The last game my daughter attended with me was a real dud, a nonstarter, very lacklustre, a no show, a whiff, a swing & a miss. It was like they were holding in commercial break mode whilst the game was going on around them. Very strange. But an experience nonetheless. The three previous games she gone to had all been wins for the Leafs, so we were hoping they could pull one out late in the third period, but with only six minutes to go they finally showed up to play, but were ultimately unsuccessful. On the bright side we caught an earlier train, and got home before eleven pm. A notable improvement! Would have been happy to atleast make it into overtime, but I digress.
We left a bit earlier than usual in order to eat at the far cheaper food court at Union Station. Had some tacos for our troubles. Train ride was smooth, food was good. There was a group there with a megaphone chanting about Palestine, which raised some smart questions from my daughter. We talked about it for a little bit, but that’s a long conversation to have with lots of nuances, and political wrangling that I wasn’t up to the task to delve into in a Leafs Jersey in a food court, eating Taco Bell. Food was good, drinks were cold, icy, and rather tasty. Fries were better than normal for a change.
We wandered over to the arena and then poked around inside Real Sports looking at cups, gloves, jerseys, coats and more. If I had an extra three hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket you could do some real damage in there. The professional level jerseys start at $616.99, so yeah. Nearly a grand for an “exact copy of what the pros wear on ice” is cool, I suppose. Too rich for my blood, but good to know you can get that kind of quality if you wanted it.
We settled on a new TML scarf for my daughter, and a toque for myself. That killed the last of her TML spending money for souvenirs, but I think she’s happy. In all she got a named/numbered Matthew’s jersey (from her uncle & grandpa) a puck, a mini puck, a toque, another plain jersey (this was a birthday present, actually), a metal coffee mug with lid, a t-shirt, and the brand new scarf. So she’s all set for the years to come of watching the Leafs play.
I wanted to get a sweater to wear under my jersey, and over my Matthew’s t-shirt, but the one I liked was $300.00 plus, and the reasonably priced ones were too thin, and not my cup of tea. No worries, I’ll live. We were looking for gloves, or mitts for my daughter but the ones she was after were sold out, or not visible on the shop floor. Plus it was real crowded in there, and loud, and far too busy to shop in any semblance of peace. Not my bag y’all.
Then we made our way up to the seats, and cheered all game long. Heard some good razzies from the crowd. A couple of good natured pokes at the team. A sad loss, but we still had fun.
The worst part was the train ride home where the toilets onboard were out of service, or had homeless people hunkered down in them, smelling of faeces, vomit, and other unpleasantries. My daughters back teeth were floating she had to pee so bad, we walked through nearly half the train to find a serviceable, and open toilet. Found one though! Phew! Could have been a real issue if we hadn’t. Gotta love the TO homeless crowd. Can’t we get these folks some help, and a place to stay, some food, and a chance to bathe? Really. I’d gladly go back to paying for license plate stickers if it would help, schools, hospitals, and the homeless population.
Greatwall Studios Graphic Design 
You must be logged in to post a comment.