19 February 2008

Fossil fuels

As many of you know, my main mode of transport is the wonderful Honda Cub. I have heard that it is the most popular motorbike in the world, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, the Cub has a three litre tank and can go about 170 klicks on that. This is a wonderful way to get around, and ends up costing me about $5 every 9 days for gasoline.

Unfortunately, in the winter, I can't really get around on the scooter because of the snow. This leaves me in my wife's car, which is a two door version of the Nissan March. The March is the awful, namely because it has only two doors and it is small but not the smallest class in Japan so the tax is awful. There are any number of other things I hate about it like if you pop the trunk then shut the driver's side door too hard, the trunk closes, but it's okay.

Anyway, so on to fossil fuels. If I drive my scooter I pay about $5 every 8 days. In the March? It's about $50 every eight days. Which I think is ridiculously expensive for such a small car, but also got me thinking about how much money I have saved using the scooter when I have. I think it's somewhere around $3000 or $4000. Once I move, I won't use a car or the scooter everyday as I am close enough to walk to school. I suspect this will be very good for my heart, in just about every meaning of that word.