The Dark Wob

Can't remember 1980 fuel prices but when I was working at the garage in 1976 folk were moaning about it reaching 80p on the 5 star pump.


Actually, that just dragged up a horrible memory of all that moaning.... "Refinery is only down the road..blah...blah"

Yeah, but that's Esso and this is Shell. Anyway it doesn't work that way as well you know, you stupid old cunt. Sell your wheezy Corsair V4 and buy a fucking bus ticket....

Bet they were moaning even more in 1980. Prices had increased massively.

Nearly double. I wonder what caused it.

It was just over 30p a gallon in the early 70s when I started uni.
I remember because my dad drove me, with my gear, to London in his Viva.

The 1980 increase was, I'm fairly sure, down to the Iranian war and subsequent impact on Suez passage costs. Or just a massive re-set by OPEC after falling post-energy crisis crude prices in the late Seventies. Either way, the ratchet was set and hasn't yet been released......

This has rekindled a memory.
My first proper job after hitchhiking to London in 1980 was as a waiter in The Howard Hotel on the embankment , the least well known of the big posh 5*plus gaffs. It came with board and lodging.
Anyway , one morning a group of older Japanese businessmen asked me how much I earned and how much a gallon of petrol was , they also asked how far to Oxford and how many mpg did I think a Daimler DS420 would do , whilst making notes and a lackey was punching away at a calculator.
I’d forgotten all about that ( and the £2 tip , I got)
I wonder if I actually met Mr Honda when setting up the Acclaim deal? Assuming he was still alive and working by that stage!

paulplom wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:05 pm Nearly double. I wonder what caused it.

50% increase.

That's a long way off 'nearly double'

Say whaaa?

If anyone lives in the Merseyside area and fancies a job giving discreet lifts to a brass called Stacey and a couple of her "subcontractors" then PM me for further details. Mainly weekend work. £35 a trip. You don't need to drive a Mk2 Jag or look like Bob Hoskins but it'd be handy if you're a confident lad who'll knock on the door after a set time to "hurry along" proceedings.

This is a self employed vacancy where you are responsible for your own tax and National Insurance.

All enquiries dealt with in the strictest confidence.

That sounds like a job where the minicab should be a Jaguar XF.