I received my ride-on mower today so it has been a busy day. This morning my brother took me through the steps to make it do its job and for me to master the controls. I did some mowing after he left me and then had a sandwich for lunch. It was quite stressful, the first day.
I then needed to do some shopping and get my weekly petrol which was worrying me because of rumours I hear about petrol panic buying. I buy a set amount of petrol each week for my small runabout car. My tank is small and so I cannot hold a big quantity of fuel hence my weekly fuel stop. I felt a bit nervous going to the garage wondering if the rumours I had heard were true. I go to an old fashioned garage in a town centre and I get my kindling there as well as my petrol and I buy myself a weekly treat of a bar of chocolate.
No need to have worried, all was well, no queues, nothing out of the ordinary. I carried out my transaction as usual and made no comment about the scare-mongering I had heard and the lady was her usual self and we spoke about my chocolate. A boy in front of me was buying bread and he decided he wanted to talk about the panic. He said he did not want petrol. I think the lady was not interested in the conversation either and she said something fairly non-committal and he left chuckling to himself as he had no takers for alarm conversation. I have an acute dislike for trouble stirring and rumours. If you have some information share it. If you have nothing but hearsay then stay off the subject. As far as I was concerned all was normal. Remember I have not watched a news bulletin in years but from my phone and headlines and my local paper which carries two pages of international news of course I know what is going on and I do have my opinions.
My soon to be travel destination borders Iran so I am aware of keeping an eye on the British Foreign Office and advice and I am wondering about my insurance of course in case the holiday is cancelled because of troubles in the Middle East. But official government channels will be all I will be watching for this information, not the BBC.
I have liver and bacon for tea which I am looking forward to in a minute.
I will photograph the mower another day but for now it is put away for the night.
I travelled to the next town after filling up with petrol and did my shopping. I came home, feeling exhausted and had some of the chocolate from the garage purchase and a cup of tea. I did a half an hour of jigsaw puzzle to unwind.
The film yesterday, the one in Morocco, was chilling but true and interesting and life in the raw of what can happen to ordinary people. I remembered the desert driving when only local people know where they are without landmarks and signs and proper roads. It is another world in the Sahara desert and a very frightening one at times. It is a very hard film to watch. Sirat
We filled up with petrol yesterday because we were away off the island. Prices were the same there, no queues. . Business as usual. What will be will be.
ReplyDeleteI wondered about your holiday. Hope it's still safe to travel. I suppose it's difficult to cancel now. Personally I'd be going in the opposite direction to the middle east
The British Foreign Office advice today is that it is safe to travel there but to keep away from the border with Armenia; this advice has been in place for at least two years. If the holiday is eventually cancelled then hopefully it will be the travel company I have booked through who will do it and they will refund me. During the Covid lockdowns I had a trip to Romania booked in advance and it was postponed once, then postponed again, and eventually cancelled altogether because of government advice about travel at the time. My money was refunded to me. So fingers crossed in all respects. I can't speculate about it at the moment any more than anyone else can. It is just a case of wait and see.
DeleteWe also had to fill up at the petrol station yesterday as we were running low but no price increases yet. As we walk or take the bus most days it should hopefully not become too much of a problem.
ReplyDeleteOur forthcoming trip to Japan looks increasingly precarious as we are booked on Emirates via Dubai so it may be cancelled. Although it was a trip we were looking forward to, I would rather stay at home and be safe.. provided we can get our money refunded. It was rather expensive for us but intended as a last big trip before we became too decrepit to travel!
I am optimistic at the moment that my trip will be alright but for a flight via Dubai it is obviously less certain for you. I look upon it as what will be will be.
DeleteI use the same amount of fuel each week and I put in my usual amount today. I didn't look at the price, I forgot in the moment to do so, but I spent my usual and the gauge went up just the same.
Petrol prices have shot up here in Germany, but I have not heard or seen any panic-buying or long queues at the filling stations. Locally, people are more worried and affected by a lorry who burst into fire (still not quite clear why) at the entrance of a very busy tunnel. The tunnel had to be closed for hours, and total chaos on the roads ensued. My sister was on a bus home from work; the trip that normally takes about half an hour took well over 1 1/2 hours that evening.
ReplyDeleteA few people who happened to be near the fire needed to be taken to hospital to treat their symptoms from smoke inhalation, but nobody - the unfortunate driver of the lorry included - was seriously injured.
Now one tube of the tunnel will remain closed for at least 2 months for the repair - and all this after the entire tunnel had just undergone a massive complete renovation.
Interesting what you say about the film. I know some books that were hard to read but still "great" reads in a way.
I looked up the tunnel lorry fire I read about the chaos on the motorway which was closed as a result. I hope it is now re-opened. It is very fortunate that it was not more serious and no people were trapped in the tunnel.
DeleteI agree about the hard to read can also be "great" reads and as with this film I found it intense but it had to be seen and I was grateful that the director saw it through to the end and did not give it a happy ending. A happy ending would have been wrong and he obviously knew that. I read some reviews after seeing the film and saw that many people were hoping for a happy ending. On the contrary, I was not. I know from my Moroccan friend that there are rarely, if ever, happy endings in the Atlas Mountains and this film would have been ruined if it had had one.