I'm lost, I'm lost

[threeplusfire]

Last night on the way home I saw lines at the gas stations. The Wally World near my job was at $2.55 yesterday and today it is $2.81. There were people backed up on the access road of 183 for $2.43, and fury when the unleaded regular ran out. It's very, very strange.

When I started driving, one of the first tanks of gas I ever purchased cost $.88 a gallon. In college I remember debating with myself between $1.01 and $1.03 on the way home. Last summer it was $1.78. Now I wouldn't mind paying $3.50 a gallon if we had better social benefits and not richer gas and oil companies.

Last night I saw a clip that was just devastating in the emotional intensity of the interview. The reporter, who looked young and maybe like the local weathergirl or junior anchor, was sobbing and holding out the microphone to an older man holding his child or grandchild to him. It wasn't even so much the story, about how his wife let go of his hand in the flood, and told him he couldn't hang on to her anymore because he had to save the children. It was the dead, shell shocked look in the man's face, and how he kept saying, "I don't know where I'm going, I'm lost, I'm lost." It gave me chills, and was probably one of the most horrible things I've ever seen on television.

My grandparents are alright. Their power came back on after just a day, and the yard is full of broken tree limbs. My grandfather seems to be having a grand time of it. My mother just shakes her head.

I left my phone at home today. Damn it.

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I've seen that little interview clip about six times now, and my heart breaks every single time. That poor, poor man, and all the people just like him.

Gas here today is high but just about what it was before--$2.68 to $2.78 a gallon--except for the enterprising station I saw who already had their prices raised to $3.19 for unleaded. Speculators are great, aren't they?

[rm.livejournal.com]

My first memories are of the 70s gas crisis, and we're about a milimeter away.

from CNN

[rm.livejournal.com]

Consumers can expect retail gas prices to rise to $4 a gallon in the near future, Ben Brockwell, director of pricing at the Oil Price Information Service, said Wednesday. "There's no question gas will hit $4 a gallon," he said. "The question is how high will it go and how long will it last?"

[in-thy-bounty.livejournal.com]

A quick conversion tells me that the average price of a gallon in Scotland is $6.13