Who would have thought we would ever see the price of oil so low? Does this mean that West Jet will rescind their extra bag fee since they are saving thousands on jet fuel? We all know the answer to that question.

In 1965, I bought a new Honda 90cc motorbike. It was a shiny black beast with a sturdy plastic front fender, good thing considering the number of times I crashed the machine. Its’ top speed going down a hill with a wind at my back was 100 km/ hour. I could get a little more speed out of it if I lay down on it, but I tried that once, the RCMP made it clear to me that I was not to do that again!

The hill had to be straight to reach 100 km/hr for corners could be deadly at high speeds. Corners were something to be reckoned with even at low speeds, for a little bit of gravel on a paved shoulder could do a world of harm.

Speeding down Anarchist Mountain was too risky as was the hill by Ok Falls. There was a bit of a north facing grade near Kaleden on hwy 97 that was safe to go that speed if the wind was at your back.
The highway speed around Oliver at that time was 80 km/hr. A brisk north wind would slow me down to 40 km/hr. on my 3 mile trip home from town. I found that slow speed very frustrating.

The fuel tank held 9 liters. Once that was gone I could get more mileage out of the reserve tank, but not much more than 8 km was my speculation.

Coming back from Penticton one day my machine started to sputter. I quickly switched to the reserve. I was near McIntyre Bluff and was hoping to make it to Wilcox Corner where there was a service station.

True to form I made it and putted up to the pumps. Sid Scott came out to serve me the gas. I dug into my pockets for money but could only find a dime. Sid looked astonished when I asked for 10 cents worth. I told him I needed to get home and that was all the money I had. He put 2.5 liters in my tank. Yes, gasoline was .25/gallon then.

We have come a long ways since 1965.

In Edmonton in 1988 gasoline was .42/ liter. Last Thursday it was .65/ liter in Edmonton at Superstore. Who knows what it will be next week?

Since there is nothing we can do about the price fluctuations, we will just enjoy it while we can.

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