Richard;
I think it's called a "tax revolt". As I recall a while back we Yanks did a
similar thing to you Brits over the taxation of tea, a lot of which wound up
in Boston Harbor no doubt damaging the ecostructure there. Now I'm not
suggesting that you Brits dump petrol into the Thames or similar body of
water in protest over the tax, but... well, you get the picture. :-)
Reid
'79 Spitfire (original owner)
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard B Gosling [mailto:Gosling_Richard_B@perkins.com]
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 6:03 AM
To: spitfires
Subject: Running out of Petrol
Laura,
I am amazed you have only ever run out of petrol (gas?) once in a Spitfire -
I
probably do it every couple of months! Admittedly, I do run it right to
the
limit - this will give me exactly 3 return trips to work with the
pathetically
small tank. However, any slight deviation to my route, extra trip to the
shops, or she's not tuned quite right, and I don't make it...
I decided that, given how small the tank was, I would risk the occasional
running out, and always carry a spare can of fuel in the (equally
pathetically
small) boot. Overall, less trouble than filling up every two days rather
than
3....
On a different subject, Laura, and you other
anti-high-petrol-price-activists,
you would be proud of us Brits. On Tuesday we had our first ever
'gas-out',
under the slogan Dump The Pumps. Rather than protesting the oil companies
greed, the main anger here is against the government - after all, 80% of
the
price of a gallon here is the tax, only 20% fuel and distribution.
A (limited) survey suggested a 38% drop in turnover for the petrol stations.
Several of the supermarket chains dropped their price by around 5p per
litre
(about 6%). However, the government still insist they are not budging.
The
campaign will continue, every Monday, until that changes (or we all get
bored
of it).
At last, us apathetic Brits are getting off our backsides and actually
making a
proper effort to protest!!!
Richard and Daffy
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