories on a Saturday afternoon

I'm in a spooky mood today. Actually I feel like hell as I'm nursing a chest cold and I ache all over but beyond the physical I could really go for a scary movie or a frightening read.

I just finished the first draft of my novel, Forest of Fear. It's scary stuff so maybe that's why I find myself feeling this way today. Actually there isn't a day that goes by that I don't imagine something scary happening. That can't be normal, can it?

The other night my wife Heather and I took Ozzie (our beagle) for a walk. Heather wanted to walk over to the Connaught Park area of town. For those of you not familiar with my area of the world Connaught Park is surrounded with beautiful Victorian homes dating back to the early 1900s, some earlier. Heather loves to walk through the neighbourhood to marvel at the beauty of these historic homes. I, on the other hand, love to imagine the ghosts who haunt these homes. I know at least one of them is haunted because my friend lives in the neighbourhood with his wife and family.

He told me a story a few years ago about the strange things that go on in his house. When they moved in nothing was out of the ordinary. However, things started to go 'bump in the night' once renovations started on the house.

On one occasion my friend put down a spatula he was using in the kitchen when his wife called him upstairs to help her. When he returned downstairs the spatula was gone. He'd set it down on the counter, he was sure of it. He searched all through the kitchen and upstairs. The spatula seemed to have vanished into thin air. Stymied, he had to forgo his work as the spatula was vital to what he was doing.

Two nights went by and downstairs my friend was wakened by the banging of cupboard doors. But when he went to investigate the kitchen noises he found nothing amiss. On the third night the banging was severe so it woke up the whole family. When he went downstairs he stopped dead in his tracks as he entered the kitchen. There in the middle of the floor was his spatula. Every cupboard door was wide open and he swore they were closed when he shut down the house to go to bed.

On another occasion my friend's wife was alone in the house in the middle of the afternoon. While she worked away in the kitchen she thought she heard the sound of running water upstairs. But that was impossible because she was the only person home. The longer she listened the louder the sound got until she was convinced a tap was running upstairs. Climbing the oak staircase her fear was confirmed when she reached the top. There, in the bathroom at the end of the hall, was the faucet turned on full. Water and steam filled the air because it was the hot water faucet that was cranked open. Using a towel she got it turned off. After the initial shock of the event wore off she returned downstairs to pour herself a cup of tea to calm her nerves. Before the kettle had boiled the faucet upstairs sprang to life again. Fortunately my friend arrived home just as his wife was walking towards the staircase. She told him what had happened and he went upstairs and turned off the faucet. For weeks after the event my friend's wife refused to spend a lot of time alone in the house.

Those were just two of many creepy events that took place in one of those beautiful Victorian homes. My friend's family has now accepted the ghost and know her idiocyncracies. They believe she's looking out after the home and didn't take kindly to a new family changing things. They have no intentions of moving.

If that could happen in one of those homes I imagine what other ghosts must lurk in the other historic homes of the neighbourhood. That's what runs through my mind when I walk my dog. Yes, the homes are beautiful, but they have history and not all of it can be good.

Has anything spooky ever happened to you? I'd love to hear about it.