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.
