Shank’s mare time

Been without my car for most of the week, it needs a new carburetor and my mechanic says a brand new one will cost 500 quid so he’s scouting out a second hand one but hasn’t found it yet.

I’m having to take the train to work and back which is not to difficult as I live about 100yds from a station but boy do I miss the freedom a car gives you. The government here tries to get people out of their cars and to use public transport and it is very expensive running a car in Britain with the extortionate petrol and insurance prices, the road tax and the yearly M.O.T., but you have to say no way, I want the independence, I NEED my wheels back.

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Comments

Nick | February 9th, 2003 at 10:28 am

Those prices ar painful. Travelling in Britain just isn’t cheap. Amazing that as an oil producing nation we have some of the highest prices for petrol.

This might sound far fetched but I’m in favour of developing some kind of alcohol burning / electric car. You can make alcohol out of many different kinds of raw material. Its not as heavy as oil and doesn’t have the same polutants. Of course moving to this would require massive financial investment by private enterprise and the government but it would be great if you could fill up with alcohol for 50 cents a litre and charge your battery over night at the house.

London already has a terrific transport infrastructure and I’d like to the government maintaining its service and safety and promoting it as an alternative to driving.

Nick

Mary | February 9th, 2003 at 3:38 pm

Sounds good to me, Nick, but maybe not so good to the oil companies?

Peter Scott | February 9th, 2003 at 8:02 pm

Over here in Saskatoon, Canada, we have a BioBus which runs on Canola oil. See:

http://www.city.saskatoon.sk.ca/org/transit/biobus.asp

Nick | February 10th, 2003 at 1:35 pm

Oil is such massive business that tis not going to go away any time soon. Oil is a limited resource owned by a few. Alcohol can be made anywhere.

While politicians have connections with the oil business I don’t expect any change for the better…they like it the way it is.

Last year I talked to a Physics professor from the U of O and he told me that by the end of this century we’re going to need our oil supply for making plastics ( which can be recycled ), burning it up in a gas tank makes no sense, unless its your bank account that’s getting filled.

Nick

Oh, there’s a war about to start in the Middle East and the winner gets to decide who’s in charge of some oil wells.

Mary | February 10th, 2003 at 3:22 pm

I like that BioBus, Peter! Good for Canada.

Special interests will fight change that doesn’t benefit them.

What’s good for the world at large is not always what gets on the plate.

I’d like to see Bush and Hussein in the ring. What’s the prize?

chris | February 10th, 2003 at 8:41 pm

I just think developing alternative fuels would be good for US national security, it would save them having to cosy up to countries like Saudi Arabia who get a free ride on a lot of issues because they have oil and also produce a lot of the extremists who don’t like the West.

Mary | February 11th, 2003 at 3:06 pm

True, Chris. So, why hasn’t the U.S. come up with an alternative?

Chris | February 11th, 2003 at 7:42 pm

George W. will have it sorted by the end of his second term.

Mary | February 12th, 2003 at 3:59 pm

Want to place a bet on that?