anarchist_nomad (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-05-21 05:40 pm
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-05-21 05:40 pm
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A Buck Three Eighty Won't Buy Much Lately On The Street These Days
Had a nice little drive out to Tubney Woods today to bring a piece of the S-400 cryostat in for repair. I don't work with the S-400 and have only cooled it down once, but I have good contacts at Oxford Instruments from the days of the troubles with the K-400. So I am managing this little repair as a favour to others in our group. It is convenient that the world's leading manufacturer of helium dilution refrigerators is based less than ten miles from where I work.
On the drive, I had the windows and the sunroof open. The weather was nice, the sun was shining. Something about driving fast with the wind rushing by and good music on the stereo always puts me in a happy mood.
Speaking of cars, I renewed the insurance on Peter yesterday. The same company that I used last year to find me the best quote located a new company that charges £100 less. So, as of Thursday, I will be insured by a company called Chaucer. Needless to say,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I are amused by this.
Still speaking of cars, I filled Peter up on Monday, while I was in London. I paid £1.249 per litre for fuel. That works out to about $9.24 per gallon. To those of you in the States complaining about $4/gallon fuel, I have to say that you should count your blessings. This is the most that I have ever paid per unit for car fuel, though not the most expensive that I have ever seen. Both in London and on the Isle of Wight, I saw places charging £1.289 per litre, or about $9.54 per gallon.
Finally, on an unrelated note, I should mark that I rung Plain Bob Major on tower bells for the first time last night, at Mary Mag. When LC mentioned that he would give me a go at it, I quickly studied the method and memorised which bells the #2 follows. When it came time to ring, he told me to take the #5. Ooops! I asked for the #2 and he told me that I could have it only if I promised that I had not been memorising which bells I should follow. Since I could not honestly promise this, he put me on the #3 bell. I cannot say that it went well... but for a first attempt it was not too bad, I think. Excited about learning something new, I spent the rest of the practice studying the method properly, learning the places and the dodges rather than which bells to follow... but, alas, I did not get to give it a second try. That was mildly frustrating, but I suppose it comes of having eighteen people show up for practice. Most of the time was spent with either the experienced ringers trying complicated [to me] methods or letting the learners ring called changes. Those of us in the intermediate level, me and one other person, each only got that one go on Bob Major during the evening. I won't be able to try again tonight at St. Cross, either. That practice caters more to my level... but you can't ring a major method in a tower that only has six bells! Must ask at St. Giles tomorrow night if I can practice this some more with them...
On the drive, I had the windows and the sunroof open. The weather was nice, the sun was shining. Something about driving fast with the wind rushing by and good music on the stereo always puts me in a happy mood.
Speaking of cars, I renewed the insurance on Peter yesterday. The same company that I used last year to find me the best quote located a new company that charges £100 less. So, as of Thursday, I will be insured by a company called Chaucer. Needless to say,
cheshcat and I are amused by this.Still speaking of cars, I filled Peter up on Monday, while I was in London. I paid £1.249 per litre for fuel. That works out to about $9.24 per gallon. To those of you in the States complaining about $4/gallon fuel, I have to say that you should count your blessings. This is the most that I have ever paid per unit for car fuel, though not the most expensive that I have ever seen. Both in London and on the Isle of Wight, I saw places charging £1.289 per litre, or about $9.54 per gallon.
Finally, on an unrelated note, I should mark that I rung Plain Bob Major on tower bells for the first time last night, at Mary Mag. When LC mentioned that he would give me a go at it, I quickly studied the method and memorised which bells the #2 follows. When it came time to ring, he told me to take the #5. Ooops! I asked for the #2 and he told me that I could have it only if I promised that I had not been memorising which bells I should follow. Since I could not honestly promise this, he put me on the #3 bell. I cannot say that it went well... but for a first attempt it was not too bad, I think. Excited about learning something new, I spent the rest of the practice studying the method properly, learning the places and the dodges rather than which bells to follow... but, alas, I did not get to give it a second try. That was mildly frustrating, but I suppose it comes of having eighteen people show up for practice. Most of the time was spent with either the experienced ringers trying complicated [to me] methods or letting the learners ring called changes. Those of us in the intermediate level, me and one other person, each only got that one go on Bob Major during the evening. I won't be able to try again tonight at St. Cross, either. That practice caters more to my level... but you can't ring a major method in a tower that only has six bells! Must ask at St. Giles tomorrow night if I can practice this some more with them...
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[*] Of course, had I stayed in the States, my take home pay there would also now be at least a few percent higher than it was two years ago. So the pay rise is even less than it seems.
[**] Not sarcasm -- if there is something I have not considered, do let me know.
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i guess what i was thinking is that it's not fair to compare something the US uses like water* to something the UK uses like a non-renewable resource.
Anyway. i still think you're comparing apples to oranges on our fuel prices. But i am totally with you on Americans being spoiled whiny bitches. :)
[* did you know that water is a non-renewable resource? i had no idea until i worked at Epcot, and was visiting some show in The Land exhibit. Totally boggled my mind to find that one out.]
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However, trust me when I say that there are plenty of cars on the road in the UK. Hop on a motorway and you will find the same levels of traffic as what you see on a typical US interstate. Paying nearly $10/gallon for fuel sucks eggs. I filled up my tank last night and it cost £61 -- that's $9.56/gallon and over $120 to fill the tank. Ouch!
The high fuel cost also hits us in other ways. Trucks (we call 'em "lorries") still deliver goods all over the place, and they have added fuel surcharges. So the high cost of fuel makes food and other goods more expensive. Something I noticed today when I went to get a sandwich for lunch -- the price had gone up due to a fuel charge. Oi!
You are right on the "whiny bitches" thing -- and eloquently put, too! But the whining is useless. Oil prices are not going to come back down and probably will continue to rise. Rather than just complain, it would be helpful to do something about it. And there are things that can be done. Fuel economy standards for cars can be made higher. The auto industry complains loudly every time Congress opens its mouth about this... effectively shutting the idea down time and again. Which is why fuel economy in the US sucks. My twelve year old VW gets 45 miles to the gallon... which is better than a brand new Toyota Prius! The fuel economy here is much better.
Also, investing in the infrastructure for better public transport in the US would help a great deal... because then people would not need to drive EVERYWHERE. And, of course, making engines that run on alternate fuel -- did you know you can run a car on veggie oil? -- would also help.
Just some food for thought...
P.S. I did indeed know that clean water is a non-renewable resource. Scary, huh, how we use it so casually to do things like flush our piss away. When I get settled in somewhere, I want to install a greywater system.
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i'm going to remain stubborn in my wrongness! :)
(i got into a discussion this weekend about how corn-fuel is actually a bad thing... very interesting, and i won't go into this second, mostly because i'm at work right now, partly because i think it'd be a better in-person discussion, and partly because it wasn't my argument.)
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Hmmm... Did that make sense? And did I use up my daily quota of the word "wrong"? :-)
Seriously, though, you make a good point about how public transport here is better than in the US. You're not totally off base, really! (Still like me? *wink*) But, yeah, paying nearly ten bucks a gallon for fuel sucks...
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the price of milk in the US has apparently been going up, and the price of gas will definitely make that go higher. it's certainly been a discussion point in the news i've been reading (which is not much --news, that is)
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Hahaha, he knows you well, doesn't he? ;)
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Ah, the joys of an open car on a sunny day. Because I was living in San Francisco when I took my drivers test, I borrowed a car for the test from the friend who was able to provide. This turned out to be an automatic Mazda Miata with a convertible roof. My driving test instructor thought it was hilarious that I was asking her if she cared whether the roof was up or down. If only all of the test takers asked her that question!
Thank goodness I didn't crash the car. :)
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And the increased food prices thing is why I'm going to start frequenting farmer's markets in the summer, now that we finally have a regular one nearby.