Since there obviously will be no gas anywhere on the planet by the end of the weekend, the lines have started to form here in the Triad. The Texaco station on Silas Creek Parkway where I bought gas on the way home last night for $3.59 was up to $4.19 by tonight. I think I’ll probably skip that little road trip tomorrow.
I just heard some guy on CNN say that “the Gulf of Mexico has become very agitated”, which struck me as a rather odd turn of phrase. By the way, Larry King’s is not really the voice I want to hear leading live team coverage of a crisis. And isn’t it time CNN got some new dramatic hurricane music? They’re using the same stuff they used during Katrina, and frankly I’m ready for a change.
Aw, come now, we’ve paid more than that for gas before – I think it’s worth it for one quick road trip – you deserve it! You know you want to – everyone else is doing it why can’t you?
Yeah, but suppose I run out of gas along the way, and have to wait in a long line behind panic-stricken idiots, particularly ones that are being interviewed by local TV stations and keep saying “I just don’t understand it” over and over again? Someone could get hurt…
Oh my god. We’re paying less for gas in freaking upstate New York, about $3.53 to $3.57, than you are. You know, they’re building a brand new building down the street. Are we in a parallel universe? Is evil Major Kira gonna try to seduce me with sex to fight for the alliance? Do I like girls?
Prices seem to have landed in the $4.29 range for now. Many stations are completely sold out, and lines are the rule anyplace cheaper than the going rate. But I stumbled upon a place in Charlotte today (yes, I went on my road trip anyway) where there was very cheap gas and no one in line for it. The poor guy behind the counter seemed really frazzled, as if he were awaiting a catastrophe. I felt sorry for him.
Hah – I just checked out the price at the shell on Market and Duboce and it was 4.19.
Why does the panic happen there and nowhere else? Regional panic from people who know what hurricanes really are? Or are people in SF and NY just sheltered coz they already pay so much and also coz there’s so much transit?
I think you might see something similar in SF if, say, an earthquake disrupted refining in Richmond. The Gulf Coast is kind of a nonentity there. Not sure about New York, though.