That Law’s Not For Me

It snowed last night. The first accumulation of snow, not just a few scattered flakes, but not a storm either. Just a nice, if sloppy, welcome back to winter. The temperature has now gone up above freezing, and it is very slushy. But in the wee hours of the morning the snow fell and stayed,

COVID Thanksgiving in Montreal

In March we ‘lost’ St. Patrick’s Day to COVID-19; no pubs, bars, restaurants, parades. April saw the masked Easter Bunny sending his eggs via UPS and FedEx. The 24th of May in Canada is the day we mark Queen Victoria’s birthday. It is also the unofficial beginning of summer. Sometimes the weather cooperates, other years

Dealing With The Heat – Sort Of

If you listen to folks on radio talk shows, or in grocery stores, one theme – other than COVID-19 – can be heard repeatedly: the heat. Montreal always has a heatwave or two during our all too short summers, but this year has been exceptionally hot and humid. I’m not sure if meteorological data backs

Heatwaves, Bumble Bees, And AC

As the current heatwave continues to grip Montreal, people are slowly emerging from COVID-19 confinement. Parks are once again focal points for gatherings – under proper distancing rules. Sensibly, the municipal authorities have opted to look the other way and not enforce drinking in public laws. Last weekend while sitting in a local park under

COVID-19 Long Weekend Social Distancing Challenge

It’s the first long weekend of the summer in Canada. Known as Victoria Day, a throwback to our colonial days, or Journée nationale des patriotes in the Province of Quebec, it traditionally heralds the unofficial beginning of summer. By this point in the calendar, it is assumed to be safe to plant annuals without fear of frost.

Murder Hornets Seek Legal Counsel

In many ways, we live in politically correct times. Some good, some inane. Should sports teams, professional and otherwise, drop names such as Chiefs, Indians, Eskimos and, Braves? Absolutely. If your school colour is red, and, like my alma mater McGill, your men’s sports teams are called Redmen (and assuming no reference is made to

Snow Clearing Etiquette

Welcome to 2020! Yesterday in Montreal it snowed. Normally that would not be worth mentioning given it’s December in Canada. But in our global warming current world Montreal has seen less snow over the years. Perhaps it’s the reduced amount of snow that affected the snow removal contractor who cleared the wet white stuff from

DCMontreal in Print: Please Restore August’s Summer Status

Here’s a link to my Comment piece from the Montreal Gazette. DCMontreal – Deegan Charles Stubbs – is a Montreal writer born and raised who likes to establish balance and juxtapositions; a bit of this and a bit of that, a dash of Yin and a soupçon of Yang, some Peaks and an occasional Frean

Records and Concocted Records

Montrealers awoke to 36 centimetres (about 14 inches) of snow that had fallen overnight.  With another five-to-ten centimetres expected during the day, weather reports have been trumpeting this as a “record snowfall”. Well, it is and it isn’t. But it’s only the record for February 13! This is not an all-time record snowfall at all;

Arse Over Kettle on Montreal’s Icy Sidewalks

Okay, now it’s personal. I’ve fallen: I’ve fallen in love, fallen for silly practical jokes, fallen off bandwagons when my team didn’t measure up, even fallen from grace. But for the last few days I’ve been just plain falling. It all started last week when we had a significant snowfall with a forecast for rain