On my way to work this morning I decided I had just enough time to stop into the local Mac’s Convenience store to grab a copy of the Toronto Sun newspaper. Normally, even on a busy morning, I’m usually in and out in less than a minute. The newspapers are just inside the door right next to the checkout. A quick scan of the barcode and exchange of a toonie and some change in return and I’m out the door back on the road with my morning news fix in my possession.Seems like a harmless enough detour and transaction right? Not on this day!I walked in the door and there was an older man at the counter and another guy about my age with a coffee in his hand waiting to pay for it. 
I grabbed the paper and took my place in line. I shouldn’t be waiting more than a few moments for these guys to pay and be on their way.I give a quick glance at the clock and its 7:40am. I’m about 10 minutes from work and I have to be there for 8 o’clock but I usually like to be there at least 10 or 15 minutes early to let the guy who worked the night shift go a bit early.I’m still standing in line. What the heck is taking so long? I peer around the shoulder of "coffee guy" and I see what’s happening. The old fellow has decided that this is the time of day when he should be checking his lottery and scratch tickets and cashing in his winning Nevada tickets. Are you kidding me?Come on buddy! You may be retired and have all the time in the world to have junior behind the counter ringing your $2 and $5 winners through the machine but some of us are in a hurry. He couldn’t care less. He even pulls out an old change purse and dumps coins out to pay for more tickets while slowly counting enough to get the right amount.The wait becomes painful and unbearable as I glance at the clock and five minutes has passed. It’s decision time. 
Do I put the paper back and just go? Do I give him a few more seconds or do I just toss the guy my toonie and tell him to keep the change?Long story short, it was actually a combination of the choices. The retiree finally seems satisfied with his winnings and is slowly filling his change purse back up when coffee guy tosses some money on the counter and tells junior to keep the change. I quickly follow and do the same thing as the gentleman with the lottery tickets slowly exits the store without a care in the world or any idea of the delay he’s caused.I made it to work before my shift started but I had to run some yellow lights and go a little faster than I normally would along the way.Here’s a suggestion to anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation as "Old Man Lottery". If you’re retired, do your business after 9am when most working people have made their way to work. Your lottery tickets won’t depreciate in value if you wait a couple of extra hours. And at the same time you won’t anger working folks who make a quick pit stop while on the way to their jobs.
There’s something about the new hockey arena’s being built or that have been built in recent years around the NHL that just lack that "special" quality.
Oh sure, they’re big, clean and impressive and will seat a lot more people than the old rinks but they all look the same more or less. There’s nothing that sets them apart or gives them a unique appearance.
I’m not talking about the bricks and mortar so much as I am the atmosphere and even the oddities or history of the old barns.
For the record, I’ve only been in a few different NHL arenas over the years. I’ve been to both Maple Leaf Gardens and Air Canada Centre in Toronto and the Ice Palace in Tampa. I think the last time I was there it had been renamed the St. Petersburg Times Forum.
That’s right…I’m a die-hard life-long Montreal Canadiens fan and I’ve never been to the old Forum or the Bell Centre. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to but getting tickets is damn near impossible. I’d love to get my dad there once to see a game.
I guess what I’m hinting at is when you walk into the new arenas you just don’t feel the history or see anything different. Sure the Stanley Cup banners and retired numbers hang from the rafters to show the history of a franchise but the buildings have lost their charm. It’s kind of like how you’d feel walking into Fenway Park in Boston or Wrigley Field in Chicago. There’s a history there and you can imagine the old players from the past running out on to the field.
The Forum used to have the fence to separate the upper class from the cheap seats. I’m not suggesting that was a good thing but it certainly was different. In Boston the old Gardens used to have views of the ice obstructed by support beams. Not a fun spot to be sitting but still part of the charm. 
Of course who can forget the “Bunker” in Maple Leaf Gardens where Harold Ballard used to sit with former players? You don’t see that anymore with owners now sitting in luxury boxes high above the ice. Toronto stunk through those Ballard years but the old Gardens had some historic charm. In the photo shown you can see the bunker being taken apart and the stairs that lead up to it.
Even though I wasn’t a fan of the Leafs I can remember my last time going to a game there. It was the final meeting between the Leafs and Montreal before it closed. I got there early and walked the halls looking at the old black and white photos. I stopped and talked to Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada for five minutes. I had interviewed and met Ron on my radio show a few weeks earlier and he made time to chat. Walking out into the seating area and looking up at the old rafters and building you felt the history. Prior to the game Ted "Teeder" Kennedy and Maurice “Rocket” Richard were introduced for the ceremonial face off and the standing ovation lasted for what seemed like 10 to 15 minutes. It was a special moment.
The two places that I know of that have attempted to keep the past alive are Chicago and Philadelphia. In Philly the Flyers during the playoffs will show video of the late Kate Smith singing God Bless America. It isn’t something you can see or feel when you walk into the arena but for those who are old enough to remember Kate when she was alive and hearing her sing, it brings back memories and gives you chills. In Chicago the one thing that made going to the Stadium a treat was hearing the booming organ playing. 
It was loud and shook the rafters. They didn't move the old organ to the new rink but a new one still helps to keep that original atmosphere and gets the crowd cheering. By the way, the old organ is now in someone's residence in Las Vegas.
I suppose long after I’m gone, the younger generation will probably look at these new arenas with the same sense of history but with the original six team league now a distant memory, the old barns just helped to keep some of the history and charm in the hockey experience.
After many many years of the same look and no major changes to my blog, I finally felt is was time for a bit of a refresh.
I hope my regular readers enjoy the new look and changes I've made. The blog itself is more or less the same but the new and improved look and few coats of new paint go a long way towards keeping things fresh. Or at least that's my story.
You might notice that some of my past postings don't look exactly right as they didn't adapt well to the new surroundings but a change was necessary for my own sanity.
So I hope you like the new look and continue to stop by when you can.
Thanks,
Bundy
***WARNING – Some contents of this blog posting are graphic in nature and may be offensive to some readers.***Forget the creatures like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman in Transylvania. This October we’re dealing with a real life monster right here in my own small and tight knit Canadian community.
Colonel Russell Williams was the commander of Canada’s largest Air Force base, 8-Wing CFB Trenton, in the city of Quinte West. I live just minutes from the base and have so my entire life. The community has prided itself on the relationship between our military and the citizens of Trenton and the surrounding area.That relationship has been strained as of late but for the most part, the non-military people of the community have been able separate the actions of the monster from the good work our men and women in the armed forces do each day.The Canadian Forces are rightfully embarrassed to have had such a high ranking officer deceive them for so many years while being promoted through the ranks. But they weren’t the only one’s deceived by his secret life. The shock and disbelief felt by everyone in the community speaks volumes. How could such a high profile individual command the base and be well respected by day, yet be so evil and wicked by night? We may never know the whole truth.Over the last several days, the real story of what took place by the depraved hands of Williams has come to light in a Belleville, Ontario courtroom. Hearing the disgusting and shocking evidence being read in court for the record has been difficult to listen to. Many people I know have chosen to avoid hearing the gruesome details of not only the murders but the sexual assaults and his actions inside the homes of those he invaded.Williams had no defence and no choice but to plead guilty to a total of 86 repulsive charges including home invasions, sexual assaults and murders of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau. 
The vial descriptions of his actions ranged from breaking into homes of young girls to collect their underwear, dress in their undergarments and lie on their beds and masturbate while all the time documenting this on video and with a digital camera.Samples of the more than 1,000 images were shown in court of Williams dressed in the underwear 
and lingerie of his victims and neatly arranging stolen undergarments to be photographed. He kept all of this evidence hidden in his homes in Ottawa and Tweed and the video and photographic evidence was meticulously organized and stored on his computer. This would be an orgy of evidence for police that they could use to incarcerate this beast for life.***WARNING – Graphic details in the next two paragraphs.***As awful as this was, the worst facts came on day two when descriptions of the two murders were read into evidence. The details were precise since Williams recorded the attacks on video which was recovered by police. Each woman used a different method of dealing with their attacker while hoping they would both be alive after it was over. Comeau fought Williams as best she could while being beaten, bound and raped. Sadly her efforts to find freedom failed to work. As she tried to escape, he knocked her out with a flashlight covered her nose and mouth with duct tape and watched her suffocate to death.Lloyd’s approach was to be submissive and allow him to attack her repeatedly for hours while hoping to survive the assault. Williams was not about to let that happen though as he removed Lloyd from her home and drove them to his place in Tweed where the attacks continued. She suffered seizures and begged to be taken to the hospital and at one point knew her life was in danger and was heard on the video saying, "I don't want to die. If I die, will you make sure my mom knows that I love her?" Eventually Williams knocked Jessica out with a flashlight and used rope to strangle her. He’d leave her body in his garage for three days while he went back to work and flew to California. Upon his return he dumped her body in a heavily wooded area east of Tweed.I had tears in my eyes as the details were gradually released. The horrific manner in which these two beautiful women were raped, beaten, tortured and killed was sickening. How could such evil exist? How could anyone do these things? How will the families of those he affected move on? How could another human being hear these women begging to not be killed and then end their lives so brutally? How could all of this happen in my own community? He isn’t a man. 
He’s a soulless animal who should at the very least be castrated and tortured himself. If ever the death penalty would be welcome, this would be one of those times. It’s moments like this I wish we lived in a society of an eye for an eye but we are not all as sick and twisted as criminals like Williams. That is why he will spend the rest of his life behind bars before he spends the rest of eternity in hell.
My apologies to my regular readers who normally visit my blog for my lighthearted views of life but this story hit too close to home and I felt as though I had to talk about it.
