Wanderings – Beware of TICs this summer
It is difficult to listen, watch, or read the news without seeing America’s toddler-in-chief front and centre. It’s even difficult to go to your escapism interests without the impact of something said or done by that TIC being seen. I’ve tried, and it’s a losing cause.
For the past several weeks, there has been a major soccer tournament on in the United States, the FIFA Club World Cup. This once-every-four-year competition brings together the alleged best-of-the-best professional soccer clubs for a tournament to see which is really the best. I write “alleged” as some of the clubs selected to play in this tournament were hand-picked by the heads of FIFA more for ratings and star power than actual merit.
Most of the clubs I support did not make it to this tournament because they don’t have billion-dollar budgets to spend on superstars. So I was able to watch along without being emotionally attached to the competition.
There were the usual heavy-hitters from Europe like Paris Saint Germain, Bayern München, and Real Madrid. And there were unknown clubs like Espérance from Tunisia and Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia. I follow a bit of football from South America and know some of the big teams.
Throughout the tournament, there was a lot of big clubs thumping little clubs, and that is not fun to see – but analogous to the tournament being in the U.S. There also were many complaints about the soccer stadiums, specifically the quality of the pitches and the injuries that were sustained from them. Good to know with the actual World Cup being hosted here in a year’s time. In the end, the tournament final was PSG, which had just won the Champions League, and Chelsea FC. One of my sons support Chelsea so he was happy to see them win 4-0. Of course, who injects himself into the celebratory team photo with the winners? The TIC. Even the players were wondering what he was doing in the photo.
Local soccer is another escapism. I volunteer with the local soccer club and am a small cog in the machine that makes affordable soccer possible in the community. Can I avoid the TIC? No, of course not. Field paint costs increased because of tariffs. Equipment costs increased because of counter-tariffs. Seriously, why would the Canadian government penalize kids by making already expensive things more expensive? I digress. Soccer is still enjoyable, but there’s still a TIC somewhere.
Cooking is another escapism, as I enjoy trying to make new things in the kitchen. But that requires going to the grocery store, and now there are all those little “T” signs on things showing they are subject to tariffs. I still don’t know how a can of soup can cost more and have a tariff imposed in one store chain, but in another the price didn’t change and there is no tariff “T” shown.
Descending to my basement to escape the TIC, I enter my model railroad world. Transported with miniature trains 1/87th the size of the real ones, I go back in time to August 1989. The memory of diesel smoke and bright red diesels hauling grain cars, and VIA trains speeding by. Surely I can escape the TIC, right? Nope.
A notice from a company I had ordered a new locomotive from that they have had to move their warehousing to deal with tariff issues. Oh, and the price of my order is going up. Another item has been delayed while the manufacturer decides how it will deal with global tariff issues.
Many of the models I have are indeed made in China, even if it is for Canadian or U.S. companies. The finely detailed models have never been manufactured in North America, so the argument to bring home those manufacturing jobs is moot – those never existed in the first place.
Maybe escaping to a good book is in order. Dig into a nice story and block out the world. One problem: the stack of unread books in my collection are mostly American history books or spy novels. Maybe it’s time for a new hobby. Bug collecting?
This column was originally published in the July 16, 2025 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.
TIC is always at your shoulder. I wish he'd hurry up and get his straight jacket fitted. It's only a matter of time. They talk about covering up Biden's ill health but at least he could still make important decisions that affected the country in positive ways. So he stubbled and stuttered. The stuttering was a lifelong problem and as for the stumbling, it happens to us all. This TIC just wants to burn everything down and rebuild it inside walls to keep people prisoners in their own country. No checkpoint Charlie either! If you leave, you can never return without TIC's permission! Who knew it would come to this?