If anyone wanted to see a story about my going to Our Lady of Lost in the Wilderness in Putfontein this morning, my apologies. But I'm sitting on a hot commodity for South Africans now that can't be squandered: a full tank of gas. And by full, I mean brimming with a whole 35 liters of gas. That's 9 -- count 'em, NINE -- gallons of fuel.
I can't find the article with the statistics I wanted, but there are something like 1200 gas stations in this province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria. 150 reported the other day that they had no gas, but the news suspected that some stations reported nothing, in fear of retaliation. The real number could be between 200 and 250.
So… after Wendy took a trip to pick up Mike and The Boy, she reported that gas stations seemed to be belly-up for the morning. The problem is that the petroleum workers are striking, and the trucking industry workers are also striking. If there are supplies, they're not going to get anywhere.
Striking truckers also means that nothing that travels by truck is going anywhere. Wendy made a trip to the grocery store today to find a drastically dwindling supply of items. Panic buying. This could be bad.
Then there's the other gas shortage..
Central heating doesn't exist here. Some South Africans use electric heaters, some natural gas heaters, and some just brave the elements.
A week or so after I got here, the natural gas (those little tanks we use for gas grills) became scarce. It wouldn't have been so painful to accept if the industry, I'm told, hadn't burned off excess supplies in summer. And, in a fit of business wisdom, they shut down the plant for routine maintenance.
Routine maintenance. Of the gas refinery. At the winter solstice. When many use the product as their main supply of heat.
Sweet.
Now… remember that trucking strike above? The gas that's available isn't getting anywhere.
We had three empty bottles of gas and were nursing the last bottle in one remaining heater as of Thursday. Wendy, with a great sense of humor tinged with an acceptance of defeat, called some area suppliers. One said that he orders 150 tanks per day, and he was getting 20/week. A number of people pre-paid for their gas two weeks ago, and haven't gotten anything. It's turned the populace into scavengers, foraging for any source of gas.
That same day, we went to pick up Mike (the gardener) to bring him here, and because he wanted cigarettes, we took a small detour. On the way back, Wendy caught sight of a gas station getting a delivery of natural gas bottles; the delivery truck was pulling away.
I tease the she made the turn into the station on two wheels. Not a total exaggeration. Tried to buy four bottles outright, but the man was doing only trade-ins. Damn it!
The Amazing Race hasn't seen such driving as we did from there to home, and back. We had two little boys in the car, and didn't QUITE throw them out of the car while making room for bottles and loading up empties, but I'm not sure they knew what hit them, either.
So… gasoline for the cars? Check.
Gas for heat? Check.
Groceries to wait out the siege? Check.
If you see stories on the news about shortages, we are, for now, sitting pretty.
For now.
***
Wendy reminded me, in her comment, that I forgot to mention the Bush Telegraph that went into effect:
"He he. Jimmy you failed to communicate the knock in effect, I called my brother who rushed out to exchange his LP gas, my cousin called me while we were trying to load up the bottle and she then told a friend who had also been struggling to get gas, and she told a friend and she told a friend .... the wires went crazy."
He he. Jimmy you failed to communicate the knock in effect, I called my brother who rushed out to exchange his LP gas, my cousin called me while we were trying to load up the bottle and she then told a friend who had also been struggling to get gas, and she told a friend and she told a friend .... the wires went crazy.
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