Lou Miles

Lou Miles was a famous Toronto Tailor and a man about town. We became great friends and went out on many parties dinners and the like with his girlfriend Wendy. They also spent many nights at my bar.

Austin Clark

Austin Clarke Another old friend bit the dust. I met Austin in the pilot in 1965. We assumed he was a student he looked studious always neatly dressed in a shirt and tie and a blazer. with dark-rimmed glasses, He kept pretty much to himself usually sitting in the front with enough light to read. Somehow we got together and had many great conversations over a year or so. He had unassuming intelligence, and curiosity and was a great storyteller.  He mentioned writing a book I had never heard of. Then suddenly he wrote a piece for the Telegram or Maclean's or something entitled " I Have No White Friends".

I confronted him "Hey I thought we were friends." " ya we are friends he grinned and bought he drinks." I didn't mean it that way more political like' and we continued our friendly talks until he published a book and disappeared from the scene. A few years later I met him at the track with his wife and we had a pretty good day and went out for eats and drinks. I met him another day by himself. We had both had a terrible day and in further honest discussion discovered we had enough between us to put a $2.00 bet on the last race. We picked a horse and made enough to drive to the Pilot in his Mercedes, have a few beers, and laugh at our bad and good fortune.

Ran into him now and again at Art openings and the like and then met him at a book opening for Barry Callaghan.

and we reconnected when Barry and him used to go to Peterborough once a month for a writer's circle held by one of Barry's students who also happened to be a friend of mine. I visited him once in a while at his house but hadn't seen him for a dozen years until I called him last year he wasn't well and did not have much to say. he died soon after.