Paying the Mercury Price

The recent drop in gasoline prices was even more noticeable in Winnipeg than in Vancouver. We spent time in the ‘Peg over the Christmas break and it was really an eye-opener to see sub-loonie pricing per litre. I can’t remember when I last witnessed such an event. When we came home from vacation in Europe a couple of summers ago gas was approaching $1.60 per litre in Vancouver. The average price for gas in Winnipeg I saw during our recent trip was about half that; about 80 cents. And here I thought we were being so smart by buying a hybrid car recently to combat the petro assault at the pumps. But I digress.

The real reason for this post was an exchange that came to mind during our stay in Winnipeg. It occurred to me that although gas was about 20 cents per litre cheaper in Winnipeg than in Vancouver, we’d paid in another way in that the outside environment was 20 degrees colder. It could be said that we’d paid the “Mercury price”.

That slang phrase is in reference to the Game of Thrones series of books I’ve recently read. In the series one clan of people prides itself in paying the iron or gold price. The “iron price” is paid when a warrior slays his opponent in battle with iron weapons, and takes what he pleases from the losing party. The “gold price” is a traditional exchange of currency (gold) for goods. Within this particular clan, it is much more respected to pay the iron price.

Going one step further in this analysis, perhaps next year we’ll go full circle foregoing a traditional Canadian white Yuletide season and pay the “plastic price” (credit card) for some heat to go to Hawaii for Christmas.