Winter has hit the Bay Area.
How do I know this for sure?
The dark skies?
The near constant drenching rain?
The hailstorm we had yesterday?
No.
By this conversation.
Casual question: “Where is the cat?”
Reply: “On the heater vent.”
So. I made a stop this morning to get petrol for my hoopty so I could make it to work.
I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even look at the price anymore. Because it gives me a pain. I just pull up, put the nozzle in the tank, swipe my card and fill ‘er up.
So I was idly hanging about, checking email while the tank filled when I noticed.
One dollar and ninety nine cents!?!?!??!
I need a neck brace for all the whiplash! It was, what, two, three months ago that I had to take out a loan promising my life and any future offspring to the Gods of Petrol just to get enough gas in the tank to get to work?
And now, it’s at a rate lower than I think I’ve ever seen it since I moved here eleven years ago.
Wow.
So then. As I drove in to work, I started to ponder.
All those freight carriers. They were adding a “fuel surcharge” to my orders to get them to me.
Have they lowered or eliminated those?
The airlines were bumping up rates for high fuel charges. Am I seeing a fare reduction?
And plastic materials. Their price was up because of the rising costs of petroleum. Have they lowered their prices?
Ha! Doubtful.
And then I was ticked off.
Not a good way to start my Friday.
One of my very sweet employees, noting my rough mood, offered me a slice of coffee cake. Which I accepted.
These economic times are weird.
And I know I can expect that fuel won’t stay at this gloriously low rate for long.
Strap in people. Bumpy road ahead.
So. Word on the street is that today is December.
But I’m not buyin’ it.
Because I’m fairly certain I did NOT authorize 2008 to dissipate so quickly.
Nope. No way. No how. I don’t care that people are Christmas shopping. I don’t care that decorations are cropping up. Nope.
Nuh uh.
Not gonna do it.
Oh, and *someone* must have told the Bay Area that it’s December today because it went and got all overcast and foggy and crappy and, well, wintry.
I’m telling you, if we all band together against this thing, it doesn’t HAVE to be December. Roll back the calendar, get the sun out of storage and let’s go on about our lives circa, I don’t know, June?
How does June work for you? Do I hear a July? Going once, going twice…
Please stand by…I’m going to go see about fixing this.
I am ridiculously excited because, on the advice of a couple coworkers, I’ve found a different route to take to work. It’s actually a few miles longer in distance, but since traffic rolls and no stop-go, stop-go, it actually shaves 10 to 15 minutes off my commute.
TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES! That means that over the course of a week, I could get around two extra hours with my sweetie. Or sleeping. Or fast asleep next to my sweetie. All good options!
I’ve got the drive down to about 25 minutes each way, now. Commute to the old job was 45 to 50 minutes each way.
THIS is a victory for sanity!
Squirrels are evil.
I did too tell you so. Here.
I’m starting to build a case, now.
Flaming squirrel blamed for small Calif. Wildfire
See? They are starting to learn tricks!
Bah!
Apologies to The Good Man and the Great Mom-in-Law who are kinder souls than me and would be horrified to know I giggled at the thought of a flaming squirrel.