preraphaelitepunk.com

Same Story, Another Station

Originally uploaded by moria.

So it would seem that I picked a bad day to be low on gas (the beeper beeped over lunch, indicating that I’m down to 1/8 of a tank, which is always annoying because the gage becomes unreliable when it’s that low, and I can never tell how much I really have left). All three stations I passed on the way home, including the one I’d made a detour to pass so I could theoretically buy that rare substance, diesel, of which you may have heard myths, were absolutely, ridiculously packed. I managed to get rather poorly framed pictures of the two stations closest to my home.

I mean, really! This is ridiculous. So gas might be going up in price again? What a shock. Is it really worth people’s time and idling fumes to buy gas 20 or 30 cents cheaper than it will be in a few days’ time? Meanwhile, those who actually need to buy fuel can’t get in, because the money-grubbing twerps who want to top up and possibly save a dollar or two are blocking all the entrances.

At any rate, I should be able to make it to work tomorrow, but I’ll absolutely have to buy gas over lunch then. I hope some of the feeding frenzy will have ebbed by then, because otherwise I may have to get rather sharp with people.

And let me just say that diesel, despite popular misconception, is not cheaper than gasoline, and is not actually that easy to find — especially if you prefer to pay at the pump. The last time I filled up, about 460 miles ago (maybe, um, two or three weeks ago?), I paid the same exact price that they were charging for premium. Some places, it’s even higher than premium. So fair warning: the next person who tells me that diesel is so much cheaper than gasoline is seriously going to get slapped. Seriously.