Harder to boogie down the highway….
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And sweet magnolias lined those country roads.
We burned a tank of love most every weekend,
And on work days I helped ‘em fix the roads.
Our friends were many and our dreams were certain,
Whoever thought we’d go our separate ways.
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And love was only sixty cents away.
-Tom T. Hall, 1980
In Glorious Black and White, the 1969 Dorie!
With my first car- a 1969 Plymouth Valiant. It was great- had a solid state AM radio, a/c and a Chrysler 225 cubic inch Slant 6- that little box car could really go! I’m wearing a pale pink sleeveless number with brown shoes. Clunky shoes were the style then! I thought I was fat- I was maybe a size 14. Wouldn’t mind being a 14 now!
I keep seeing commercials portraying silver haired swingers, on a beach, taking a cruise, living la vida loca. Sounds good. I want to do that! And you know what they say about things that sound too good to be true.
We are in a Recession. In case you didn’t notice.
I was listening to a radio talk show yesterday and for once they weren’t talking about Clinton vs. Obama. (I’m not a Democrat- catch me next October) I never did catch the name of the host!
Anyhow, listeners were e-mailing him with info about gas prices/grocery prices in their areas. Everybody is saying the same thing, “get it before it goes up more” “It” being whatever you need.
The host made a good point. If the truckers are hit hard and can’t afford the gas to run, then a priority will be given for the delivery of food. Less so for cleaning products, pet food, and non-food items in general. I’ve heard rumors that sugar and cooking oil might get scarce. Both are “refined” products. The manufacturing of them consumes energy, as well as the delivery. In the mid-70’s sugar and coffee got really expensive compared to other things. (I’m old- I was there)
It seems prudent to think about things you use all the time and start buying a little more. The price isn’t coming down anytime soon!
Trends:
Today in Maryland , I paid 3.66 gal for regular gas- $20 didn’t even buy 6 gallons! I guess that’s a bargain compared to what gas costs on the West Coast. Diesel Fuel was $4.25 today!
I’ve gone to 2 different stores and found they were out of the brand of food I’ve been feeding the dogs. Like they aren’t making as much or having trouble getting the ingredients?
Today, I went to a farm supply store and they had a brand, Diamond Pet Foods, Lamb and Rice and the package said, “no by-products or corn” That’s very good! And It was only $14 for an 18 lb bag. I hope they don’t hate it!
Macaroni Scarcity! Pasta prices are going up I’ve heard it’s because the processors have to pay more for wheat flour. It seems like just yesterday it was about .69 for a package. Today, the cheapest brand name I found was $1.29. Nothing on sale today. The gourmet kind was over $2 a package.
It seems so mundane to have to be fretting about the high price of….um, everything. Most of the parents of people my age were Depression babies and this is minor compared to those days.Oh yeah, they had a war too. I looked it up. The population of the US in 1939 was 131 million, and the total American war deaths in World War II was almost 500,000- 3% of the population.
Me bitching about the high cost of Bran flakes seems small compared to that conflagration.
Still, I think the next few years will be “interesting”. If you get to the beach, send a postcard.
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Great car Dorie. My first one was a 1964 Chevy Impala. I got it in 1971 and we (me and my parents) paid 400 bucks for it. I loved that car.
In the winter of 1971 there was a bit of a gas war in the town I was living in in northern Michigan. I remember this because I was working at a gas station and the local paper snapped a picture of me pumping gas in someone’s car. The price of gas on that day was .28/gallon. The average price around here right now is $3.54 a gallon. Thank God I am not driving much these days.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hi Mike- I think I lucked out in the car department because I was the youngest and a girl. My father was a worrier.I think he felt better knowing I was tooling around in something not likely to break down. We did the same thing when our daughter started driving-opted for a more expensive, but hopefully dependable car. Michael’s first car was a Corvair from the wrecking yard!(heehee-remember what Ralph Nader said about those?) His dad got it running and it served him well until he went into the Navy. I guess it ran okay, but the floorboards had rusted out, so driving in rain and snow was an adventure!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
So beautiful, so fashionable, so svelte! (It’s a good picture of you, too!)
Seriously, though, we need to revive that hairstyle. Nothing better in the world. And can you still get shoes like that? I’d love a pair. You looked fantastic.