Back to the Future
Someone has jump-started our Flux Capacitor and brought the entire state of Tennessee back to 1978 or so.
You see, Tennessee is on some sort of heavy-duty oil pipeline connected to Houston. Well, it's now sort of connected to Houston because of the hurricane.
There is almost no gasoline in the city of Nashville or in any of the surrounding counties. Most gas stations are shut down. Whenever a delivery truck comes in, the station sells out within a couple of hours. Lines at gas stations are starting traffic jams. People are bringing their gas cans whenever they fill up, so they can be sure of getting enough gas for the week.
I waited in line to get gas this morning. I was lucky. I got there early and only had to wait twenty minutes. There was a traffic jam at the station by the time I was finished filling up.
My next-door neighbor, Carlos from Guatemala, noted that this sort of thing doesn't happen in the U.S. I had to enlighten him about the OPEC Oil Embargo.
All right, stuff happens. I'm an adult; I understand that, and I cope. But I do have two complaints:
1. Hurricanes, unlike tornados, have plenty of lead time. We know they're coming. And it isn't like there are never hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Why didn't the oil companies have contingency plans?
2. People are being stupid. First of all, they are filling up whenever they see open gas stations, instead of when they need to, and they are filling gas cans to have extra. Yes, as Carlos says, this isn't supposed to happen in the U.S., but this isn't Soviet Russia either. Secondly, I bet we'd have enough gas to go around if people weren't driving these huge honking SUVs as commuter cars.
You see, Tennessee is on some sort of heavy-duty oil pipeline connected to Houston. Well, it's now sort of connected to Houston because of the hurricane.
There is almost no gasoline in the city of Nashville or in any of the surrounding counties. Most gas stations are shut down. Whenever a delivery truck comes in, the station sells out within a couple of hours. Lines at gas stations are starting traffic jams. People are bringing their gas cans whenever they fill up, so they can be sure of getting enough gas for the week.
I waited in line to get gas this morning. I was lucky. I got there early and only had to wait twenty minutes. There was a traffic jam at the station by the time I was finished filling up.
My next-door neighbor, Carlos from Guatemala, noted that this sort of thing doesn't happen in the U.S. I had to enlighten him about the OPEC Oil Embargo.
All right, stuff happens. I'm an adult; I understand that, and I cope. But I do have two complaints:
1. Hurricanes, unlike tornados, have plenty of lead time. We know they're coming. And it isn't like there are never hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Why didn't the oil companies have contingency plans?
2. People are being stupid. First of all, they are filling up whenever they see open gas stations, instead of when they need to, and they are filling gas cans to have extra. Yes, as Carlos says, this isn't supposed to happen in the U.S., but this isn't Soviet Russia either. Secondly, I bet we'd have enough gas to go around if people weren't driving these huge honking SUVs as commuter cars.