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I guess those 18¢ per gallon days are gone forever, y'suppose?
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Location: Blogs Sly Comments |
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| Posted by: Emory Schley |
5/6/2007 7:25 AM |
Well, it’s been one of those weeks for me that sometimes happen to all of us. I started off the week by trying to find a store in Leesburg. This, of course, was after I got off work in Ocala. The address information for the location of the store was a bit minimal, only a building number and “S.R. 44” which didn’t tell me much about what part of Leesburg to go to, while burning some of my precious $3 per gallon gasoline. The address, as listed, gave no indication of east, west, south, north, or any combination of the cardinal points. Just before I gave up for the day, I called the store to verify the directions only to discover that I was checking out the wrong part of S.R. 44, and that the actual location was many miles from where I was.
At this point, I just drove on home on my $3 per gallon gasoline, because there wasn’t enough time to get to the store before it closed. That was on Monday. So on Tuesday, after work, I tried it again. I drove to the south end of Marion County, into Sumter County, then into Lake County, and started looking once more. Have you ever taken notice of just how many buildings have NO indication whatsoever of what their building or house number is? From a very informal and very unofficial survey, I’d put the number of structures with a street address number at about one in every 20 buildings or so. It takes a while, sometimes even a couple of miles, to even determine if the numbers are going up or going down.
Finally, in desperation, I hailed a Sheriff’s deputy, and asked for directions. Nice fellow. He gave me dead-on directions and about 20 minutes later, I pulled into the store’s parking lot. I walked in, and a guy behind the counter who appeared to be about 16 or so but who was probably somewhat older than that, upon hearing what I was looking for, abruptly told me that they didn’t recommend that product, that they had experienced “tons of grief” with that product, and that I would be better off making another choice which he was kind enough to recommend – which turned out to be a MUCH more expensive choice, of course. I thanked him kindly, said I’d think about it and exited the store for a very long drive home on what was left of my $3 per gallon gasoline.
I should have told the kid that I had been researching that particular product on the Internet for at least two weeks, and had never come across even ONE complaint about it, so I found it hard to believe that he could experience “tons of grief” with it, when everyone else seemed quite content with the product. But it had been a long, frustrating day, and I was just too tired to argue. Long drives on $3 per gallon gasoline give you a lot of time to consider situations like this.
On Wednesday, I called a local shop owner and described what I wanted. Oh, yes, I can order one for you, no problem, he said. I’ll be here until six this evening, he added. His shop is all the way on the other side of town from where I work, but I told him I’d be there an hour before he closed, to take care of the needed paperwork.
Come quitting time, I hopped into my car and fought heavy traffic and two separate accidents that caused bumper-to-bumper tie-ups. Still, I got to the store just at the time I had estimated while on the phone with this fellow earlier in the day, because I always add a little wiggle room in such situations. It was a hair past 5 p.m., and the store was closed! No note, no explanation, no nothing, except for a locked and barred door.
I wondered if perhaps someone wouldn’t be back to tend to the store in a few minutes, but decided the way my week was going, that probably wouldn’t be happening. So once again, disappointed, I slid behind the wheel and slowly made my long, arduous trip home, dipping heavily into my supply of $3 per gallon gasoline.
This morning, I called the shop that had closed by the time I arrived yesterday. Guy said he inadvertently left early yesterday because he misread the time. Hmmmm. Says he’ll be there tonight “for sure” until 6 p.m. Before I can drive over to the other side of town again, I’m going to have to visit the local gas station for some more of that $3 per gallon stuff. It would be nice if I could deduct this from my income tax, but I probably can’t. Anyway, this evening, I’ll see if my fortunes this week have taken a turn for the better or not.
But one thing I’m pretty certain of – my gas is still going to cost three bucks a gallon! |
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Re: I guess those 18¢ per gallon days are gone forever, y'suppose? |
By Rivetz on
5/18/2007 9:46 AM |
| I can still remember paying $13 for 11 gallons of gas, now it cost about $23. I like you 18cents per gallon better. OT-I can't find "cents" sign anywhere on my keyboard. |
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Re: I guess those 18¢ per gallon days are gone forever, y'suppose? |
By Emory on
5/18/2007 11:45 AM |
Hey Luzviminda:
I can't find a cent sign on my keyboard either. It must be as rare as that $.18 per gallon gasoline! :-) |
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