Gollee!

I just filled up my car with regular at $3.96 a gallon.

And by the way, that includes that 9/10ths of a cent the gas companies add on in tiny numbers at the end of their prices.

I guess they hope you won’t notice that little bit of extra money they are putting in their pockets.

The total bill was $76 for 19.2 gallons.

It was actually a little surreal. I had just started filling it up when I noticed the price and assumed I had pressed the wrong button and was filling up with premium.

Right button - premium was $4.15 a gallon! Oh, excuse me, make that $4.16 a gallon – I almost forget that 9/10ths of a cent.

And with the price of oil now over $129 a barrel, prices are not going down any time soon.

But you know what? I think there is a bright side to this. Yes, it’s painful for all of us. The price of oil affects everything and this dramatic increase over the last few months means a readjustment of our spending habits, especially our driving habits.

But necessity is the mother of invention and I do not think we are going to sit around and cry about this massive change in our lives. Instead it is going to prompt all sorts of changes which for the most part are already on our doorstep.

For while we have paid lip service to freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, most of the work to develop alternate fuels has been driven by concern about the environment and the ever more stringent laws to reduce emissions.

I have written for some time about the new diesels which are on the verge of arriving from Europe, starting with Volkswagen’s Jetta sedan and wagon. And I confess I have been in love with the Jetta diesel sport wagon since I first saw it at the New York Auto Show last year.

It will be available in the late summer I believe and I am sure it’s going to be a big success. It’s fast, economical and green – and good looking to boot!

Mercedes is going the further mile and coming out with a diesel hybrid in the fairly near future and that to me is the ultimate make-sense car. Electric around town and clean diesel on the highway – the best of both worlds and probably a big part of our future.

Certainly it is getting harder and harder to justify my gas guzzling Volvo station wagon. Not at these prices.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth