Saturday, March 03, 2007

It's an Odd Kind of Feeling

In the past week I've come to realize there is much in my daily life that I take for granted. One morning last week there was a power outage in the area for 3 hours, from 3:30am to 6:30am. It was the little things like getting the car out of the garage after having to manually release the electric garage door opener and also drying my hair after a candlelight shower (not nearly as romantic as it sounds as hey...I was alone and brrrrr...it was getting cold in the house!) that caused me to realize how much I take electricity for granted. Flip a switch and the room lights up...or not. The 'not' was hard to get used to as was evidenced by the numerous rooms that filled with light when the power came back on as room after room I'd flipped the switch out of habit even though I knew the power was off.

Case #2: A few weeks back there was a refinery fire. I've heard of it happening before but don't remember being directly impacted as we have been this time.

Last Saturday the tv and radio stations were mentioning that there could be some sort of gas shortage coming up due to the refinery fire but they didn't seem to be saying enough to cause panic...or in my case, cause me to fill up my tank. Yes I put in $25.00 which took me to about 3/4 of a tank and figured I'd wait for the prices to come down before completely filling up.

Fast forward 24 hours and this was what I drove by after leaving church. Station after station displaying nothing but zeros in their price field. Yup...they were completely out of gas. Hmmm...weird. It just felt...weird...and a little sureal. Here in Canada I don't ever remember a time that we completely ran out of gas at stations. I remember during the blackout of 2003 we couldn't get gas for a day or so due to most of the province being without power but never stations running out of gas.


As I drove to meet my parent's for lunch that Sunday I decided to err on the side of caution, pay a hugely inflated price for gas of 99.9 cents/litre (when it had been 77 cents just a few days prior) and fill my tank. Just wanted peace of mind. Thankfully my car is amazing on gas and that lone tank has taken me over 450km this past week and I still have over a quarter of a tank left.

About the gas shortage, it's still happening. One day a station has gas (with inflated prices and long lines snaking around the block) and the very next day it's closed because it has run out. It's hard to be loyal to one particular company right now as basically people are just going to whatever station they can find that's open.

They say it's getting better and I hope they're right. Time will tell...as will my pocket book as I'm sure they'll use this excuse to keep gas prices high for a very long time.

I'm not sure how far spread this shortage is. I think it's limited to Canada but might be wrong about that. Have you been affected?

19 comments:

  1. I'm with you on the electricity. It was rough when I lost power for about 13 hours during the ice storm. Oh, wow, that was LOUSY. Some poor souls were out for days.

    The gas, no shortages here. But, they rake in a mint for it. $2.58/gallon US today.

    Hope things improve quickly!

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  2. We've been paying that outrages amount you are paying now for forever it seems!! If it's under a dollar we celebrate!!! Crazy!!

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  3. I think the shortage is only limited to Ontario (but I could be wrong about that). I haven't heard of anywhere outside of here having to deal with it.

    At least being in the 'big city' we probably have a lot more options than you. There's only a shortage of gas, not gas stations...so if one runs out, we just head over to the next...

    The government claimed that the shortage would be over this weekend, but the gas companies said it could go on for two more weeks.

    Who do *you* believe? ;)

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  4. Wow... no shortage in Alberta. The prices are higher: Yes, but thats it. So sorry about the stress of it all...

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  5. So far I have been able to find gas and I havn't had a problem, but I am keeping the tank topped up so I don't run out!

    As for the electricity, when ours was out, you do things like - I can't boil the (electric) kettle, so I will put a pot of water on the (electric) stove?? Weird things come into your mind...

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  6. That is unbelievable! I have never heard of such a long gas shortage.

    I wouldn't mind paying 99 cents a gallon. I paid $2.50. Maybe they are equal in the conversion?

    You are SO right about not appreciating things until they are no longer there. For me it was water. One moring a few months ago we had NO water. A line broke over night and our entire area was out for a while. Luckily I had two gallons in the laundry room so we could brush our teeth and boil some water until we could shower. It wasn't pleasant.

    I hope the gas shortage is over soon.

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  7. WOW! We don't have a shortage here, but I think I would be in a panic if we did. You can't really stockpile gas....:-) I'm glad you are doing okay!

    As for the power outage, we had one the other day too! We were only out for an hour and a half and I was missing it! We live on an acreage, so we can't use water (i.e. flush toilets!) when the power's out. It's kind of disconcerting how much we rely on electricity, isn't it?

    Janet T.

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  8. Thanks for the comment on my site a while ago!
    Yes, there is an increasing shortage here after silicone was found in the gas, meaning loads had to be taken out of the system, so even less available!

    Oh how nice it was to see images of the wonderful Canada agagin! I miss Canadian Tire!!!

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  9. That's very strange. No shortage here. But prices are high. Higher than they've been recently. I noticed our gas prices skyrocketed after Huricane Katrina (even though I'm several states north) and never really went back down much.

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  10. I've been able to find gas, but it's about $4.00/gallon... the shortage does make me a bit nervous. I've been trying to drive as little as possible this week. Probably didn't hurt that I lost my car keys and didn't so much as touch the car for 2 days!lol

    Julie

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  11. Our fuel here in Aust. is so overpriced its ridiculous! The average price is about AUS$1.15 per litre. Our prices also fluctuate through the week. It always gets dearer Fri, Sat, Sun. (up to about AUS$1.25 per litre). That's why I sold my 4 wheel drive (SUV) and got a 4 cylinder car!

    (hehehe! the word verification is pigckxpc! Happy Year of the Pig!)

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  12. Its so strange isnt it??? I wiated in a 1 hour line for gas the other night, I had left it too long and was just about empty(wont do that again)

    Since there are US and Canadian posters thought I would clarify, we pay pre litre in Canada and there are 4 litres in a gallon, so like another poster put we are paying $4/gallon right now :(

    Michelle

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  13. Don't get me started... LOL...How in weeks they can jump 30 cents up or down (even without the shortage) it frustrates me. A person in Rochester wrote in a TO paper that where he lives gas has not fluctuated more than 6 cents a gallon in 6 months. Why in Canada it can go up and down 10, 20 cents all the time...aiyiyi...sorry...my little ramble!

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  14. Isn't that the weirdest feeling to pull up to a usually busy gas station and all the lights are out? I had the same thing - I think things are back in business here though. Now if only the price will go back down to a somewhat normal price . . .

    k

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  15. Wow, that's kind of scary. It's amazing how dependent we are on things like gas and electricity. Hope the shortage is over soon!

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  16. It is an odd feeling! Makes you realize what we have at our fingertips and what happens when it is gone.

    Keep smilin!

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  17. Hey...I heard about the gas thingy out your way...WOW....I totally hear you in this post!! How's the gas now???

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  18. Your out of the review room... You must be really happy...two major milestones this month..out of review, your 12 month anniversary...steps that bring you closer to Miss Hannah

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