glenatron: (zorro)
[personal profile] glenatron
Doing sums in a reply to one of [livejournal.com profile] gemmabowles' posts, I just worked out that the current UK price of a little over £1.00 per litre equates to approximately $9.36 per gallon.

I'm fairly sure it's cheaper than that overseas.

On one level I don't mind, because I know we need something to persuade us to use our cars less. On the other hand I find it deeply irritating that the amount of tax we are paying on it ( 65.24p per litre, or 188%, according to the lazy researcher's compendium ) is not being used to bring down prices of public transport so it still costs £12000 to go half a mile by train unless you booked seven months previously naming the exact train you wanted to go on, which seat you wanted and guaranteeing you would be in that seat even if a previous connecting train didn't connect. And heaven forfend that you should want to take a bike on a train, even during the middle of the day when they are almost completely empty. Hey everyone! Let's pay exponentially more for a service that is exponentially less useful. Thank you John Major, remind me to kick you really hard in the nuts for that one if I ever meet you in person. Several times.

Also it annoys me that airlines pay nothing. If we have to pay that much as citizens then I don't see why aircraft should be cut any slack. If you look up from the field at night you can always see at least seven or eight planes at any given time. They're using a lot of fuel to stay up there, but they get it for vastly less money than we do driving.

I guess it also seems a bit unfair. The only thing that will put a curb on the use of petrol globally will be the end of cheap oil. I feel a little like we're being wailed on a whole lot more than everyone else in the mean time. I suppose it means we'll be accustomed to it when the rising price of oil really starts to bite, but that's not a deeply cheering thought.

Date: 26 Nov 2007 00:12 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harnessphoto.livejournal.com
holy crap... that is a LOT. we're paying $3.50 a gallon... which is still $70 ish for me a week... and my car is SMALL and fuel effecient. god damn.

Date: 26 Nov 2007 11:22 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] glenatron.livejournal.com
When I've rented a car on the other side of the Atlantic, the smallest cars you could rent were what would be considered a medium sized family car here.

Date: 26 Nov 2007 13:25 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harnessphoto.livejournal.com
yeah... my parents tell me that all the time. my car is smaller than the VW beetle. i drive a tercel. i don't think you could rent one, they're not very popular. when we lived in poland my parents had a fiat and mine's bigger than that by a lot... smaller than an opal though.

Date: 26 Nov 2007 00:17 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skiesfirepaved.livejournal.com
...Horse and cart, horse and cart!!

On a random note, John Major lives down the road from me and regularly pops into my village for cricket matches (we're so English). :|

Date: 26 Nov 2007 11:18 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] glenatron.livejournal.com
Let me know next time there is a match on in the village and I'll be right over. In my pointiest shoes...

Date: 26 Nov 2007 03:56 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] penella22.livejournal.com
#1 You're so right, it will take the end of cheap oil to make us all change.

#2 It almost pisses me off that I only pay $3 / gallon.

#3 The mass transportation system here is pretty pathetic. As in, it doesn't run on Sundays, or past 10pm.

#4 I am serious hoping this means that within my lifetime Sage can become my major mode of transpo. :]

#5 Have you ever seen the film made on Cuba going through their oil crisis? Very uplifting. Forget the title, but I believe there's an entry in Wiki on it related to local food.

#6 Ever heard of No Impact Man? :-) He's my superhero...

Date: 26 Nov 2007 11:21 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] glenatron.livejournal.com
We have some half decent busses but they are pricey and it is usually only slightly quicker than walking. The train system used to be better than it is. Privatisation has slowly brought slightly newer rolling stock along with vastly higher ticket prices, reduced services and minimised usefulness.

Date: 26 Nov 2007 04:44 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] z111.livejournal.com
It's well under $4/gallon here

Date: 26 Nov 2007 09:23 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silks-ic.livejournal.com
I hate both hippies AND "the man"

Date: 26 Nov 2007 11:17 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] glenatron.livejournal.com
What kind of person even are you? Surely there are only those two groups.

You must be some kind of goddamn punk rocker with flowers in your hair who just hates everything and believes 1976 to be the year zero.

Which, in a very literal way, it is as far as I'm concerned.

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