Episode 11: Grandma Isabell

TRANSCRIPT

Thursday, April 29, ‎2021
Victoria BC 📞 Whitehorse YT, Canada

ISABELL:
It’s amazing how everybody’s had to adapt. I find that the equipment in this place is not very good, you know. I could hear the music and the piano player and so on then… When they were talking, it was hard to hear them.

VICTORIA:
Yeah, maybe it depends where they put the microphone.

ISABELL:
I guess so.

VICTORIA:
It’s near the instrument. It’s not near their mouth.

ISABELL:
The music was coming through fine, but when Pete- when they start to talk, we can hardly make it what they’re saying. And I was talking to the lady there I’m going to have dinner with tonight. She said the same thing, I said I thought it was just me. She said, “No, I can’t make out what they’re saying.”

VICTORIA:
Right.

ISABELL:
I think it’s their equipment.

VICTORIA:
Yes, you’re probably right.

ISABELL:
It’s probably “el cheapo” or something…

VICTORIA:
El cheapo [laughs].

ISABELL:
I don’t know. Anyway.

VICTORIA:
Well… I heard you went on a little cruise with mom. That was a while ago though. They keep breaking you out and you go for little drives.

ISABELL:
Oh, yeah. Whenever we can.

VICTORIA:
Yeah. That’s good. Well… What else is going on over there?

ISABELL:
Not much new around here. Everything’s quite quiet you know… This lady that I’m having lunch… dinner with, she lived in Montreal but I don’t know… I don’t think she’s… She’s not from Montreal but she seemed to spend some time there. And I remember Victoria Hall where they had Johnny Holmes band playing music and it was really nice and it was in the area where she lived, so I was trying to remember all the things, so I could chat with her.

VICTORIA:
[laughs] Well that’s good.

ISABELL:
Yeah.

VICTORIA:
Did you write them all down?

ISABELL:
No [inaudible] I forget too.

VICTORIA:
So when was the last time you went to a real jazz club?

ISABELL:
I don’t know. I haven’t. I haven’t been to one. I don’t know if I’ve ever been.

VICTORIA:
Oh really? Did you ever go to one with Grandpa?

ISABELL:
Well not really, no.

VICTORIA:
Where would you guys go for like dates or something?

ISABELL:
Well, we went to VICTORIA: Hall for dancing.

VICTORIA:
Oh!

ISABELL:
And that was nice, it was a nice big band. Johnny Holmes Band. I have to remember the name. I think I should mark it down because I don’t know this lady. She looks young but I think maybe she was too young. Oh, are they dancing up there? Maybe but anyway all find out.

VICTORIA:
So what kind of dancing would you do? Could you do the whole swing stuff?

ISABELL:
Just waltzing.

VICTORIA:
Waltzing?

ISABELL:
Just the easy stuff.

VICTORIA:
When when was the era where they did like swing dance and they flip you around? You never did that?

ISABELL:
Oh yeah.

VICTORIA:
Did you?

ISABELL:
Jitter bug they called it.

VICTORIA:
You could do? You could you could do that dance?

ISABELL:
Oh, sure. In my own way. Everybody did it wrong.

VICTORIA:
Yeah, yeah I guess I guess so. Was grandpa Victor a good dancer?

ISABELL:
Yeah, he wasn’t bad. He was good. I could only really dance with him. I couldn’t dance. I couldn’t dance with Olmand.

VICTORIA:
Okay.

ISABELL:
You never knew what he was gonna do.

VICTORIA:
I could see that I could. He could you know…

ISABELL:
Twirl you around.

VICTORIA:
Out of the blue. Yeah.

ISABELL:
But you know, most of our friends are gone now.

VICTORIA:
Yeah, well, Olmand still around.

ISABELL:
Olmand is still around.

VICTORIA:
He’s still cracking jokes from what I hear.

ISABELL:
Oh, yeah.

VICTORIA:
Still got his sense of humor.

ISABELL:
Keep in touch with all of his family. Especially through the computer, you know?

VICTORIA:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he’s good with the computer. Yeah. Oh, and then mom was telling me he goes, he has a couple other like single people in the building he shares dinners with or something.

ISABELL:
Yeah, there’s two ladies and he was very good friends with their husbands. And then the husbands have both died. And these women are on their own. So they get together on a Friday night, and have dinner together. So…

VICTORIA:
That’s pretty nice.

ISABELL:
I guess pretty good. Yeah. It’s company for everybody.

VICTORIA:
Yeah, yeah. And then he doesn’t have to cook every night.

ISABELL:
And then he’ll cook another night for them, you know?

VICTORIA:
Yeah. Right.

ISABELL:
It’s kinda nice. And they’re all in the same neighborhood. They don’t have to go very far.

VICTORIA:
Yeah, they don’t have to drive.

ISABELL:
No, no driving.

VICTORIA:
That’s fair enough.