Monday, March 31, 2008

Is it just me or have gasoline prices been a little high lately?

I drive a relatively small, fuel-efficient car, but the high price of filling up my tank has me cringing just like everybody else (when prices double over the span of a couple of years, it doesn't matter how much you spend, you still notice). I sit in traffic sometimes, dwarfed in my Volkswagen Golf next to all the enormous SUVs and I think, "yes, but I'm using a lot less fuel than you!"

But the truth is that even with my smaller car (I get 26 miles to the gallon in city driving), I still have found myself trying to drive in ways that will save even more fuel--lower speeds, smoother braking, milder accelerations. When gasoline was about half what it is now, I was getting 25 MPG, so maybe my efforts are paying off? Four per cent--I'm always a pretty mellow driver.

Seriously though, I just got news that I need to pay $350 to fix the darned turn signal on the car--and go back to the car dealer for a second visit thanks to the problem. I mean really! A short-circuit in a part is $350? I'm half-tempted, given the litany of expensive repairs lately (the car has less than 71,000 miles), to go back to not owning a car at all.

CDs listened to today:
  • The Living End: Roll On
  • Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No. 8
  • Robyn Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine "Liederkreis" of Schumann
  • Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile
  • Cuong Vu: Vu-Tet
  • Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies, disk 2
  • Psychedelic Furs: World Outside

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