So it looks like Shell's tanker fleet of lorries will be crippled by a strike in little over 54 hours.
The Government has been very quick to step in and urge us all not to panic buy... everything will be OK they promise.
Not likely.
Simple fact, even if they can ensure there's enough fuel for the duration of the strike... the simple fact is that demand will increasingly outweigh supply, irrespective of panic buying. There may well be enough fuel to go round, but it's going to get progressively expensive.
So do you really think I'm going to sit around and wait for that to happen?
Nope. I had half a tank full, which would probably just last me to the end of the strike... the point where I suspect it'll be the most expensive. So as soon as I got out of work, I shot down the road and pulled into the local 24 hour and filled up. I'm not ashamed to admit it... and I advise you to consider doing the same. That should see me through to about the 20th.
I think drivers are getting pushed to boiling point at the moment. It's very easy to look at drivers in the cities with their "Chelsea Tractors" and say that people should use public transport, but frankly out here in rural/semi rural communities that just isn't an option... and people are being penalised just for trying to get to work on time.
I can see the Government getting into real trouble over this if it doesn't do something to alleviate matters soon. Surely with the price of oil rising, the amount of duty raked in from petrol purchases (the lion's share at circa a whopping 60%), must be phenomenally over the projected amount of revenue in the Budget.
I hate conceitedness and arrogance.. and one way or another the Government's got a bloody nose coming... you can only say "we are listening, we are learning lessons" so many times before people just see you as disingenuous.
This time feels worse than when the public protests took place. Back then, it felt that people were pretty much trying it on. Now however, so many people are openly hurting... because everything they need to buy is going up... and every asset they own is rapidly losing value. I forewarned about a potential political nightmare vision of Britain that I predicted would probably kick off when the "Baby Boom" generation became infirm... I suggested about 15-20 years from now.
However, maybe I was being conservative. With the financial burdens and lack of resources hitting everyone hard, one wonders if we are actually seeing birth pangs.
I'm not a materialist at heart, I know God will provide the things we genuinely need... and I've been blessed for so long... but how many people out there are hurting and don't realise God will not get them sucked into utter oblivion if they but call on him?
You know what? As I type this post... I'm hearing Robin Mark's prayer and the Mandate song "Revival" on my Last FM radio... and it's the message that God is crying out now. He's crying it to the Christians to be ready to pick up those who the World is hurting... and he's crying it to those who the World is hurting... that they might turn and find comfort in his Name.
I hear the voice of one crying...
I hear the voice of one crying...
"Prepare ye... prepare ye the way of the LORD... make His paths straight make straight his paths in the wilderness let his light shine, let his light shine in the darkness and let your rain fall and let your rain fall in this desert."
I can hear that thunder in the distance like a train on the edge of the town, I can feel the brooding of the Spirit - lay your burdens down... lay your burdens down.
Whatever mankind gets us into, God has the power to get us out.
The Government has been very quick to step in and urge us all not to panic buy... everything will be OK they promise.
Not likely.
Simple fact, even if they can ensure there's enough fuel for the duration of the strike... the simple fact is that demand will increasingly outweigh supply, irrespective of panic buying. There may well be enough fuel to go round, but it's going to get progressively expensive.
So do you really think I'm going to sit around and wait for that to happen?
Nope. I had half a tank full, which would probably just last me to the end of the strike... the point where I suspect it'll be the most expensive. So as soon as I got out of work, I shot down the road and pulled into the local 24 hour and filled up. I'm not ashamed to admit it... and I advise you to consider doing the same. That should see me through to about the 20th.
I think drivers are getting pushed to boiling point at the moment. It's very easy to look at drivers in the cities with their "Chelsea Tractors" and say that people should use public transport, but frankly out here in rural/semi rural communities that just isn't an option... and people are being penalised just for trying to get to work on time.
I can see the Government getting into real trouble over this if it doesn't do something to alleviate matters soon. Surely with the price of oil rising, the amount of duty raked in from petrol purchases (the lion's share at circa a whopping 60%), must be phenomenally over the projected amount of revenue in the Budget.
I hate conceitedness and arrogance.. and one way or another the Government's got a bloody nose coming... you can only say "we are listening, we are learning lessons" so many times before people just see you as disingenuous.
This time feels worse than when the public protests took place. Back then, it felt that people were pretty much trying it on. Now however, so many people are openly hurting... because everything they need to buy is going up... and every asset they own is rapidly losing value. I forewarned about a potential political nightmare vision of Britain that I predicted would probably kick off when the "Baby Boom" generation became infirm... I suggested about 15-20 years from now.
However, maybe I was being conservative. With the financial burdens and lack of resources hitting everyone hard, one wonders if we are actually seeing birth pangs.
I'm not a materialist at heart, I know God will provide the things we genuinely need... and I've been blessed for so long... but how many people out there are hurting and don't realise God will not get them sucked into utter oblivion if they but call on him?
You know what? As I type this post... I'm hearing Robin Mark's prayer and the Mandate song "Revival" on my Last FM radio... and it's the message that God is crying out now. He's crying it to the Christians to be ready to pick up those who the World is hurting... and he's crying it to those who the World is hurting... that they might turn and find comfort in his Name.
I hear the voice of one crying...
I hear the voice of one crying...
"Prepare ye... prepare ye the way of the LORD... make His paths straight make straight his paths in the wilderness let his light shine, let his light shine in the darkness and let your rain fall and let your rain fall in this desert."
I can hear that thunder in the distance like a train on the edge of the town, I can feel the brooding of the Spirit - lay your burdens down... lay your burdens down.
No comments:
Post a Comment