This is what I have been singing in my head for two frigid weeks straight: “baby, it’s cold outside.”
The title of and lyrics to a song I discovered watching one of my Christmas favourites for the first time, the 2003 movie Elf. We viewed it, as I recall, at a now defunct Red Deer cinema location (pre-Galaxy and the only one with real butter at the time). One of my two girls was still a toddler and we sat in the front row so she could toddle away during the show. Controversy surrounding some of the song lyrics (i.e. promoting sexual assault culture) as there is now, and has been at other times, were not in my mind. Although, a male (identifying as an elf) secretly hanging out in a female’s shower room did catch my attention. North Pole culture, I guess.
Legal and existential question I ask myself as an aside, if something gets “cancelled” through a culture, then are you no longer guilty of plagiarism if you do not provide any attribution since presumably what is cancelled no longer exists in the first place? Questions to ask one’s self, but to play it safe, I attribute.
We flew to Mexico on Boxing Day to stay at an all you can eat, since it was cheaper than a “Christmas at the Castle” (Banff Springs Hotel) where we have taken holidays when the girls were younger and Banff Springs was affordable to the mere locals. This was the first Christmas holiday minus one of two daughters, who just happened to turn 21 and Las Vegas without the family seemed more enticing. Go figure.
Moving forward, it was raining New Year’s Eve, which you might think would be odd for Mexico. But here is where you would be wrong. Not on the Mexico weather, I do not know that, but on where it was raining. We flew back New Year’s Eve and it was raining in Calgary. Climate change was the first thing to cross my mind. I do not ever recall that happening but to not be freezing in January was acceptable. Since Red Deer’s most beloved citizen and talented historian Michael Dawe passed away the week before, I am lost on where I am going to find out about rainy New Year’s Eves.
Before having time to research the balmy weather history, the cold blast arrived, in case you did not notice. Apparently, those temperatures were enough to make their own history in Red Deer. No question, winter is here. Homelessness and encampments become concerns. Nobody wants human popsicles. Lack of homes. Too many empty offices. Calgary seems to have noticed that. What do homes and offices have in common? Shelter from the storm. So, Calgary is converting empty office space (created by remote work and other factors) to home space. That is thinking outside the four walls of the box.
The nice thing about -40 is that Fahrenheit and Celsius speak the same language. End of what is nice about minus-40, otherwise I have nothing nice to say.
So, there I sat in the -40 weather at my desk on a Saturday night with the space heater on. They turn the heat off in the building after hours totally ignoring the night owls. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, not a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, but an emergency alert from the Alberta Electric System Operator warning, for the first time I can recollect, that there may have to be blackouts if we don’t reduce our electricity use. If there is a blackout and no space heater and my car does not start, I may become the human popsicle. How fragile we all are, and not just the homeless, if we do not work together on the solution to our global problems.
Now, at a balmy -16, my car window finally unfreezes and opens so I can safely get through the Tim Horton’s Drive Thru on my way to work. But, baby, it’s still cold outside.
Donna Purcell, K.C., (aka Lady Justice) is a Central Alberta lawyer and Chief Innovation Officer with Donna Purcell QC Law. If you have legal questions, contact dpurcell@dpqclaw.com.