The Proposal - Part 2

New Year's Eve.  Since most people on this last day of the year were not at work or would be leaving work around the lunch hour, I was not expecting a lot of flower delivery action on the 365th day of the year.  Most would be content to battle their way through the traffic, and see in the New Year at home or at a party.  However, just before lunch, I received a call from a gentleman who was planning to propose to his girlfriend at the ice rink at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto.  For those readers not familiar with the geography of downtown Toronto, Nathan Phillips Square is an open air focal point in front of Toronto City Hall that hosts concerts, rallies, and other events throughout the year.  It is in the heart of downtown Toronto.  During the winter months, a large ice rink is open to the general public where you can rent skates or use your own skates to go round and round in circles on the ice.  He was wondering if it was possible to deliver a bouquet of a dozen red roses to the skating rink so that he could present it along with a ring to his future wife.  For a brief moment, my mind flashed back to a similar request (see The Proposal – Part 1) a few years ago which did not appear to go very well.  With a sense of optimism that this time the proposal would produce a better result, I collected the details from the gentleman and exchanged information about the coats we were wearing on that day so that we could easily recognize each other in a crowded Nathan Phillips Square.

With a bouquet of a dozen red roses in one hand and an umbrella to protect me from drizzling rain in the other hand, I strode confidently from Power Flowers on Simcoe Street to the bustling ice rink at Nathan Philips Square just a few blocks away.  Since the schools were closed for the holiday break, the rink was full of youthful exuberance and there appeared to be little available space on the ice to do any skating.  I managed to find a relatively quiet standing spot close to the ice surface and near to the ice skate rental counter.  As was the case a few years ago, a number of curious glances were thrown in my direction and a few started to anticipate that something interesting was about to take place sometime soon.  My focus at the time was trying to identify the gentlemen that called Power Flowers a few hours ago.  Suddenly, I see the person that matches the description.  He is standing close to the edge of the rink with the young lady whose life is about to change after completing one or two circuits of the ice rink.  The gentleman manages to coax the young lady onto the ice first and encourages her to follow the mass of skaters all proceeding in the same direction.  Like me, she does not appear to be too confident on the ice but she is at least game to give it a try.  However, her slow progress on the ice allows me to pass the bouquet to the gentlemen, who had spotted me first, and for him to extract a ring from the bag he is carrying without her noticing.  He manages to find a small empty spot on the ice and waits patiently for her to complete her first lap.  After passing the bouquet, I am now the photographer after gladly accepting a request to capture this moment for the family photo album.  A crowd starts to gather near the gentlemen now on one knee with a Power Flowers bouquet and a ring ready for delivery.  She now notices her boyfriend on bended knee.  Within a short time, she says ``Yes`` to the proposal and the crowd cheered.  This time, the result was clear.

The Big Freeze

Power Flowers is a florist located in downtown Toronto that designs flower arrangements and bouquets for different events and occasions.  The Power Flowers web site (http://www.power-flowers.com/) presents different attractive designs for you to select and order.  In addition to focusing on flower arrangement design and quality, Power Flowers also places great emphasis on flower delivery within the Greater Toronto area.  Since the beginning of operations over five years ago, Power Flowers has delivered many flower arrangements and bouquets to different locations.  While most of these deliveries have been completed normally, a few of them are more notable for one reason or another.  This is the third of a series of articles that illustrates how inclement weather conditions can make a simple delivery more challenging.

Each year, Valentine's Day represents the busiest time for Power Flowers.  Its location in downtown Toronto is close to many office buildings and workplaces.  When Valentine's Day falls on a weekday, it is an opportunity to create a great impression by having a flower arrangement or bouquet delivered to their hard-working significant other at work.  With Valentine's Day being in mid-February, wintry weather conditions in Southern Ontario can make flower delivery more difficult on this busiest day of the year.  If it was my choice, I would move Valentine's Day to a date in spring or summer.  About a week before Valentine's Day, I usually keep an eye on The Weather Network to see if the weather forecast for February 14 is going to be favourable.  A few years ago, with Valentine's Day about a week away, The Weather Network was predicting that the weather on Valentine's Day would not be too bad.  However, as Valentine's Day got closer, the meteorologists on the television changed their predictions for the worse.  Eventually, they were forecasting a storm where different systems would conspire to dump about 40 centimetres of snow and produce -25C wind chills on the big day in the Toronto area.  Trouble was on the horizon.

Given the impending inclement weather, some customers decided to play it safe by ordering delivery for the day before Valentine's Day.  This was a good move by many as an article appeared in the Toronto Star the following weekend describing the disappointment of many that did not receive their Valentine's Day flower arrangement or bouquet on the special day.  The storm started brewing in the afternoon on February 13 and the temperatures were well below zero on this day.  Power Flowers received an order to deliver a small gerbera plant on Valentine's Day Eve.  I placed the gerbera plant in the car and started the trek to the delivery location.  This delivery was to a residence outside the downtown core and with the roads covered in snow and drivers being extra cautious to avoid a fender-bender, it was going to be a long haul.  By the time I arrived in the neighbourhood, it was already dark.  Through the darkness, I was able to locate the residence but unable to park outside the door. The door to the residence was not at street level.  In this part of the neighbourhood, the doors were at the end of a number of steps.  While the stair climb was not as long as that taken by the final torch bearer at the Olympic Games, on this day it looked just as challenging.  I managed to find a spot to stop on a side road and with the temperatures dipping below -25C at this time of day, I was relatively confident of not getting a parking ticket or being towed.  I grabbed the gerbera plant and scampered as quickly as I could to the bottom of the stairs.  My fingers were being ravaged by the cold as I started my ascent to the recipient's door.  I pressed the door bell once - no answer.  I pressed the door bell a second time - no answer.  I managed to locate my cell phone and call the recipient's number - no answer.  Even though the plant was meticulously wrapped to protect it against the elements, it could not defend itself against the frigid temperatures, but in the darkness, I did not see the unfortunate transformation it took.  I descended down the stairs and shuffled as quickly as I could back to the car.  After getting inside the car, I noticed that the gerbera changed from its original colour of orange to black due to the brutal temperatures.  In this case, it was fortunate that the recipient was not home as I would have handed her a black gerbera, and I am sure that would not have gone over well.  I made the return journey back to Power Flowers and pointed rather innocently to the black gerbera when I arrived at the flower shop blaming it all on the harsh weather.  Fortunately, Power Flowers had other gerbera plants in stock.  On the following day, Valentine's Day, I made the repeat trip and successfully delivered the gerbera to the recipient who happened to be at home this time around.  This time, the colour of the gerbera remained orange as I carefully shielded it from the cold.

Get Me to the Church on Time

Power Flowers is a florist located in downtown Toronto that designs flower arrangements and bouquets for different events and occasions.  The Power Flowers web site (http://www.power-flowers.com/) presents different attractive designs for you to select and order.  In addition to focusing on flower arrangement design and quality, Power Flowers also places great emphasis on flower delivery within the Greater Toronto area.  Since the beginning of operations over five years ago, Power Flowers has delivered many flower arrangements and bouquets to different locations.  While most of these deliveries have been completed normally, a few of them are more notable for one reason or another.  This is the second post where we describe an actual delivery demonstrating that flower delivery is not always simply pressing a door bell and handing off the flower arrangement or bouquet to the person that answers the door.

As the flower delivery man, my greatest fear is for the delivery car to break down on a day when Power Flowers is providing flowers for a wedding.  On a day of paramount importance for the bride, groom, and many others in the wedding party, the mere thought of no flowers at the wedding ceremony and reception due to an auto malfunction sends shivers down my spine.  On a regular basis, I take the car in for servicing to minimize the possibility of running into car problems on the big day. The trusty wagon had not failed me in the past on a wedding day and as is often the case, one falls into a false sense of security that nothing could possibly go wrong. 

Power Flowers was scheduled to provide bouquets, centerpieces, corsages, boutonnieres, and other floral pieces on the Saturday of a long weekend.  I was anticipating a smooth delivery and with many drivers out of town, I was also expecting the roads to be relatively quiet.  Unfortunately, there was some menacing clouds in the sky and as we prepared to collect the wedding arrangements from Power Flowers for delivery to the church, the clouds were getting darker and darker.  Then it started to rain heavily with large puddles forming on the road.  As I was exiting from the expressway in downtown Toronto, I drove through one of the puddles.  I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence but after wading through the puddle, I felt resistance trying to turn the steering wheel.  Lights appeared on my dashboard, but my focus was trying to steer the car to Power Flowers.  I somehow managed to arrive and park outside the store, but after turning off the ignition, the car would not start again.  I felt a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach.  Fortunately, we arranged for a helper to assist us with the wedding and she had a large minivan.  Also, Power Flowers schedules enough time prior to the start of the wedding for delivery and setup.  In fact, we are often the first to appear at the ceremony location and arrive well ahead of the wedding singers, musicians, and other.  However, despite having another vehicle at our disposal, we needed another car to transport the rest of the flowers and equipment.  After calling the tow truck to wheel my car to the dealership, I had to locate a rental car agency in downtown Toronto to get a backup vehicle. 

I was roaming around town in the rain for an open Hertz, Avis, Alamo, or other rent-a-car agency.  Since it was a long weekend, I discovered most of the rental vehicles had been claimed and so my first few attempts to get a car on-the-fly were unsuccessful.  I then traipsed to an agency that could offer me a car in about two or three hours if it was returned on time.  I wandered to a nearby Avis.  They had a Jeep available immediately and I snapped it up given the lack of rentals in the downtown core.  I eventually got the keys after sacrificing my credit card and headed back to Power Flowers to return on schedule.  By the time I returned to Power Flowers, the skies had cleared up.  I thought I had seen the end of the odd weather on this day.  I collected the remaining flowers and equipment and headed to the church with just enough time to have everything ready for the bride and groom. 

However, on my way there, another wave of clouds loomed on the horizon.  I figured the relatively new rental car would be able to navigate through any further inclement weather.  As I approached the clouds, hail started to pound the rental car.  I wondered if the insurance I paid for at the rental agency covered damage due to hail but fortunately, the hail was not the size of tennis or golf balls.  However, the storm was severe and inside the Jeep, the windows started to fog up.  I managed to find the control in the Jeep to clear the foggy windows and crawled all the way to the church.  In this case, our early start and having access to the Jeep saved the day (Thanks, Avis!)  Fortunately, the rest of the day went smoothly.

The Proposal - Part 1

Power Flowers is a florist located in downtown Toronto that designs flower arrangements and bouquets for different events and occasions.  The Power Flowers web site (http://www.power-flowers.com/) presents different attractive designs for you to select and order.  In addition to focusing on flower arrangement design and quality, Power Flowers also places great emphasis on flower delivery within the Greater Toronto area.  Since the beginning of operations over five years ago, Power Flowers has delivered many flower arrangements and bouquets to different locations.  While most of these deliveries have been completed normally, a few of them are more notable for one reason or another.  Over the next few posts, we will describe a number of actual deliveries demonstrating that flower delivery is not always simply the case of pressing a door bell and handing off the flower arrangement or bouquet to the person that answers the door.

In addition to presenting an engagement ring at a fancy restaurant, some men also chooses to present a bouquet when proposing to their loved one.  Shortly after starting operations, Power Flowers was asked to present a bouquet of a dozen red rose to a potential mate outside the door of a restaurant in downtown Toronto.  His plan was to propose after dinner and have me present the bouquet as they exited the restaurant.  After being told of my responsibilities that were to play out the following evening, I was a little bit nervous about this particular delivery.  I had just started delivering flowers to homes and offices in the Greater Toronto area, and I was still getting use to wandering around town in public places with a flower arrangement or bouquet in my hands.  Standing outside a restaurant near a busy intersection in downtown Toronto on a summer evening would certainly be a interesting experience.

I managed to find a parking spot on the street a few shops away from where the restaurant was located.  I made sure to arrive at least a half hour before the agreed time as driving times in a busy area like downtown Toronto can be affected by construction, road closures, and other unforeseen circumstances.  About ten minutes before the scheduled time, I picked up the bouquet from the back seat of my car and made the short walk outside the door of the restaurant. Each minute waiting outside the door felt like an hour and needless to say, many of those walking by the restaurant door where I was standing could not resist a quick look at me holding a bouquet of a dozen red roses.  The low, mellow lighting inside the restaurant to create a desirable ambiance prevented me from seeing clearly through the window to see if the couple was about to leave the restaurant.  The previous day, we gave the gentleman that was proposing my cell phone number so that he could contact me if there was a change of plan.  After standing outside the restaurant looking at the restaurant door for about ten minutes, I get a text message indicating that he was behind schedule by about ten to fifteen minutes.  I sent a text reply indicating that I would wait until they came out.  Shortly afterward, a small gaggle of high school students strolled by the restaurant.  One of them asked if my heart was broken.  She must have thought that I was making a last ditch attempt to win back the heart of a lady.  I nervously replied that I was delivering flowers on behalf of a florist and waiting for someone inside the restaurant that was in the process of proposing.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the couple came into sight near the restaurant window - they were leaving.  As they left, the gentleman gave me a nod indicating that this was the time to hand over the bouquet to the lady.  "This is for you" I said as she stepped out.  "Oh, thanks" she nonchalantly said as they headed left down the street.  Merely from facial expressions and body language, I got the impression that it did not go well for him, but I was hoping I read it incorrectly.  I hope it worked out well for both of them in the end.