A Christmas I Want to Forget

     I was all alone one Christmas Eve about 50 years ago. Actually, I was not lonely but alone by choice, in a strange city of a new country. It was a bitterly cold day after a heavy snowfall with ice covering the pavements. Oh yeah, not many creatures were stirring about that night…

      Now, after half a century of Christmases behind me, I realize how thoughtless I was at the time when I embarked on that lonely adventure in Canada. I could have waited until spring but I did not do so and regret it to this day.  Every year, whenever the holidays roll around, I cannot forget that Christmas Eve in Montreal.    I may have hurt a lot of people for no reason at all and lost precious moments in my life that can never be regained. 

      When Canada House in London informed me that a visa to emigrate is available whenever I care to pick it up, I jumped at the chance.  There was no job waiting for me nor did I have any contacts, relatives or friends in Canada, but I felt it was my destiny to go. I left my parents, brothers, sister, a fiancée and her family, and several friends, all greatly concerned about my irresponsible decision.

      Arriving in Montreal on a frosty morning during the last days of November I rented a cheap room in the center of the city and began looking for a job.  Surprisingly within two weeks I was hired as a lowly draftsman at some body shop doing contract work for an aircraft company.  There were about 80 of us working in a large warehouse structure supervised by three German managers. They sat on high stools behind us on a raised floor somewhat resembling a stage.  They only wanted to see our behinds because this meant that we concentrated on the work on the drawing boards in front of us.  If you stretched up, one of them was sure to come up from behind to check what the problem was.

      As Christmas approached we were told that on Christmas Eve we shall have an office party during the last half hour of the day.  When the time came a table was set up on the raised floor at the back with bottles of Canadian Whisky and Schnapps. All the workers were instructed to form a line and as we approached the podium we were given a paper drinking cone and asked which liquor we preferred. The manager who poured for you then said “Merry Christmas… next.”