Undergroundnetwork

Seems like only yesterday we were fretting about petrol prices climbing towards the $2 a litre mark. News website polls asked readers what they would do if the black stuff became that expensive, and by memory most people replied that would have to seriously reconsider their driving habits. Well now we are well over that point, floating around $2.20. So what are we going to do? The politicians appear impotent, no matter how disgruntled the public. Add to the strife, the price of everything else goes up as a result of the soaring prices. Is there not something we can do?

I don’t do a lot of driving, even less now that I usually bus into town for university each day. Yet I am still refilling a lot more frequently than I was this time last year, when I did much more driving. No matter what I do, much of my expenditure is fuelling my wee little Pulsar hatchback.

You see, I pride myself as something of a rebel. A real anti-establishment punk. Well, not really, but I like to feel like I’m beating the system. And I am tired of having to succumb to the desires of oil executives and Middle Eastern sheiks. I can’t afford a hybrid. I don’t have the scientific and engineering abilities to manufacture a non-petrol vehicle, thus bypassing the wretched pumps. I live too far away from anything to cycle anywhere. Even if I lived closer enough to a bus stop, was gifted the novelty of adequate public transport services and then used buses more often instead of my car, I would feel at least slightly like I was winning. Right now I am losing. We probably all are losing. Please someone tell me, how can I screw the system? (Without breaking the law. I’m just not that punk!)