Last Friday (June 29th) was one of Milwaukee's Critcal Mass rides. If you've never heard of that, it's a cycling event started about 13 years ago in San Francisco, basically a "take back the streets" sort of thing. Except this time there was nothing to take the streets back from. About 150 riders showed up, and we outnumbered the motor vehicle traffic almost everywhere we went. It wasn't until we got downtown that we saw more than about 5 cars at once. Of course, once we were downtown we suddenly found ourselves blockaded and then surrounded by the police. They were obviously quite nervous about such a large mobile group, but I can hardly blame them. They've been a bit on edge about demonstrations since some anarchists burned an Exxon station to the ground last week (at least I assume it was anarchists, there was a banner that said "Burn Corporations, not their Oil" left hanging from a signpost.) Anyway, the ride broke up after that, it was getting late anyway.
Like I said, the streets have pretty much cleared of vehicles outside of business hours. I finally found some people from my neighborhood to carpool with, so I've cut my fuel costs by a third. Of course my truck is a two-seater, so I've had to park it semi-permanently. It still has a full tank for necessary/emergency trips, and I fire it up every now and then to make sure it's still in working order (remember kids, gasoline will turn to varnish if it sits too long.)
Speaking of emergencies, Milwaukee saw our first looting over the weekend. It started with a supermarket in a low-income part of the city, but once the windows started breaking it spread down the street. There were probably 200 people involved, the police eventually broke it up with tear gas and firehoses. Some of the pictures that the media got a hold of were just rediculous: can you believe someone was actually stealing car stereos?
On a related note, I finally broke down and bought a gun. Figured it was a good idea before they got hard to find. I got two actually: a 9mm handgun I bought at a local place and an AR-15 style assault rifle that I bought online. I still don't feel the need to start carrying either one though. The Milwaukee police have been notoriously trigger-happy in the past and I don't want to give them any excuses, and the state still says it's illegal to carry a concealed handgun anyway. The concealed-carry thing may change though, people are really starting to let the powers in Madison (the state capitol) that they want to have some old-fashioned protection.
For the moment, though, the legislature has been deadlocked over repealing the gas tax. The Republicans want to end it, while the Democrats say it would practically bankrupt the state. Whatever, if anyone tries to convince me one way or the other I point out that the 40-some cents of tax would hardly put a dent in prices near $7/gallon.
When I woke up this morning, the station down the block had regular unleaded at $6.66, maybe the end really is near.
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Yeah, I figured $6.50 a gallon would be the tipping point for the economy, because that makes the average gas tank about a hundred bucks to fill.
Don't drive, don't even know how. The grocery store where I work is a two-mile walk from where I live, and they really need me now that I'm one of the few employees who can reliably get there. I knew the times were a-changin' last week when they started training me as a cashier, in addition to the many other odd jobs around there I've been doing lately. Good thing I've become so necessary due to my proximity, or I might have had my hours dramatically cut due to how much less business there is. If this keeps up, I'll be the damn Store Director before very long!
My de facto landlady (niece of the actual landlady) lives in the building with me, and both she and my older brother have become increasingly mentally unstable (not that they were exactly rational to begin with) as modern industrial society crumbles around us. If I ever lost my job at the store, I don't think I would even be able to stand being around those two any longer. I'd probably just pack all my post-crash-survival books into a bookbag and just start walking south, come what may.
I know this is shallow as all get-out, but I miss my air conditioner. Oh, it's still sitting there in the window, but no way could I afford to run it. I only use electricity for lights, fridge, cooking, clocks, and the electric fan so that I can still run the computer. This Internet connection is probably the only thing keeping me sane, and who knows for how much longer I'll have that??
Hakeem Stop reading the comments and contribute to your group
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