Ice Breaker

The lowest price of gasoline in my town the last time I looked was $2.599. That's certainly a lot less than it has been,ⁱ and the price of oil on the commodities market is tumbling. I guess that's good. It has me rethinking a policy I've had in place for years though. I'd walk for short distances, justifying that act as a way both to save time and money and to improve my health.ⁱⁱ And I'd also glory in the idea that I was denying those sheiks somewhere a little of my money. I was both frugal and virtuous.

But I'm driving a little more now. Not simply because I'm older, but because it's cheaper. My schedule has changed as well and it makes more sense to drive for that reason, however I'd be fooling myself if I really tried to justify my transportation on that basis. The real reason is that it makes economic sense.

I came to this conclusion when seeing all the people pulling out their bottles and drinking while walking.ⁱⁱⁱ I'm not sure that the water is their fuel, but it's certainly a major accompaniment of their ambulation. The longer the walk, the more water they drink. It requires a place to keep the bottle and the wasted concentration and energy needed for the whole process. It doesn't seem to make much sense.

And another thing. It's expensive. People may view it as beneficial, believing the water to be pure and healthful, especially when it's supplemented by vitamins or minerals (along with food coloring) but I suspect the real reason they do so is because everyone drinks bottled water nowadays. So it must be good.

It's not for me though. I'll stick with tap water, which is the source of much of the bottled water on the market anyway. As far as I'm concerned the taste is fine. It's New York City water, which has a fairly good reputation. No added flavors that I can detect.^iv And, to the best of my knowledge, the water's healthful enough. No major outbreaks of toxicity or infection^v have been reported in drinkers secondary to it. And I don't have to buy and throw away plastic bottles. So I'm actully doing something good for the environment – not that I'm all that concerned.^vi

But let's get back to the economics. I was checking out the price of bottled water on my computer^vii,viii and I learned that the list price for eight ounce bottles of water (Nestle's^®) was $4.67 a gallon. Of course I could get it cheaper. In the liter bottles, for example, Poland Springs^® water was little as $3.17 at Staples, and there's one not too far away by car, but I couldn't walk there, and I certainly couldn't carry back enough of the water to make the walk worthwhile. (Of note, as well, is the fact that the nearest Staples is on the other side of the Bronx River which is difficult to walk across unless it is frozen,^ix and then there is always the risk of it breaking when I walk over it carrying heavy bottles. If I'm not drinking something – not the water – I don't need cracked ice. And it's only frozen at times when I wouldn't want to walk, and when perspiration and dehydration would be less of a hazard than otherwise.)

What it boils down to, is that it's cheaper (and easier) to drive on gasoline than to walk on water. It's also a lot faster. By and large, gasoline has it all over water.^x It even floats on it. So I'll drive more often and walk less.

But I'd still like to find some way to stick it to the sheiks.

Next episode: “Watson” – Not the computer.

 

 

I        And according to all the news reports, it's likely to go lower. At least until it goes higher.

ii       I must admit that I'm not convinced that most of the measures we take – including walking – to improve our health really have any value. I suspect that they're fads that give people the illusion that they're doing something useful. I employ the same tactic, but I recognize the fact that it's only an excuse for something that I want to do for other reasons.

iii      I'm not one of them, but the possibility that may occur is alarming.

iv       If there are, I've been drinking this stuff so long that I don't notice them.

v        Or infestation.

vi      The environment has been doing fine for billions of years and it is only human arrogance that convinces us that we're more powerful than the earth and we can destroy it.

vii      How did we ever survive before there was a Google^®?

viii    Parsing that sentence is a little difficult because it's ambiguous. Just so you're clear, the bottled water isn't on my computer – that's where I do the checking.

ix       Sure I could use a bridge, but if I'm walking all that distance I'm going to take all the shortcuts I can think of.

x        I have to admit, though, that bourbon goes better with water than with diesel.