[mdavidford]

For a moment I was wondering

For a moment I was wondering what kind of weird-ass overkill rack setup you had there.

Then I realised it was a fence.

Where’s a headdesk smiley when you need one?

[mdavidford]

chrisonatrike wrote:

That particular stable door has been thoroughly nailed shut.

I doubt that’ll be enough to stop someone driving a car through it, though.

[mdavidford]

Your comment obviously has a

Your comment obviously has a vital couple of watts saving over mine.

[mdavidford]

hawkinspeter wrote:

I’ll just return the slowest pair.

Are you going to be testing them in the wind tunnel?

[mdavidford]

I’m trying to figure out what

I’m trying to figure out what autocorrect fail might produce ‘Autumn shoulder’ and coming up blank. Is it just an idiom I’m unfamiliar with?

I have a strange picture in my head of people trying to wear gloves on their shoulders.

[mdavidford]

Think I’ve fixed it.

Think I’ve fixed it.

[mdavidford]

Simon E wrote:

But the majority are not driving anywhere near that far, as discussed already. Many are simply panic buying but while doing so getting as much fuel as possible.

I think ww’s point is that if those people have set out to put £60 in, they’re going to put £60 in despite not needing it, even if it means visiting two petrol stations and doubling the amount of queueing they do. Because people aren’t rational, particularly in a panic.

Meanwhile, those who do need it are also unnecessarily forced to queue twice.

[mdavidford]

wycombewheeler wrote:

wycombewheeler wrote:

sounds very inefficient sending out part deliveries

But I didn’t say anything about part deliveries.

wycombewheeler wrote:

Even if there is 10% extra capcity in the industry, it would take 10 weeks for petrol stations to be restored to normal as long as drivers keep their tanks full, while only two weeks if everyone reverts to refilling once the light comes on.

Well, that’s kind of my point – the reason that it’s persisting is not so much that everybody’s driving around with full tanks topping them up the whole time, but that not everybody has managed to fill their tanks yet, and won’t manage to for some time, even with more fuel being delivered than normal, so any excess will keep getting sucked in to cars that aren’t full yet.

I’m not disputing that a more sensible resolution would be for everyone to go back to refilling only when needed. I’m just saying that a more realistic one is a lengthy period of oversupply to get to the point where no more will fit in to people’s tanks. Because people.

[mdavidford]

That assumes that there is

That assumes that there is absolutely no spare delivery capacity, rather than just very marginal. It also assumes that they’re locked in to their existing delivery patterns, whereas in reality they will be able to redirect deliveries from areas and stations that aren’t experiencing shortages to those that are. You only need to get each station to the point where it has just enough to cover it until the next delivery, not restore it to where it was before all this began.

[mdavidford]

It already has happened –

It already has happened – stages were shortened, but still went ahead. The EWP seems to be a bit of a moveable feast.

[mdavidford]

But if consumption is normal,

But if consumption is normal, and deliveries are normal, then you get back to the normal state of equilibrium, with the only difference being that everyone’s driving around with a full tank. Even if a handful of stations then have issues because of driver shortages, that can’t trigger a fresh round of panic buying, because everyone’s tank is already full.

[mdavidford]

Pedantry corner: if they’re

Pedantry corner: if they’re 55% full (on average), you can only put 45% of a tank in to them (on average). That makes 0.45 x 60l x 30m = 810m litres, not 990m litres. You seem to be putting 55% of a tank into cars that are already 55% full.

Also not really sure how you get to 990m litres being double 770m litres?

recovery can only happen as people revert to filling their cars up once empty, instead of maintaining their tank as close to full as possible.

Well, recovery can happen as you reach the point where everone’s tanks are full, because then, by necessity, they will go back to only taking as much fuel from the pump as they’re using. The problem is that, as you point out, reaching the point where everyone has a full tank requires several re-fills of the pumps.

[mdavidford]

Wait – would that mean I’d

Wait – would that mean I’d have to extol the quality of the research, writing, editing, and proof-reading that’s gone in to the articles? Not sure I can get on board with that.

[mdavidford]

Tour Down Under being ridden

Tour Down Under being ridden in 45+C seems pretty extreme to me. And that’s probably going to become the rule rather than the exception.

[mdavidford]

Maybe, but I’m not sure you

Maybe, but I’m not sure you can call that ‘feudal anarchy’ – it’s more some feudal areas and some areas of anarchy. Otherwise, you have to, for instance, say that Afghanistan before the US pull-out had a system of ‘liberal totalitarianism’, which doesn’t seem to make much sense.

[Author]

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