Beer is still more expensive per litre than diesel or petrol!

It has been for a very long time. What is more, most of it has fallen as rain, not being dug up in some inhospitable place at great expense. But of course most of both prices is some form of taxation.

Bottled water is also pretty expensive - I don't know why people buy it in this country ....

Beer is still more expensive per litre than diesel or petrol!

Banks best in ALDI is £0.89 per pint or £1.56:per litre

Little french lager are cheaper than that.

Diesel in my local station is £1.48 per litre, and was £1.67 at the mway services last time I was there.

Pretty much the same price these days, both heavily taxed mind.

We were away for the weekend. We did 500 miles, 90% on motorways, for £62.50 worth of E10. This is approximately 53mpg. Before fuel prices rocketed I was averaging 10p per mile. However even at current prices 12.5p a mile in fuel is still OK in my book.

I checked Trainline and the same train journey would have cost £140 each plus a taxi at either end. Or £305 each first class.

Of course if I took into account all my running costs then my cost per mile is much closer to the rail cost but that is not how most people think. In any case living in a rural area I need a car as public transport is poor.

<< You really cannot underestimate the convenience of living so close to the railway >>

I think you mean 'overstate', and I agree with you as I live 5 mins walk from our local station. If you can't underestimate something it must be unimportant ?

Petrol was cheap in 1973 when I started driving. It does cost a little more per gallon in real terms today, but improvements in car economy and performance wipe that out.

Ford Anglia, Triumph Herald etc - 0-60 ~20 seconds, max speed ~80mph, ~30mpg, servicing every 3-5k. Current mid range equivalents - 0-60 ~10 seconds, max speed ~120mph, ~45-60mpg, servicing every 12-20k. +air con, +electric windows, +more space for luggage and passengers, + etc.

Fuel is very, very cheap. For £7 my car will travel 50 miles, with four passengers and luggage, in about an hour. No other way to move goods and people comes remotely close in terms of time or money.

Horses, bullock carts, canal barge are utterly non-competitve. Trains and buses may have environmental merits - but are inflexible with fixed timetables, and often high fare cost.

Were fuel (say) 3 time the price, we would think far more carefully about how we organise our lives. There is no quick fix - social and economic structures have evolved over the last 75 years since WW2 on the back of cheap fuel and mobility.