Thinking Aloud On A Sunday

~ beetleypete

Selfishness.

Following the media hype about non-existent fuel shortages, the last few days have shown us the worst side of human nature that exists in this country. A blatant display of selfishness and disregard for others that always makes me ashamed to be English.

There have been confrontations in queues at petrol stations, and examples of flock mentality that makes me question the intelligence of English people in general. Hard to work out when this happened, but it is a long way from the pulling together and genuine community spirit that got this country through WW2.

Not content with filling up the tank of their car, many drivers rushed to also fill containers with extra fuel.

There were also people on Ebay trying to sell full containers at inflated prices. Shame on them.

This idiot was photographed filling unsuitable plastic water bottles with fuel, turning his car into a potential bomb.

I woke up this morning thinking about people like those pictured. People who don’t care about essential workers needing fuel to get into work to serve the community. People who feel satisfied when they have bought as much petrol as they can cram into any available container, then presumably drive home with a smug smile, hoping to boast about their exploits to family and friends.

They are not me. I am not one of them. They disgust me.

72 thoughts on “Thinking Aloud On A Sunday”

  1. Up here in North East Scotland there have been no queues and no problem getting petrol at all. Don’t know about further south of our beautiful country but all was well here.

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  2. Crazy people are doing crazy things. ;-/ Here in Bavaria we get more than twice a day an update on the supply situation in the UK. It seems that our Prime Minister has still not got over not being allowed to become chancellor. He has to distract from it! Lol Best wishes, Michael

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      1. Gosh, i just had read it at Ritu’s blog. One only has to whisper about a shortage in gas, and everything with four wheels is strolling to the tank stops. Thank you for the update. Here they are airing the situation in the UK much worse, but i think they are trying to prepare us for the future in Germany. After the shutdown of the nuclear plants, we will get a shortage in electric energy. ;-( At least we are very close to the Czech Republic, with very powerful nuclear power plants. I’m considering whether I shouldn’t get a second home there. xx Michael

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  5. Pete, these are crazy days we are living in! I had not seen any of these images before and had no idea people were going so far as to fill plastic water bottles with fuel! Pure insanity! Listening to the radio ambulance drivers were overwrought driving around looking for fuel, the gauge on red.

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    1. When I started in the London Ambulance Service, we had our own petrol pumps at ambulance stations. Then they decided to get a contract with BP, took the pumps away, and we had to go to petrol ststaions to fill up the ambulances. This could have been solved by keeping the pumps, but obviously BP paid someone off at a high level.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. I heard about this on your blog, but now I’ve seen reports everywhere. It’s not surprising, as I remember similar behaviours before, but I’ve also seen calls for emergency and primordial workers to be given priority. I hope they do. Thankfully, there are some reasonable people still left around. Take care.

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    1. I haven’t been in any petrol queues, as I am determined to be one of those reasonable people. But I am aware that I don’t need my car for work. My wife went out at 5am the other day to fill up her car, as she has no other way of getting to work.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  8. I don’t even like queueing at a supermarket, never mind a petrol station. And these people think they are clever!
    I’m just waiting for the first house fire or explosion to be reported after some numpty filled their garage with ’emergency’ supplies stored in old pop bottles.
    Isn’t it illegal to use a non certified can for fuel storage, I seem to remember there is also a limit of the quantity you can store?
    Of course I blame Brexit 🙂

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  13. Sad to see Pete, unfortunatly this type of behaviour has been around for years, even during WWII there was a robust blackmarket operating along with crime taking adavntage of blackouts etc.
    We find this hard to take due to our previous work we did the job because we wanted to help often putting others first before ourselves

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    1. That’s true, Bobby. We worked hard in a relatively low-paid job trying to do something good for society, and these people couldn’t care less about anyone but themselves.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. Very sad indeed Pete.

    Remember those cartoons we watched as kids where there was a little demonic creature on one shoulder, and an angel on the other trying to influence the character in the cartoon?

    The reality of our true earthly experience is quite similar. The actual ‘concepts’ on our shoulders are not Good/Evil but rather the very thing that is at the core of G/E conflict –

    “Selfishness” and its polar opposite “Selflessness”.

    They are the very reason we are experiencing this existence. . .

    I figured out a long time ago that we are only here on this rock to prove our character to the power that created us. Simple as that.

    Nothing else makes sense.

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    1. I am not religious, Chris. But I spent most of my life trying to ‘do the right thing’. Now most people around me only want to do what is right for them, it’s sad indeed.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. My first reaction is “I’m glad that it’s not just Americans that do this stuff,” but that’s just more of the selfishness that you refer to. It’s a shame that so many people’s first reaction, no matter the crisis, is “every person for themselves!”

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    1. That is a great shame, Pam. I spent so much of my life working to do some good in the emergency services, I have always hated this type of behaviour. I want to see us get back to being neighbourly, and helping people out. That still works in Beetley to some extent, but is disappearing fast in the rest of this country.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  21. Being human doesn’t care what nationality we are or any living up to some national pride. Believe me, Pete, the sudden shortages during the last year Covid shutdowns were kinda nasty here.. and I recall the Arab oil embargo of the 1970’s here, the result being exactly what you folks are experiencing (and we had guns to settle some differences as I recall) that brought out our primal urges. Being English does not mean you folks are above being human. 🙂
    As I might have said once before… we are simply one rumor away from a gas shortage.

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  22. (1) Message to desperate petrol hoarders: We are currently out of 500 ml plastic water bottles, but we can offer a variety of kitchen scrub sponges. Pick them up while supplies last!
    (2) According to the latest news report, there is a shortage of nitroglycerin! Don’t delay! Get your nitro today!

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  23. These people disgust me too, Pete and we have our fair share here. People who cannot see beyond the end of their own nose, people who have no consideration, no compassion, no decency. How did these people get this way? Why are they even allowed to fill more than just their car? It’s mad.

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  24. I wouldn’t be too hard on the English, Pete. The same would (and does) happen in any country.

    And it has always been the same. I know people hark back to how public spirited people were during WW2, but don’t forget that crime went up in London then.

    Just as now, there was good and bad. Don’t forget that most drivers didn’t go anywhere near a petrol station in the last few days.

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    1. Hi, Ian. Thanks for a well-balanced argument. I know crime went up during the war, but despite that, and the Black Market, I still feel people tended to stick together and help each other out. I remember the fuel crisis in the early 70s, £1 maximum, no cans or containers, and everyone behaving decently. But you know me , and I get grumpier as I get older.
      Cheers, Pete.

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  26. There was a time when crisis brought people together rather than pull them apart. And so often, these situations are caused not by crisis but by greed and selfishness egged on by the media and demonstrated by those in the photos you shared. When all is said and done, we might have been responsible for our own demise. I am not those people either.

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    1. The increase in selfish behaviour over the last 20 years or so has been staggering to behold. It seems to me that the human race is evolving into something even more horrible than it once was.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  27. Petrol stations should impose a ban on filling up cans and a possible cap of £50 on fuel. It’s an insane situation and only going to get worse I think with the shortage of HGV drivers – let’s face it none of us want poorly trained drivers behind the wheel of a fuel tanker on our roads. And those who do the job deserve far better facilities.

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  32. The Press is to blame as well. In their ever-increasing need to publish sensationalist headlines, they tell people there’s a shortage and not to panic. This immediately causes the majority of people to rush out and grab whatever is in short supply. There’s no gagging the Press, but in situations like this there should be a way to shut them up.

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      1. It was chaos at Morissons this morning. They’d stopped drivers turning right into the garage, and there was a long queue right to the back of the car park. My heart sank when I saw it, as I’d have to get in it to get back out onto the main road.

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  33. Unbelievable behaviour and I too am no longer proud of much of this countries attitudes and ambience. It started with Thatcher and has tipped into stupidity and selfishness culminating in the dreadful decision to leave the EU. The warnings have always been there but ignored as they are now.
    All the best Pete x

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