I enjoyed seeing some old-fashioned petrol pumps on a small garage forecourt in Positano. These sorts of forecourts have all but disappeared in my neck of the woods, having been replaced by larger petrol stations usually connected to supermarkets or smaller (but still large) convenience stores.
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| Traditional forecourt pumps, Positano 2018 |
Now might be a good time to document what garage forecourts still remain since it seems likely they will mostly be gone in the not-so-distant future, as hybrid and all-electric cars become the norm. I think the UK government has set a date of 2040 for the end of sales of petrol and diesel cars but at the time of the announcement this was regarded as a bit late compared to other European countries.
We don't have Agip stations in Ireland - that's a
continental thing :) The usual suspects around The Liberties are Texaco and BP. Esso and Shell were once commonplace but seem to be less so nowadays. Total, Exxon and Mobil are other suppliers and as I already said we have those linked to the big supermarkets (Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco) who sell under their own brand labels. There's probably a whole dose more that I've forgotten about - I'm sure some folk still only use BP ultimate or whatever but personally I couldn't care less what I fill up with in order to get from A to B.
It cracked me up to see Texaco stations all over Ireland. Such an American company name! Here we have a lot of BP, Shell, and Marathon. But anymore the gas brand is being deemphasized over the brand of the convenience store attached to it. Circle K and Village Pantry are big convenience-store chains here; they all sell gas. Who knows what kind.
ReplyDeleteand: when I say "here" I mean Indiana.
ReplyDeleteThey tell us that supermarket petrol is inferior - 'they' being BP, Shell etc. Do those same refineries really have separate tanks for supermarket tankers with 'something taken out'? If it wasn't appropriate for car engines, I doubt if they could sell it.
DeleteI laugh when my brother complains about the cost of filling his 13-year-old SUV. I'm sure you noticed the price difference when filling up your hire car in Ireland, Jim. The high cost here is mostly due to tax - a good 50% of the pump prices.
I knew going in the gas would be expensive in Ireland. We compensated by driving a car that got amazing gas mileage! We only had to fill up a couple times.
DeleteThat Velvia looks beautiful. For some reason, I always imagine Velvia being restricted to golden hour landscapes. But this photo appears to have been taken when the sun was quite high and it looks great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marcus - and your reading of the shadows is spot on :) Taken shortly after noon on a very sunny day.
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