Rainwater Rambling Archive

125th Police Games

Our final destination for the evening was Rogers Centre to take in the Police Games. We got there around 5:45pm and the door didn't open until 6:30. We were close to the front of the line. There were a number of emergency vehicles parked outside that the kids could sit in. Here are Angela and Claudia sitting in a Parking Enforcement Smart Car.

Angela and Claudia on a sea-doo.

Sitting on an ATV.

The host for the evening was CFTO's Ken Shaw.

There was a March Past, here comes the Mounted Unit followed by the pooper scoopers.

Everyone passed the Chief of Police and some Brigidier General.

Here were the pooper scooper guys busy trying to get things cleaned up before the marching band slipped in it.

The Commemorative Guard.

There were a lot of groups in the March Past.

We thought this guy was going to stand there the whole night, but it was only for the March Past.

The national anthem was sung while two guys came down from the ceiling with the flag.

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As part of the entertainment they had the Top 10 finalists from Canadian Idol to perform.

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They did some group numbers and the Top 3 did individual performances.

The Candian Idol winner Brian Melo from Hamilton.

The Idols sang in between events of the Police Games, they had Tug of War, Obstacle Course, and relays. This was the Peel Police Tug of War team digging in.

Then the other team let go.

Actually it was Peel winning the Tug of War, they would meet Toronto in the finals, who they beat in the Tug of War, but ended up losing the event to. The winning team is the team with the lowest time to win, so even though Peel won both pulls, it took them longer to beat their first opponent. Some Peel supporters.

Everyone was suppose to wear red to show their support for the troops serving overseas. This guy went all out.

The CN Tower at night.

Jeff Healey Loses Battle With Cancer

Jazz and rock/blues guitarist Jeff Healey passed away today. I have enjoyed his music throughout his career. I think his passing has a greater effect on me because he is one of the few artists that I could say I saw before he hit the big time. Back when he was playing the bar scene he rolled into Banff during one of my summers working there, I remember going to the Cascade Tavern to watch his show. Later that night one of the guys I worked with brought Jeff and his two band members up to the staff residence. I remember Vinnie (the guy I worked with) giving Jeff a tour of the place, when he got to the lounge he started to tell him what a great view there was of the mountains.

About 7 years ago, we saw him in a different element, he was reading a kids story in braille at the Word on Street when it was still on Queen Street. There were only a few kids in the audience at his feet and two of them were Gillian and Angela. Here is a picture from that day.