The Q
'Anj what did you do whilst in the petrol queue for so many hours' someone on FB asked me?
In the last two days I have spent 8 hours and 40 minutes in two fuel queues. The answer to the question is that I cant be sure. It is entirely likely I slipped into another dimension.
Take this morning for example. We jockeyed for position in the queue from 7:15 to about 9:30 or ten. This involved nudging forward and chatting to other drivers about what order we go in and how we block people from pushing in. I tried to read my kindle but there were people coming and going to the shop at the servo. I ate a banana and drank some water then decided I should find where the bathroom is. Reconnaissance mission done I settled back to my car to listen to the BBC world service. I tried reading a chichewa newspaper without much luck.
The truck carrying the diesel arrived just after I saw my fellow team members rushing off to church around 9:15. They were rushing as church starts at 9.
Did you know fuel tanks are in sections like the titanic? Fuel tankers are virtually unsinkable!!!
Around 10:30 was time for a snack/breakfast. I scoured the shelves of the shop at the servo for likely food items:maize flour..no,sugar..no, chewing gum..no. I settled on yoghurt and caramel milk from South Africa. I know the milk will upset my stomach but that is tomorrows problem. I got to the counter to discover they had no spoons for the yoghurt. No problem. Having had African yoghurt before I know it is the pouring variety..not a solid but a liquid.
In between I carefully observed the unloading of the tank. I looked for any safety breaches.. because I could and it would have made a great photo. Alas they even wore harnesses atop the truck.
I grabbed a coke. I thought it might give me something to do for 5mins rather than watching the tanker impatiently.
I chatted sporadically with an American teacher who was keen to go to South Sudan to work. I gave him the name of my mechanic...the sage (from a previous post). The truck departed at around 11am and they started pumping the fuel.
There was more jockeying for space. A few guys just pushed in by driving to the front of the queue and stopping. One man was trying his level best to push in in front of me so I got out of my car and said to him 'I hope you werent planning on pushing in infront of me as I was here before you and it would be wrong to push in'. He muttered embarrassed about others pushing in but agreed he would not try to push in before me.
Finally it was my turn to get fuel.. AHHH the jubilation. I felt like I had won and a prize in a gameshow. The pushing in man came up to me to try and explain and I commented that he was a bit unethical in his approach as he just pushed in front of the next car. He was actually driving and filling two cars at the same time so technically he pushed in twice.
When I got home I did a happy dance and shouted woohoo. the victory was mine
So that is the answer of how you fill 4 hours and 40 minutes in a queue.
now yesterday was different. There was the where to put the the temporary tattoo that came with the World Cup bubble gum.
