If you live in or near Canada right now, there is a good chance that you are cold. Really, really cold. The last few days have brought cold air to all but the coasts, making it the coldest weather that we have felt in a long while, and I can’t say that I am really used to it yet. That being, I was still crazy enough to head out to the rink for hockey tonight.

As I drove down the street, the fuel light came on in the car and I heard Willy’s voice, warning me not to let the car run low on fuel on the really cold days. So I headed to the gas station, even though it was likely to resulting in me both freezing and being late. I took my glove off to pump the gas, and regretted it instantly. Frozen fingers.

As I was pumping, I noted that a guy had walked up to the pump in the next row, jerry can in hand. He seemed to be having trouble getting the pump to work and seemed to be cursing it in French. I turned away and tried to convince myself that he was fine and offering him a ride back to his car would make me late for hockey. I couldn’t leave him, so offered a ride, even though it would mean that his dirty jerry can would have to come in my new car. I was shocked when he turned me down, saying that he didn’t have far to go, indicating that his destination was about one kilometre away. Thinking that you would have to be pretty hard core to walk that far in this cold, I offered again.

The guy thanked me, but again told me that a lift wasn’t necessary, but then said that the fuel wasn’t even for his car… I got in my car and started to drive away, thinking about what he was doing. It turned out that that what I had assumed was a jerry can was actually a clear water bottle that looked red because of the red ad that was directly behind it. I started to wonder just exactly was so urgent that he needed to go out in the cold to get a water bottle full of gas, when there was now snow in the forecast. I drove on to hockey, thinking that maybe it was OK that this guy had turned me down.