"She's my best friend. What she's handled in her life is incredible."
With all the friends Mae Thomson has in this world, you'd think she's talking about a woman. You'd be wrong. Mae is talking about "Big Thunderguts," her sewing machine.
In 1975, Mae left her first sewing machine, split-cane fly fishing rod, motorcycle, friends and family at home in Scotland and immigrated to Canada.
"I bought a new sewing machine in Montreal but it was a toy, all plastic, of no use to me," she says. Mae exchanged that machine for an industrial-strength Singer model and the two have been together ever since.
Born in Glasgow in 1933, Mae remembers waking up in the night during the Second World War, being dressed in her siren suit and carried off to the air raid shelter. The bombardments flattened most of the city and Mae and her family, her cousins and aunt fetched up at "gran and granda's, the only house in the family that still had a roof."
One of thousands of child evacuees, May remembers the identification label hung round her neck and the smell of the rubber gas mask she carried in a "wee cardboard box on a string." She ate porridge for seven years, vowing that when she became a big lady, she'd never eat it again - and she never has.
Mae learned to snare rabbits to supplement the family rations. She learned everything by doing. Her aunties and her gran taught her knitting, embroidery and sewing. After the war, renovating the tenements still standing after the Glasgow Blitz, she learned the basics of plumbing, electrics and carpentry.
In spite of post-war shortages and the need to rebuild Glasgow, Mae and her friends enjoyed life. She learned her trade at the Singer sewing machine factory, leaving weekends free for dancing, riding her ex-war motorcycle, hiking and fishing.
A visit to her brother in 1970 prompted Mae's decision to immigrate to Canada. It took five years. Evidently, a single woman in her 30s with the profession of seamstress just wasn't Canadian material.
"What makes you think you'd be a good Canadian?" "Because I've been a damn good Scot up to now so I see no reason why I wouldn't be a damn good Canadian," Mae replied.
After that exchange, Mae flatly refused to take no for an answer but it was not until Mae's brother's employer guaranteed her a job that she was granted permission to become Canadian.
Mae never took that job. She started at Hager's, a well-known Montreal dress shop, and went on to a steel company, where she worked alongside 19 French-Canadian men. Weekends and holidays, she was off hiking, camping, fishing - oh, the regret at leaving her beautiful fly rod behind - and square dancing. "It was grand. Ears, eyes, feet, hands, everything has to cooperate," she says.
Mae moved west in 1994. A self-described car racing nut, she had already visited Vancouver twice to attend the Molson Indy Vancouver. The city wasn't Montreal but the climate was better for her health.
Mae settled in North Vancouver and was volunteering at Silver Harbour Seniors' Activity Centre within a week of her arrival. Mae is at the centre most days, wearing the apron she made on Big Thunderguts, working alongside the men in the wood shop, preparing for the annual Christmas bazaar. Look close and you'll see her officiating at the bazaar as Mrs. Claus.
A member of the British and Canadian legions for going on 60 years, she is also a life member of the Lower Mainland Colour Party. "I joined to thank those that are gone who gave me the rest of my life," she says.
Her dancing days are over, almost. Mae gets around on her electric scooter or by foot, navigating with a baby stroller. She's the centre's go-to person for bus routes. "I'm down on Hastings Street at Dressew or off to Granville Island. I love it there, so much activity," she says.
On Saturday, Jan. 18, Silver Harbour will celebrate Scotland with their Rabbie Burns Day dinner and dance. Burns' actual birthday, a week later, gives the Scots another chance to celebrate. Mae is already selecting her tartan from among her vast collection. For more information, call the centre at 604-980-2474. Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. 778-279-2275
