Priceless

Back in 2010, in my third month of this Blog and I was a bit more serious because I didn't know then what I wanted it to be.

Here's the story I did then on fuel prices.  I was paying 107.9p a litre back then.

This week I paid 138.9p a litre.

But when this photo was taken, people using Lancaster Services were paying 151.9p a litre.

Which, while feeing quite steep generally, isn't too bad for motorway services although...

a) I don't know when that photo was taken and...

b) the fact that sign exists implies that they are trying to sell fuel cheaper

If you are wondering what I mean by point b there, take a read of this from Auto Express this week.

Moto Hospitality, the main operator of UK motorway services, claim they want to reduce their fuel prices but can't because National Highways won't let them put up signs like that one at Lancaster.

Say what now!?

Their argument is, "At a couple of our sites where we lowered the fuel price but we didn't have a sign, there was some increase in volume, but it wasn't enough to justify lowering the fuel price.”

That is because motorway services have a bad reputation when it comes to expensive fuel!

If they sold reasonably priced fuel and everyone knew that they sold reasonably priced fuel, then people would go and buy reasonably priced fuel in big enough numbers to justify selling reasonably priced fuel!

It's not difficult.

And it's not like there isn't an easy way of telling the price of fuel at your nearest motorway service station:

Petrolprices.com - I mentioned them back in that 2010 story and this week they pointed me at the 138.9 unleaded I bought.  Pity The Government aren't aware of petrolprices - they are talking about a similar guide except the retailers will need to provide the up-to-date prices.

So, what has actually changed in the last 13 and a half years?

Petrol is even more expensive.

And what has stayed the same?

I'm still using petrolprices.com and there are no jokes in my fuel prices stories.

Supercar Showroom

I saw this programme advertised a couple of times on Quest:

I decided I probably wouldn't watch it because I wouldn't like the customers - and I'd be bloody jealous of them too.

Then I accidentally caught episode 4.

There was one really irritating customer - but she wasn't buying a Supercar - and the car she did buy she wanted wrapping in a garish pink.

Yuk.

I've watched episode 5 now too.

The rest of the customers all seem really decent, knowledgeable people.

The idea of a car showroom with an airport runway to test-drive the cars on is a brilliant idea.

The supercar showroom in question is The DMB Collection.  The D stands for Dean (the boss) - he is played by Brian Cox:

No - the other one.

The rest of the cast are is main salesman Brad, his office manager Trudy (who I think I may be in love with), his daughter Ellie and the bloke in the control tower who is called Alex and is played by Caleb from Clarkson's Farm.

It's only the first series so the bits where they have been told to react in certain ways for dramatic purposes still look a bit wooden but it is good enough for me to have set the series-record link.

I do hope though that Ellie is not as dim as she is made out to be - i.e. really dim.

And I do think that Dean is changing the perception of car dealers;

No Offence

Etiquette is described by The Cambridge Dictionary as "the set of rules or customs that control accepted behaviour in particular social groups or social situations"

Or by Wikipedia as "the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a society, a social class, or a social group."

So who is the expert on etiquette?

Vauxhall apparently.

Although they have had some help from Debrett's.

They have produced this handy guide for polite behaviour at electric vehicle charging stations.

I'm surprised that a Debrett's guide would include such a common word as "bollard" but there it is in the "Be Streetwise" section.

I am also surprised by the "Be a Good EV Guest" section which states that, "it is quite likely that your host will not have a home charger, so you will have to rely on using a standard three-pin plug cable."  Surely anybody consulting a Debrett's guide wouldn't have friends without an EV home charger!?

But then, I'm not known as a diplomat.

Unlike Vauxhall: