Real estate moguls of Rundleridge Drive

I remember back in the day, I had a couple of buddies from Guelph who bought a house on Rundleridge Drive out in Calgary.

Terry and Barry. Two brothers who went west to make their fortune.

They're still out there, and they're still working on that fortune.

That place on Rundleridge was a crash pad for many visitors from Guelph. That's back when Neil Young had a album out about going to Alberta.

Seemed like everybody in Guelph was heading to Alberta.

They bought that place for 60 and turned it over a couple years later for 80. After all, that would have to be pretty much the upper limit for a raised bungalow in Rundle.

Back in Guelph, I remember my pal Doug Johnson selling his little place near the university. He and Vicki had bought it for 28 thou. Turned it over a year or two later for 40. I remember him saying he couldn't see anybody ever paying more for the place.

He got out while the gettin' was good.

Two thousand miles west, so did Terry and Barry.

My few months lodging at Rundleridge were an up and down kind of time. I envied how Barry and Terry had scored such a great property deal. They were well on their way to getting rich if they could do that a couple more times!

I was out there to snag a welding gig at the Fruehauf plant, because those were the days when Fruehauf still had a plant there, and they paid good.

Alas, I was forced to mosey on, as was Fruehauf.

I've actually outlasted them!

I went back to Calgary for a visit twenty years later. Drove down my old street in the Rundle subdivision. When I lived there it was all white trash punks like us fixing cars on the front lawn.

Twenty years later it was all young Paki punks fixing cars on the front lawn.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

But one thing that didn't stay the same was real estate prices.

The house Barry and Terry sold for 80 thousands because the market had topped out can be had for
 400 thousands today.

Same with the place Doug and Vicki sold in Guelph.

I guess if there's a lesson in that, it's don't ever call the top of the real estate market.

It'll just leave you bitter...

Bolshevik Bob and the Grace of God

I think it was Bolshevik Bruce, if I'm not mistaken...

But "Bob"  rhymes with "God" so I'm happy enough to leave it there.

Let me tell you about Bolshevik Bruce. Or Bob.

That was gonna be my "twitter handle".

Only after I was informed that "Falling Downs" was taken.

Ya, while I've never done anything totally crass like "monetize" this blog, it does cross my mind from time to time to do a little more to promote it. Tried to set up a Facebook account for Falling Downs once. The process just got way too complicated. That in itself should tell you something. There's not a nine year old in North America who is intimidated by the process of setting up a Facebook account, but it's way too much for me.

That was pretty much the experience I had with "Twitter."

Last time I had a "handle" was when me and Terry ran cross country in the middle of winter delivering his Harley to Calgary. Figured we'd do well with a CB radio in the 77 Impala, the one with the 350 4bbl motor that was standard issue in the Corvette.

An Impala with a Corvette motor, in other words.

So we hook up this CB system, and I swear, the only time we used it between Guelph and Calgary was when we were looking for a liquor store in Brandon Manitoba.

Which, thank God, we found!

And while I am happy to report that said Impala could well bury the speedometer even while towing a trailer with a Harley in it, the point of that CB has always escaped me.

Just like 30 years later the point of that "Twitter handle" escapes me again.

Anyway, I was somewhat at loose ends when I found out that "Falling Downs" was a Twitter handle already taken. How the fuck does that happen? Must have been that opportunistic shit who was tweeting all my blog posts when they hit BEFORE ITS NEWS.

So I'm a bit put on the spot, and wracking my brain I come up with... Bolshevik... Bruce? After all, that's the county I live in...

But I have to admit that "Bolshevik Bob" has a better ring to it.

But for the grace of God I'd be calling Calgary "home" today...

And that 1400 square foot side-split I almost bought in Rundle for $78,000  is now worth half a million...

But for the grace of God...