Rewind North 🇨🇦

Press play on the Canada you grew up in. 70s, 80s and 90s nostalgia: road hockey, Zellers, YTV after school and everything in between. 🍁📼

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

The first cold nights meant Dad out back with the hose after supper, flooding the rink one thin layer at a time while we watched from the steps, skates already on. Did your neighbourhood have a backyard rink?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

The Remembrance Day assembly: the whole gym silent, a veteran sitting up front, and one nervous kid reciting In Flanders Fields from memory. That silence stays with you. Did you ever recite it? #RemembranceDay

📷 Lx 121 / CC BY-SA 3.0

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Early November meant a poppy pinned on every coat, and losing at least two of them before the 11th. My mom always had a spare in her purse. Where did you wear yours? #LestWeForget

📷 striatic / CC BY 2.0

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

That first snowfall of the year, nose pressed to the frosty window, watching the flakes swirl under the streetlight and hoping it stuck till morning. Did you ever get your wish?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Grey Cup season meant Dad yelling at the TV, a bag of ketchup chips on the shag carpet, and us kids cheering whenever he cheered. Who was your family's team? #CFL

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Out came the winter gear: the itchy toque, the puffy snowsuit, and mittens on a string threaded through both sleeves so you couldn't lose them. Did you have mitten strings or mitten clips?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Cold November rain, no going outside, so it was couch cushions on the floor, a bowl of popcorn and back-to-back cartoons on YTV. Rainy days were secretly the best days. What show did you hope was on?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

First hard frost of the year: Dad out in the driveway scraping the wood-panel wagon with a cassette case because the real scraper was buried in the trunk. What did your family use when the scraper went missing?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Clocks fell back last night! That 'extra hour' of sleep never lasted, and the VCR blinked 12:00 until somebody finally found the manual. Who was in charge of changing all the clocks at your house?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

The haul hits the carpet: Kraft caramels, Rockets, popcorn balls, and if we were lucky, a Coffee Crisp. Then Mom checked everything first after all the 'Halloween apples' warnings. What was the first thing you traded away?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Trick or treat for UNICEF! That little orange box hanging around our necks, shaking every time someone dropped in a few pennies or a quarter. Did you carry the orange box on Halloween?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Happy Halloween! Spent weeks on the perfect costume... then Mom made us wear the snowsuit underneath because of the frost. Every Canadian kid was a puffy robot or a puffy princess. What costume did your snowsuit ruin?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Chilly fall evenings and The Friendly Giant. 'Look up, look waaay up' — then Friendly pulled up the rocking chair and one for Rusty and Jerome. Which chair did you always pick?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

The school Halloween parade! Paper bats taped to the windows, construction-paper pumpkins on the board, and a whole class of ghosts, witches and cardboard robots marching the halls. What did you wear to school on Halloween?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Newspaper spread across the kitchen table, a bowl of pumpkin guts, and Mom saying 'carefully!' every thirty seconds. Then roasting the seeds after. Were you a scary-face carver or a classic triangle-eyes family?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Rainy fall afternoons meant Mr. Dressup, Casey and Finnegan, and the Tickle Trunk. We'd raid our own closets for costume ideas right before Halloween. What did you wish would come out of the Tickle Trunk?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Coming home on a grey fall afternoon, milk and cookies, and the great Canadian ritual: snipping the corner of a fresh milk bag. Too big a cut and it went everywhere. Who did your house trust with the scissors?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Remember raking the leaves into one giant pile... and then wrecking it in about four seconds flat? Dad wasn't thrilled, but we'd do it all again. Did you jump in your pile or get told to bag 'em first?

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

Club Z points. Did your family ever actually redeem them, or did they just pile up forever?

📷 Nicholas Moreau / CC BY-SA 3.0

[Rewind North 🇨🇦 @RewindNorth]

The Zellers restaurant. Grilled cheese, fries, and a milkshake while your mom shopped. What did you order?