Once you're there...

Let’s face it: we’re on the verge of something that is going to happen and from which we are all going to learn a lesson. If you are driving in the UK in this period you must have noticed that the streets are packed with scared drivers. When I say “scared”, I do mean it. I know it because I am afraid as well. Afraid of what ? Well, something bad is going to happen in a few hours and once it becomes reality, there is no way to go back.
Get in your car, turn on your stereo, put your seat belts on and chill out thinking that you’re going home after a long day in the office.
Everything is fine until you drive by the first service station (or “garage” as you want to call it): the monster is there.
The price for a litre of Diesel is £ 0.99 and within a few hours the first pumps will start selling it at £ 1. Once you pass that psychological threshold it is too late: they have won again. Of course there is a big fuss about it, people complain and say this is not acceptable but..how long will it last ? Just give it a week or two and we’ll be back to normality this time hoping “they” will be fair and that they will be good with us for a while.
In Italy I heard that Codacons (one of the biggest consumers association) said “people should not fill their tanks completely and perhaps they should empty their boots, the ashtrays, use the car only if absolutely necessary and even drive slower”. Rubbish: totally rubbish. It’s all about time and we’ll be begging multinationals such as Shell and Esso to be fair once again. They will tell us it is not possible to do otherwise and will give us a radio or a bag every 25 tanks we fill up.
I know I am not giving the solution to this problem, I know there are other subjects worth my and your time, I even know I’ll fill up my tank this afternoon simply because I need my car in my everyday life but as the day I will tell all these people to fuck off gets closer, I realize that this is just the tip of an iceberg which includes ostracism towards electrical cars, alternative ways of locomotion, environmentally friendly politics, peace in the middle-east, strange viruses, weird video-messages…


Yesterday I was in the BBC studios in White City checking out a few songwriters. I had an amazing time also because I could see Arsenal win with a thrill due to Riquelme missing a penalty at the very last minute. I hate saying that but I knew he was going to miss it because in that penalty there is the whole career of a player who started being called “the new Maradona” when he was 16 and ended up playing for Villareal. Another lesson learned.