OEV- How I love thee, let me count the ways

EDIT:  here is a clip from the video of my quilt being auctioned at the fundraiser at The Aeolian Hall.  It raised $1000 for the Woodfield Ave families

How do I love thee OEV…… Let me count the ways.
Once an OEV resident, always an OEV resident!
I lived in the Old East Village for only 1.5 years in the mid 1980’s, but this neighbourhood still has my heart.
When tragedy struck 3 blocks from where I used to live, I knew I had to do something!
I haven’t lived in London since 1994, yet I always find the time to return to the best neighbourhood within the city!

Just this week alone, Tuesday night we ate a family dinner at Tony’s Pizza and then on Wednesday we got coffee at Asmara Caffee.  Little did anyone know that later in the evening on that same Wednesday, a drunk driver would smash her car into a home, rupturing a gas line and causing an explosion that changed the lives of many forever.
Let me list everything that I hold dear to my heart about the OEV:

• Went to H.B.Beal for high school (technically not in the OEV but right on the edge)
• Had my first date at Tony’s Pizza in 1986 (and many dinner dates since then)
• I know the smell of O Pee Chee gum being made
• My husband works on the edge of OEV and looks at one of the mosaic murals out his office window (created by the Potters Guild)
• I met the love of my life  (2ndfloor, West Wing of H.B.Beal)
• I remember when Marks Work Warehouse had a store in the OEV and can still smell the wood floor as I cut through the store on my walk to school.
• The cutest drummer in high school asked if he could kiss me on my front porch
• I shop at the Western Fair Farmers Market
• Got grounded for missing curfew when I stayed too long at the Western Fair
• The London MQG Canada meets at the Boyle Community Centre
• I love Anderson Craft Ales IPA beer- and we sometimes go for beer after our guild meeting
• I could hear the noise of the Western Fair from my bedroom window
• We would play video games at the arcades on our school lunch breaks
• I’ve been knitting with friends at the London Brewing Coop
• I’ve been to concerts at the Aeolian Hall
• I paid a parking ticket at the Provincial Offences Office (not the best memory)
• I attended the opening of Union Ten and love their gin cocktails
• I used to borrow books from the Carson Branch of the London Public Library
• I could smell Kellogg’s cereals being made
• Our family loves the London Potters Guild and supports the Clay Art Centre
• I had numerous friends that lived in the OEV
• I shop at Illbury and Goose
• I drink Powerhouse beer- and it’s great!

My list could go on and on and for these reasons and many more I love the OEV, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life!
There is a fundraiser on Tuesday at the Aeolian Hall and I have made a quilt for the silent auction.  It’s the I heart OEV logo and I hope it can raise a lot of money to help all the families affected by one senseless drunk driver.