Petrochemical chokehold
Posted: Thursday, 29 May 2008 |
I was informed the other day that "I didnt write enough" anymore, and not that they minded the pictures, but they missed the waffle too. So here is some waffle, to keep you waffle-ites happy :o)
There isnt much that seems to worry me....ok....maybe thats a lie, there are many things that worry me - if my hair is falling out, how the cats are doing, is it going to thunder etc etc. But at the moment there is one big thing worrying me - fuel. We have a big boat with a big engine and she is a thirsty girl. Over the course of such a short amount of time diesel has gone from 20 odd pence a litre to 60p a litre and we are being told to expect 80p a litre by the end of the year. Now this worries me because it is totally out of my control, i am helpless to prevent what could be the most damaging thing to ever happen to our business.
There is nothing, not a damned thing i can do to slap some sense into this government or the next one that will help where we are heading. And where are we heading? I dont know to be honest. Technology will come up with some sort of answer, quite what i have no idea.
I have always known since the days of my degree that consumer power is possibly the most influential power on the planet second to gravity. People cannot afford to drive their cars to work they will either a) find a cheaper way to get to work, or b) find a cheaper way to run their car. Modifying a car to run on a different fuel is do-able, bio diesel or LPG for instance.
However what do you do with a boat? Sooner rather than later it will be cheaper for us to leave her tied to the pier than to go out with divers, and what divers will want to pay hundreds of pounds to come to Orkney and dive when they can simply spend the same or less and go to Egypt for a week.
I'm looking to the future and i am scared, because where will this end?
________________________________________________________________
Anyhoo, if i end up being a photographer to feed the credit card, i better get better - here are some shots of dandylions and buttercups
There isnt much that seems to worry me....ok....maybe thats a lie, there are many things that worry me - if my hair is falling out, how the cats are doing, is it going to thunder etc etc. But at the moment there is one big thing worrying me - fuel. We have a big boat with a big engine and she is a thirsty girl. Over the course of such a short amount of time diesel has gone from 20 odd pence a litre to 60p a litre and we are being told to expect 80p a litre by the end of the year. Now this worries me because it is totally out of my control, i am helpless to prevent what could be the most damaging thing to ever happen to our business.
There is nothing, not a damned thing i can do to slap some sense into this government or the next one that will help where we are heading. And where are we heading? I dont know to be honest. Technology will come up with some sort of answer, quite what i have no idea.
I have always known since the days of my degree that consumer power is possibly the most influential power on the planet second to gravity. People cannot afford to drive their cars to work they will either a) find a cheaper way to get to work, or b) find a cheaper way to run their car. Modifying a car to run on a different fuel is do-able, bio diesel or LPG for instance.
However what do you do with a boat? Sooner rather than later it will be cheaper for us to leave her tied to the pier than to go out with divers, and what divers will want to pay hundreds of pounds to come to Orkney and dive when they can simply spend the same or less and go to Egypt for a week.
I'm looking to the future and i am scared, because where will this end?
________________________________________________________________
Anyhoo, if i end up being a photographer to feed the credit card, i better get better - here are some shots of dandylions and buttercups
Comments
Lovely piccies! Fuel ... seems that the ever spiralling upward cost of fuel is something over which we, mortal beings ... not oil moguls, have absolutely no control. This weekend is a long weekend and yes, you guessed it, petrol and diesel have increased at a rapid rate of knots. Of course it has absolutely nothing to do with profits, nor taxes, but here in Australia there is GST [a goods and services tax] and the already taxed price of fuel is hit again with GST. Who wins? I suspect it is the Govt! What can we do? I have absolutely no idea.
Plaid from South/west Western Australia
there are alternatives to petrol but the goverments wouldn't get so much in tax money thats why they don't want to develop them. Welcome back plaid-its seems ages since we heard from youxx
carol from over here
'consumer power is possibly the most influential power on the planet second to gravity"...which I read as 'gravy'...you've no idea how much a cat likes the idea of running all our energy needs on gravy. Purrlease make it F***x Roasted Chicken gravy...
Flying Cat from engine running on gravy
...and the 'new' camera is helping you to produce the LOVELIEST pictures. Top buttercup looks like its underwater...
Flying Cat from an admiring glance
I have felt most of the certainty and stability in my life rocking somewhat all over the place over the past few weeks, due to the same reason ... Problem is that its not just limited to fuel ... Well, fuel is at the bottom of it, but it's inflating so many other prices too ... As the MD of a very small manufacturing company, I have never expected to get *quite* so many notification letters of pending price-hikes as I have had in this past two weeks ... All costs I have no control over ... But, if they carry on this way, they could easily make my business non-viable too ... Then there's the human cost of the green drive to Biodiesel ... taking food out of peoples mouths that is - people who could barely keep body and soul together in the first place ... I'm talking about people in poverty (yes, still *relative* poverty KGoG) in the less-rich parts of the world who are finding all their crops bought by Biodiesel manufacturers ... We are told to pull in our belts ... However, without wanting to seem argumentative, my belt has been pulled fairly well-in for years now - I take no holidays, only heat the house in the depth of winter, don;t waste electricity, only stagger across the road in the daily commute, and tend to eat mostly sandwiches (peanut butter and banana ... mmm ...) for my main meal of the day ... It's hard sometimes to see exactly *which* part of my belt *is* still amenable to pulling in ... I'm not putting '!!' there, because I'm being serious ... :-)
soaplady from glad she's not the only one ...
Waffle? Never. The photos are fab as always.
Carol from IBHQ
FC: the roasted chicken gravy coming from HL's chicks???
5 cat gang from agreeing with fc on gravy
Situation is the same here fuel wise & the rise in fuel costs has driven the price of animal feeds sky high. £9.25 for a 25kg bag of sow nuts ! That does a lactating sow 3 days. The hen feeding is going up so much that we are seriously starting to think about taking our flock down from a commercial free range egg unit of 100 to 6 for our own needs. It just doest pay to sell eggs any more.
Angela from Fair Isle
Right, scary business. When did people bunching together in a cartel become acceptable internationally? # Nice pics. # I like waffles. Belgian waffles. Even home made heavy duty (who wants "light as air" ?) waffles, soaked in maple syrup. # Hope there will always be well off folks who will want to come to Orkney to dive under your expert guidance.
mjc from NM,USA
I will pay whatever to dive the flow, and so will everybody else, its SO good, i have dived all over the world and scapa (and the ferry inn) still draws me there even if i dont dive! unfortunatly we divers will just have to pay more.........
robingalloway from sunny edinburgh, stromness this weekend
That's a very encouragingly positive attitude and I hope it extends to many more diverse divers to make this a humdinger of a season for Valkyrie and all who steam in her!
Flying Cat from not steamboats
We are all in the same boat,excuse pun,but I think some fat cats are making a lot of money out of us chickens,we can only pay up and look big, or poor.
old git from slow computer lesbury
I'm a wee bit concerned about the phrase 'fat cats' and would like to absolve m'Marmalade Chum of all responsibility for any bipedal messes!
Flying Cat from never knowingly responsible for anything
divers will always want to come on your superb, happy, and well crewed boat . robin xx
robin galloway from thailand / edinburgh
After coming to Orkney in May 2006 for 8 months, somehow I am still here. Running the MV Valkyrie in the summer and helping on the farm in winter is now my life. 
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