Poncho Memories

[susandennis]

No need to buy a poncho, I have one already! I found it in the trunk of my car. And it not only suit my current need perfectly, it's a lovely memory as well!

The year was about 1986 or so. I was an executive speechwriter at IBM working in Minnesota. I wrote speeches for the Lab Director and he had a good buddy at the IBM lab in Toronto. Good buddy was scheduled to face a hoard of System/36 customers who were dying to know everything about the as-yet-unannounced follow on product (the AS/400 but it was a state secret then). Good buddy needed help on how to satisfy the customers without telling 'em shit. And my boss loaned him me for the job.

I'd never been to Toronto before and I had to meet Good Buddy at 9 on Monday so I left on Thursday. The Blue Jays were playing that night. I dropped off my stuff at the hotel and took a cab to the stadium and bought myself a ticket. It was cold and rainy. (And it was in the old stadium - pre-roof.) So I bought myself a poncho before I got to my seat.

It was kind of a bleacher type arrangement and it became clear I was nestled in between great Blue Jay fans who attended a lot of games and all knew each other. They originally thought I was an odd duck because I was by myself and had bought one of those dorky ponchos. So we chatted and I told them why I was there and they were wonderful.

One of them was a trolley driver for one of those tourist trolleys. He insisted I take his tour the next day (which I did and it was great). One of the wives drew me a map of the under ground to and from Eaton Centre with all the best places clearly marked. After the 7th inning stretch one of the guys came back with a ticket for me for the Saturday game - sitting with all of them.

Small wonder why Toronto is one of my favorite cities in the world. And now I have wonderful LJ Toronto friends. Finding that poncho this morning was a great treat!