My Spotify Playlist – Track 4
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The fourth track in my Spotify playlist is a love letter to one of my favourite cities and is accompanied by an amazing sporting video. Enjoy some peace and quiet.
Peace and Quiet by Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins.
Canada has long been my favourite country to visit and Toronto is one of my favourite cities. I’ve been several times over the last 20 years, and I love the culture and vibrancy of the city. I’m also an ice hockey fan and adopted the Maple Leafs as my NHL team during my first visit. This fourth song in my playlist brings together these elements.
Ron Hawkins’ song is a tribute to his old Toronto neighbourhood of Kensington Market and a remembrance of a friend who had passed away.
He Shoots, He Scores
The song’s hockey link was born when former Hockey Night in Canada video montage master, Tim Thompson used it to soundtrack this remarkable treasure trove of Maple Leafs history.
It started as a solo project by Thompson, but the team liked it so much, it is now part of the game night presentation. It captures the place the Leafs have in the city, their early years of success and the many years of mediocrity and disappointment that followed. Having attended a game at Scotiabank Arena in 2018, watching the video in that setting sent shivers down my spine.
Personal meanings
It’s hard now to hear the track without picturing the hockey footage but there are various lines that I have taken meaning and comfort from.
Hey there tragic one,
I saw your ghost in Kensington
I don’t think of my MS diagnosis as particularly tragic. Rather, I was in Toronto, including Kensington Market, just three months before my initial incident. That ghost is the pre-MS me.
I turned around, you disappeared
When something like an MS diagnosis hits, you find out who is important in your life. There have been people whose help and care has been a surprise (not in a bad way!) but equally, I’ve been surprised at some people who have disappeared out of my life since then.
Moving Forward
Is it funny how
You seem just like a rumour now?
A conversation that I overheard
Like the opening line, this makes me think of my former, pre-MS self. Over the last two- and a-bit years, MS has occupied so much of my thoughts that my life before the condition is starting to seem like a distant memory. Not unlike the Maple Leafs’ last Stanley Cup win (which is a lot a longer ago!).
Is it funny or sad?
Sometimes we just walk away
No bittersweet Remembrance Day
Sometimes we just walk away. I take this as me walking away from my pre-MS life and accepting more my new normal. Whilst I have an annual reference point of my first MS incident, I hope to get away from thinking of that as some form of Remembrance Day.
This time we’ll get it right
I’ve made mistakes in dealing with MS, whether it’s being tempted into giving in or letting it get me down. I’m still learning, and no doubt will still make many mistakes. But this time, I’ll get it right. And hopefully so will the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Until then, we can all enjoy the Peace and Quiet.
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