Gas Lines

“You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.
Your cake here is warm within: you stand here in the cold.
It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.”

Dromio of Ephesus in Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (3.1.70)

Always lead with comedy, right?

Gas Lines

Last Friday I pulled a hybrid up to a pump in the far northern stretch of Bexar County, and regular was $2.04 per gallon, advertised price. Thursday afternoon, running an errand with a buddy, there were lines as panic must’ve set in, and the same brand of gas, local favorite Valero advertised $2.39 per gallon.

As reported by the State’s regulatory agency, there is no shortage of gasoline. There is, however, a shortage of common sense. As the rumor — fake news — of gasoline shortages spread throughout muggy media, this created a false demand that created a real shortage.

Short-term shortage, at that.

From what I can glean, Valero has brought the two South Texas refineries back online, Three Rivers and Corpus Christi, so there is no immediate shortage of fuel for thy precious automobile.

“It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.”

Gas Lines

In my FaceBook feed, there were numerous — I’m guessing 5 to 1 — accounts of lines and notices about getting the last gas for miles around, to every notice that this is no a shortage, merely false reports.

True, the hurricane will impact the energy (oil) industry, with up to one third of the nation’s fuel refined in the Houston area. True.

Thusly noted? The regulatory agency made multiple announcements that there was no shortage, just market-driven perception.

When the world didn’t end on the eclipse, and there is another one that is part of that cycle, but when the world didn’t end on the eclipse, we had a hurricane of greater than biblical proportions. Dare I suggest, Texas-sized? When that didn’t stop us, the next panic is about gasoline, and now, I’m surprised, there aren’t more reports of violence in the lines.

It’s a hybrid, not exactly glamorous, but it gets great gas mileage.

“It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.”

Gas Lines

Mercury just slipped back into Leo, as predicted. Retrograde Mercury, with Mars moving forward, almost aligned with that Mercury, and a Full Moon approaching, on the Virgo/Pisces axis. Getting right up next to that point of the last eclipse.

Not that it matters.

There are crews tirelessly working in South Texas, rebuilding, not waiting on state or federal funds, just doing what needs to be done, to get folks back on their feet, as best as possible.

“Ain’t pretty but it works now.”

Heard from one fishing buddy in Rockport, basically where the hurricane hit, his boat, our fishing boat? Lost a cooler. The neighbor’s craft? Was picked and slung around like a piece of trash on the highway, smashed to pieces.

There will shortages and discomfort, but there will also be stories about true heroism, like this one. There’s a reason I admire and respect Millennials.

Even if some of the more suburban version panicked — needlessly — about the perception of gasoline shortage.

Gas Lines

Or?

Tail wagging the dog?

There was a media story, then frenzy on muggy media that suggested there would be a gasoline shortage, which caused everyone to line up and fill-up, which, in turn, caused an actual shortage. But the story broke before the shortage.