I had a landmark moment yesterday. It may have already happened to you, but for the first time it cost me more than £100 to fuel a car.
Perhaps appropriately it was a BMW X6, whose 80 litres of diesel each cost £1.31.
I’m going to keep the receipt along with other knick-knacks I put away, because I suspect I’ll remember it for a long time. I know really it’s only the first of many but, somehow, standing at the pump receiving mean stares from a woman filling a Mini Cooper, it felt like my consumption had reached a peak. We’ll remember these times. One day they won’t make cars like the X6.
Maybe I’ll even show my grandkids. “Here’s an early mobile phone, all it could do was make phone calls,” I’ll say. “Here’s a ticket from the first competitive game at the new Wembley: Stevenage versus Kidderminster,” I’ll mutter. “And this, this is from the first time I spent £100 filling a car with fuel. Back then beer only cost £3 a pint, cigarettes were legal and you didn’t even have to wear a hi-vis jacket when leaving the house – although it was recommended.”
“Dearest Grandpapa,” they’ll reply, bored and nonplussed. “What’s a car?”