and so it is that the battle (probably) rages on, look you see. we, as a planet, or rather a species which inhabits the planet, are more or less united in our quest to defeat this new plague; the coronavirus. such a coming together is quite rare, for it is normal that the minor differences between us all tend to far outweigh all that we have that is similar. perhaps it shall be looked back on and fondly remembered, but if history teaches us anything then maybe not.
few and far between are the times that i can recall so many of our (estimated) seven billion being as one. closest, perhaps, is Live Aid back in 1985. yes, true, also in 1985 was that time there was a proliferation of widespread condemnation of Phil Collins preventing Frankie Goes To Hollywood having a 4th number one single in a row (back when the singles chart was proper and based on actual sales), but as that particular crusade continues to this day it is unfair to speak of it much.
just as with any battle or war, heroes and villains rise in tales of bravery and treachery. it is totes absolutely so that this is happening with the present conflict. to highlight but one episode, or instance, let us be less Phil, more Frankie and look at a positive; if you will a hero.
this tale of courage, like so many of the better such stories, has simplicity at heart. it is an adventure pretty much all of us can relate to, and pertains primarily to the desire to obtain bread at the most modest and reasonable cost possible.
many of you will wish for an as objective as possible telling of the story, so that you may draw your own conclusions. very well. for those of you who want such, here is a link to the story on the bbc website. alternatively, if you are happy (or comfortable) to accept my brief retelling of the incident of bravery, a gent in Nottingham was stopped driving (quite fast) from there to London (and back) with his children in the car, claiming he was doing so as bread was £1 cheaper there.
having, maybe weirdly and certainly unexpectedly, experienced both places, yes, i do question the validity, or if you wish veritas, of this claim. absolutely nothing, except perhaps the value of life, is cheaper in London than is the case anywhere in the country, or the world. when you consider that for some reason Nottingham tries to present itself as "the London of the Midlands", it is not like prices are that reasonable for consumers or patrons of stores. if i were to speculate, to have some sort of educated, based on experience guess, then i would put forward the idea that the cost of things in London is probably similar to the base cost of the same in Nottingham. but this chap clearly thought different (unless he was lying about the reason for his travels), so let us go with it.
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let us run with is, let us take as a given that the cost of bread in London is indeed £1 south of the standard pricing for such in Nottingham. i was curious about all of this, and wished to know (or understand) if this act of courage - to drive north of 100 miles per hour (around 160 km/h, Frenchies) down a motorway in order to secure a more modestly priced loaf. so, armed with pencil, paper and calculator, as well as an unusually high level of research (by my standards), i went right ahead and "did the maths" on it all. or, and it pains me to write it this way, "did the math" for our friends in America.
as a brief aside, just what is the problem America has with using an "s" correctly? not only do they drop it off of the word maths, but they also call Keith Richards Keith Richard. further, they go and add it where it is not needed, which is why on the internet one encounters the profanity that is "Legos" when "Lego" is the correct way to make reference to multiples of the item.
right, getting back to the (ostensible) point here, Nottingham to London and back is, give or take a little, a 240 mile trip. or about 386 so called kilometers for any Frenchies still reading this (merci). as it is one of the most popular cars for families (and the proliferation of them in Nottingham gives every suggestion that they might as well rename the place after them), i have taken it as a given that a Ford Fiesta was used. further, in terms of capital expenditure and other subsidiary costs, i have taken as a given than the car is either paid off in full (or "borrowed"), but have incorporated a basic maintenance cost in the estimated fuel charge.
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on an open motorway with constant conditions being variable, it is so that one could plausibly get 68 miles per gallon (mpg) off of a Ford Fiesta. no, i am not doing metric measurements any further. thus, it is more or less so that the trip to London from Nottingham (and back) would consume about 3.6 gallons of fuel (petrol, presumably). with the oil market in freefall this is a tricky one, but for the sake of ease of understanding let us work on an understanding that the fuel cost £4.53 per gallon (oh, go on then Frenchies, £1.20 per "litre"). a rough fuel cost for this crusade in the war on coronavirus would in effect, then, "only" be slightly north of £16.
to this extent, then, the intrepid rogue male would merely need to have purchased 17 loaves of bread in London at £1 less than the price in Nottingham to have made this trip financially viable. any further, which is to say loaves in number north of 18, would see his quest become exponentially more of sound fiscal sense. to go further, if he had purchased (i think) 40 loafs (loaves) of bread and sold them in Nottingham for just 50p lower than the apparent base Nottinghamshire price for such, he would have turned a tidy profit from the war. and profit is generally what war concerns.
but it is of course the case that the police disagreed with this point of view, remonstrating with this entrepreneur or value hunter of the battle. and, as we are under instruction by consent not to travel excessive distances, they are correct to have done so. it is, after all, the case that the constabulary have their hands full with necessary arrests of various health ministers around the world who believe in the Orwellian adage of some animals being more equal than others.
undoubtedly there will be further tales such as this as the war rages. like all wars, many incidents and instances of this nature shall be turned into lucrative films. i suspect this one, when filmed, shall probably be less Full Metal Jacket, more Where Eagles Dare, in truth.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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