Fuel Crisis

Well, it's that time of the week when the "reservoir" car that we have runs out of fuel, because we use its fuel to feed the small generator that we have.

My father went out early, around 7:30 am to fill the reservoir car with fuel. The line before you enter the station could be 3-4 Kms long, but it usually moves well enough, so you could end up standing there for 3-4 hours.

I called him for the 1st time around 10 am, and he said that they hadn't moved much since 7:30 am. I called him again around noon, and there wasn't much change in the situation either.

He returned around 1:30 pm, without getting any fuel. The problem is that there are so many cars/drivers that come in the middle of the line and squeeze themselves into the line, so you see that there are cars entering the station alright, but the end of the line is moving much slower.

While he was there, shooting errupted between some gunmen and the Iraqi Army, but luckily enough, he wasn't close to the fighting.

He tried getting the fuel from the black market. He saw someone who wanted 20 litres for 40000 IDs. The official price is 5000-7000 IDs.

It was until the afternoon, when we got fuel for the generator, with the price of 20000 IDs for 20 litres. And we considered ourselves so lucky!

Isn't it damn sarcastic that Iraq holds the World's second petroleum reserve?!

Down with the state-run stations, and long live the sailors! (= the Iraqi slang expression for those who sell fuel in the black market).

One positive point worth mentioning though, on another scale. Electricity is given for us for more hours.

Let's pray and hope this one good thing continues and increases.

But what would one positive island do, in a stormy sea of negatives?

Maybe the sailors would have the answer!