Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
My Jukebox
Brat Cats Webring
|
This BratCats Ring site is owned by Cassie Hussey. Want to join the ring? Click here for info. |
| [ Next | Skip Next | Previous | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites ] |
4 comments:
There was a huge line today at a place selling gas for $4.04/gallon because it's cheaper than others at $4.15. I usually wait until my tank is empty, but I filled up yesterday on half a tank for fear of it going up as quickly as it did this past week. I still paid more for half a tank than I did for a full tank this time last year. Scary to think how many people will be making hard choices between things like some meals and buying gas to get to work - all while I keep reading that oil companies continue to have *increased* profits. I understand they need to make profit, and I do believe in capitalism, but to continue having such increases in profit while the cost of everything continues to go up due to fuel costs is absolutely criminal, maybe even treasonous, definitely disgusting. Now I'm all riled up.
In Germany, and in most of Europe as well, we are paying the equivalent of $10-12 USD per US gallon, so more than twice what most Americans are paying. Even though prices in the US are rising, they still have the cheapest gas out of any of the developed countries in the world.
In my part of Canada a litre of gas is 138.6 cents.
1 gallon = 3.785 litres so we pay about $5.25 a gallon
Purrs Mickey
Re: prices in Germany. In general, everything is more expensive here. Gas is more expensive, housing is more expensive, clothing is more expensive. Groceries are about the same. Alcoholic beverages are cheaper, that's about the only thing that is less expensive!
We manage because our dad is a Canadian army officer, so, for our housing, we pay what the rent would be for an equivalent place back in Canada, and the Canadian Forces pay the difference. Our humans were given a rent and size ceiling when they moved here, and they had to find a place within those size and rent limits (they vary based on family size). The rent is twice what we would pay for the same sized place back in Ottawa, Canada, but thankfully, the Canadian Forces pays the difference.
We don't know how the Germans do it, since salaries are pretty equivalent for equivalent positions. Lifestyles are very different here. Most people live in much smaller homes than in North America, and there is no such thing as a single family home in the city. What would be the equivalent of a single family home in North America is divided into two or three homes. Most people live in apartments or flats, or other shared housing.
Yards and gardens are tiny, but there are parks everywhere, so children play in the parks, not in their yards. There is no "urban sprawl" and really no suburbs. There just isn't room.
People only drive when they are going on the Autobahns (highways) or doing a lot of shopping or going quite a distance. In the cities, people walk, bike or take public transit.
Kitchens are smaller, and so are the fridges and freezers. Most Germans do groceries on a daily basis, buying fresh bread, meat and fruits/vegetables on a daily basis. They walk to do these groceries, since they are buying a small amount at a time, and there are bakeries, butchers and markets for fruits/vegetables in every neighbourhood.
People generally drive smaller cars, that are much more fuel efficient than most North American cars.
The lifestyle here, and in most of Germany and Europe, is just very, very different from the typical North American lifestyle.
Post a Comment