Chug Chug

**Jinxi** · 07-18-2011, 02:08 PM

I am not sure if anyone is aware of this, but there is a chronic fuel shortage in South Africa because the chemical industry in on strike. The entire country is slowly coming to a stand-still because negotiations are taking place to increase the wages for the chemical industry guys.

On my way to buy lunch today, I drove passed 3 cars that had stopped on the side of the road and were having fuel sloshed into their car via a tube from someone else's car who was kind enough to stop and help. Several of my friends cannot get to work, and kids can't get to school. I had to drive to about 6 different fuel stations before I managed to find petrol last week, but I am nearly on a half-tank and there seems to be almost no stations left that have fuel. When you drive past they have put beacons up in the entrances to indicate that they have nothing, and the same is seen for the next 5 stations along the road. It is crazy!

I am hoping that my fuel doesn't make it though the week - that means no work for me

**Gumby** · 07-18-2011, 03:18 PM

That's rough, Jinxi. We haven't had that kind of a shortage here since the 70's.

**Eluixa** · 07-18-2011, 06:14 PM

Um, you might want to go grocery shopping and stock up if you have not already, cause it's harder to bring bags and bags home on a bicycle. Hope things turn around soon!

**Jinxi** · 07-18-2011, 07:01 PM

Yip, stocked up for a while

I can't believe how bad it is. The worst part is that we don't have a reliable mode for alternative transport, like trains etc.

**guy_faukes** · 07-19-2011, 07:46 AM

Take everyday plywood and particle board lying around and make a rickshaw. Since there are so many kids who can't go to school and people who can't go to work, gather a few of them to supply the manpower to pull the rickety thing (and you) from work and back. Better to get kids, since you can pay them less and labor law enforcement can't get to you since they're also running on empty.

**Jinxi** · 07-19-2011, 08:35 AM

LOL!! That's not a bad idea!

**Bilston Blue** · 07-19-2011, 08:44 AM

We had a similar thing in the autumn of 2000, when the haulage drivers blocked the roads out of the refineries, protesting at the cost of diesel. It didn't quite materialise into as bad a situation as it might have, though I needed to stop all unnecessary journeys to make sure I had enough fuel for the 150 mile round trip to the football. So the moral: prioritise your journeys.

**caelum** · 07-19-2011, 09:45 AM

Wow, that's kind of post-apocalyptic. Hopefully they get your guys's stations gassed up soon.

Reminds me of an article I read somewhere on how in the next twenty to thirty years there's supposed to be all kinds of oil wars breaking out as fields dry up.

**Olly Buckle** · 07-19-2011, 09:56 AM

Reminds me of an article I read somewhere on how in the next twenty to thirty years there's supposed to be all kinds of oil wars breaking out as fields dry up.

Don't you mean the last twenty or to thirty years? I think some one might want to build pipelines from the oil fields of the Caucuses across Afghanistan to the deep water ports of Pakistan, Iraq sits on enough oil to float a super tanker or two, Grozny might still be standing if they hadn't had any oil.

**The Backward OX** · 07-19-2011, 10:36 AM

What type of country has a government that can't break a strike? Over the years we've had a few potentially-crippling strikes, and the govt of the day has always come to the party to keep things moving. Airline pilots, coal miners, wharfies (longshoremen to the Yanks), refinery workers, et al, we'd have been on our knees many times were it not for the gummint cracking the whip.

**Jinxi** · 07-19-2011, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

What type of country has a government that can't break a strike?

The S.A. government is useless. They couldn't organise a p**s-up in a brewery!

**Nacian** · 07-19-2011, 02:43 PM

Hi Jinxi
Sorry to hear about this.
Maybe a bycicle a this time of year would not be a bad idea.
I have one that I use all the time myself
I don't have a car anymore and I am in a way glad I don't as my bicyle keeps me fit and happy.
P.s Interesting that you call it Fuel and not petrol.