And we have a winner…
You may be aware that petrol prices have been climbing steeply just recently. You may also be aware that Shell delivery drivers are on strike at the moment, so there are fears that petrol may soon run out at many forecourts.
What happens when a commodity becomes scarce? The price rises. And petrol is no exception, with one enterprising garage owner in Devon putting all fuel types up to £1.99 per litre. He says it’s to stop people buying more than they need and to prolong the stocks, and he’s promised that the price will go back down when deliveries start coming through again but even so!
[For our US readers, £1.99 per UK litre is approximately equivalent to $21.10 per US gallon. So think yourselves lucky you're only paying $4!]
Update 17 June: after being “more villified than George Bush” (which is really saying something), the garage owner has decided to bring his price down to £1.20 for unleaded. Still too high but at least it’s in line with the rest of the country now. To help preserve stocks, he’s limiting everyone to a maximum of £5 of fuel - so you can’t even buy a gallon!
Looking at the picture that accompanies the story, I think he only stopped at £1.99 because his sign won’t go up any higher.
On the buses
Its finally happened - petrol has become too expensive for me to use the motorbike for commuting anymore, so I’m back on public transport. Which, given where I live and where I work, means getting the bus each day.
The last time I regularly used the bus was about 12 years ago, when I used to do the reverse of the journey I’m currently doing. In many ways, nothing has really changed; buses are still uncomfortable for someone of my size (not enough leg room, seats too narrow), bus drivers are still pretty much a bunch of miserable gits (but then so would I be with that job) and bus passengers are, on the whole, a weird and motley bunch.
Back when I used to get the bus all those years ago, I didn’t have any transport of my own. I had no need of any - I only lived about 15 minutes walk from the office, I was right in the town centre so could go shopping without any problems and I was well served with buses and trains, both at reasonable prices, if I wanted to go to the larger towns in the area or up to London. Then the company moved towns and for a while I commuted by bus, before buying my first property and moving to within five minutes walk of the office. During the the years that followed, I bought my motorbike (still the only vehicle I’ve ever owned) for purely recreational use, and when the company moved again (back to the original town) I decided to use the bike to commute.
I hate commuting. That’s why I’ve always tried to live as close as possible to where I work, and that was a good plan all the time I was living in rented accommodation. But once I bought my flat, everything changed. It becomes much harder, much more wrenching, to just up sticks and move each time your job changes location when you have to worry about selling your property, finding a new one in your price range and location, etc. Even if I wanted to, I can’t afford to move at the moment, although with the way property prices are tumbling that may change.
And so it has been for the last three years or so, but once petrol hit £1.10 per litre (about £4.95 per UK gallon - or roughly $11.70 for a US gallon) it became more economical to go by bus. Taking it just on petrol, I’ll save about 50p per day when petrol is at £1.10 - but at the moment it’s at £1.16 in this area. And if you factor in wear and tear on tyres, insurance costs and road tax, I’m making huge savings by not using the bike. If petrol goes over £1.20 - which is looking increasingly likely - I’ll probably get rid of the bike altogether.
There are other issues to consider, as well. I’ve noticed this week that I’ve been arriving at work in a much more relaxed state that I do when I travel by bike; the big problem with riding a bike on the daily commute is that car drivers tend to still be asleep at that time in the morning, so they’ll pull out without looking or indicating, or they’ll try overtaking the car in front when you’re already using that piece of road, that sort of thing. A more relaxed me - I’ve had plenty of time to wake up, I’ve had a brisk walk up the hill (another plus - I’m getting some exercise for a change) to get the circulation going, and so on - is probably welcomed by my colleagues so the day goes a bit easier.
Then there’s the environmental question. The bike isn’t particularly polluting when in use, but when it’s parked up in the garage it does not pollute at all. The bus would be running anyway, so I’m not adding any pollution there, and it might as well run with a decent number of passengers. After all, the more people that use the service, the more economical it will be for the company to run it, and hopefully ticket prices will stay down for as long as possible.
So, all in all, I’m not too unhappy to be on the buses. Of course, I may think differently when the weather changes…
Paying lip-service
The BBC is reporting a new proposed scheme from the Environmental Audit Committee. They’re suggesting the introduction of “personal carbon credit” system, in an attempt to limit the amount of energy that we all use.
The big hole in the plan is the same one that effects carbon offsetting; people who exceed their limit will be able to buy more credits from people who use less than their limit. The problem is that there’s no reduction in the amount of carbon being used, so there’s no reduction to the pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere.
Bass-ackwards once again
The BBC is a good source for all sorts of news - including the stuff that really makes my blood boil. This latest story deals with a statement from the National Association of Head Teachers, calling for good parents to be rewarded for looking after their children properly.
Sorry? You want to reward people for doing what they’re supposed to be doing anyway? You want to make it seem like it’s something special to look after your children properly? If it really is, if the standard is for people NOT to look after their children properly then as a society we’re fucked. Pure and simple.
In a similar vein, there’s this story about a planned 38% pay increase for prisoners that was pulled at the last minute. 38% pay rise for prisoners? Come ON! You’re kidding right? They’re PRISONERS! They BROKE THE LAW! Why are they being paid for the work they do? Isn’t it supposed to be part of their punishment? It’s apparently all part of the rehabilitation programme. Here’s an idea - instead of making prison so damn cushy, why not actually make it a proper penalty - so that people would far rather NOT commit a crime because they don’t want to be put in jail?
Wish I’d thought of that
Watching Dexter the other night, it was revealed that he has a scar on the side of his torso*. One of his girlfriend’s** kids asked him what it was: “Sword fight. I won.”
Why is this significant? I was burnt by boiling water as a toddler (my own stupid fault, apparently) and spent nine weeks in intensive care. I don’t remember the event at all (one of the good things about human memory is that it doesn’t really kick in until relatively late) so I just have a bunch of scars to commemorate the event. Most are hidden from everyday view - I was lucky that my startlingly handsome good looks were unaffected by the accident - but there’s one on my right arm that isn’t easily hidden.
Growing up, this meant that the one question I heard more than any other was “What did you do to your arm?”. If you get asked one question enough times, you start to develop a bit of a complex about it and by the time I hit my teens I had developed a rather sullen response (something along the lines of “Fuck off” if I remember correctly). Watching Dexter the other night, I was thrown back to those days and spent the rest of the episode wondering why I couldn’t have thought of something as witty and clever when I needed to.
And that, in turn, got me thinking about how things change as you get older. As I went through school, every year it was new class, new classmates and the same old question. I think pretty much every kid I went to school with asked me that question. Towards the end of secondary school, though, things started to change. First, by then as a student you’ve pretty much met all the new people you’re going to meet at that school. On top of that, people became more reserved about asking; you can see the question form in their head, but something (politeness, revulsion, who knows) stops them asking. Some people still ask, but they are very much in the minority. These days it’s only really young kids or really old people that ask.
The strange thing is that I miss it. I hated that question when I was a kid, but I can’t now remember the last time I was asked and I do, I miss it. Which is weird.
Actually it’s not only Dexter that’s got me thinking about my scars this week (I’d post pictures, but you really wouldn’t like them); Waking The Dead showed a scene where a man got a kettle full of boiling water poured over his legs, right around the area where I’ve got one of my scars. I normally like Waking The Dead but I did have to stop watching for a bit.
I don’t know why it is (as I said I can’t remember the event) but whenever I see anything about someone being burnt - whether it be truth or fiction, and no matter how they get burnt - I can’t take it. I can happily watch Tobe Hooper chop people’s heads off with chainsaws, or Clive Barker pull people apart with hooks and chains, but if someone gets burnt, that’s it I’m outta there. I once had a blazing row with a girlfriend who was watching a news story about a six-year old girl who’d been burnt in a fireworks accident and I turned the TV over; she insisted on watching it and I had to leave the room. (Equally, while I applaud all that Simon Weston has done for soldiers injured in combat and other charities and I identify with his situation, I can’t watch him on TV. I just can’t.)
As you can maybe tell, I’m quite conflicted over my burns. On the one hand, I can see how the scars that I have could be seen as freakish and off-putting to people and they are part of the reason that I’m quite introverted. On the other hand, I’m proud of them in a way. I don’t remember life without them, they are part of who I am and I’m not sure that - given the opportunity - I would give them up.
*For some of you, this episode probably aired months ago. What can I say? We’re backward here in the UK.
**His girlfriend is played by Julie Benz and is it just me, or do you want her to vamp out just once?
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