Petrol station observations

Under the stars and artificial light, the distant petrol station.

Petrol station: Some pumps are out of diesel, there's never an explanation. Traffic cones on the spillages. Pay at pump on the pumps with the longer hoses, why? Those strange products they advertise on the pumps, blue-tooth beanie hats, tool kits, head torches, a scarf you can heat in a microwave and portable electric candles, nobody else sells this stuff. In the shop those special offers will greet you at the aisle ends and at the till. I've never seem anybody buy these items, maybe late on Christmas Eve there's a boom.

There's no free screen wash buckets anymore, blue towels have run out but if you're lucky there's a diesel glove made out of a plastic bag. Special litter bins with letter box sized gaps to prevent you actually using them. Tight manoeuvres are required around those cars where the drivers are indoors queuing for the coffee machine. Some people are quite impatient. Some people pump their petrol and then go over to the cash machine hoping it might work. Signs warn of CCTV. You are being filmed in case you act like an idiot and the footage has some on line value.

Newspapers rest in outside bins that are way too big. Fewer papers are sold, possibly to pensioners. They (papers) don't even look interesting anymore. All the headlines are at least 36 hours old. There are logs and kindling, screen wash and BBQ bags, not worth buying at those prices. Don't linger in this area.

In the shop, waiting for a free till. The assistants avoid eye contact. Quite right. There are sweets on the left of the queue, this has been outlawed everywhere else but is still OK in a petrol station. All the chocolate bars are normal sized unlike the shrunken mutants you can buy in the main store. They seem over priced but what do I know? There are sandwiches and cold drinks, some are reduced to clear. I never stray into this area of the shop. I have no loyalty card either.

In the future these places will not exist, there will be charging terminals or just common driverless cars you'll call up with an app or something. Oh, there's no toilet here so don't bother asking.