I have lately been watching a program which is on Britbox - Bergerac. I'm sure all my English friends will know the series. The other evening as Jim pulled up to the gas pumps to have his car filled with gasoline, I got to thinking about what I enjoy about the older shows.
No CCTV
No cell phones
Airplanes with outdoor steps on and off the plane
And the thing I probably miss the most - gas stations that pumped your gas.
I will easily admit that I have never filled up my own car. I hate the smell. I didn't want any residue on my hands. I hate the crowds, with cars always lined up behind you. I wonder is it just my age or do older people pump their own gas?
Even in my children's childhoods, we went to the gas (also known here as service) station. They put gas in the tank, cleaned the windshield [they even kept bottles of washer fluid on the shelves with customers' names on them], added washer fluid when needed, checked the tire pressure and all the while chatting with John at the town gas station named for his father and another fellow who had it before him.
John and I were light years apart politically but it didn't matter a bit. He was kind to my kids, he was a booster for all the sports teams in town, we loved the Red Sox, and I liked hearing him talk about his favorite band Credence Clearwater Revival. He was full of local stories he knew from living in this little town his whole life.
We have lost something special in pumping our own gas, We've lost connection and personal service, and even friendship. It makes me ache with longing for such a simple thing that we all took for granted.
WOW, I can't believe you've never pumped your own gas??? Amazing. When I got my license in 1970 gasoline was 29 to 30 cents a gallon and yes, for the most part I've always pumped my own gas. We have a full service station in town but I only go there when it's freezing cold or raining heavily. BTW - I'm a weirdo who never minded the smell of gasoline either. I can't believe you face long lines where you live unless it's the only station in town.
ReplyDeleteIt is the only one in town!! There's a quieter one a bit outside of town.
DeleteMy dad owned a Pontiac dealership and maybe I was sick of the smell from hanging around the garage as a kid.
I grew up in a small town in Vermont and I miss the easy friendships my parents had with everybody, no matter their politics. We could appreciate each others' good qualities even if baffled by their opinions. There were fierce battles at town meeting followed by story telling and laughter at the potluck supper after.
ReplyDeleteI'm right across the border! Your description is just as I remember life growing up. There are still relationships between people with opposing views, but not as common. The polarization is quite strident now, even in small towns.
DeleteThose days sure look good in retrospect, don't they, Nan? I wish I had appreciated them more when I was living them. As an official "older person," I can confirm that we all pump our own gas down here, at least...even my wife has done it for so long now that she is very comfortable doing it.
ReplyDeleteMy maternal grandfather worked at one of those full service gas stations after he retired from farming in Louisiana and moved to a small town in Texas. I think he did that from about age 60 to 75, and he loved it because he got to talk to so many friends and neighbors every day while pumping their gas and cleaning their windshields. It was much more than a (necessary) job to him.
I don't know anyone else who doesn't fill their tanks themselves. I feel like a 1950s woman in a flouncy dress. hahaha.
DeleteI love the story of your grandfather. Mine had a "filling station" when I was very little.
I wish we still had Full Service Gas stations, and I bet a lot of other people do too. I remember being very, very young and being in the car with my Dad when he said "Fill it up, Ethyl." to the gas station attendant. I thought about it for awhile and I had never seen that man before and then asked my Dad, "how did you know his name is Ethyl?" I was so young I didn't even know that Ethyl is probably always a woman's name.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I had to ask Tom what "ethyl" was!!
DeleteVery funny about your question!!!
I hate filling the gas tank too. Even though a good family friend owned gas stations I never liked doing it. I think you last paragraph says it all. We are a nation of disconnected people.
ReplyDeleteMy father owned a Pontiac garage, and then added a gas station as well. I probably had too much gas smell and grease in my life! Though my father was very clean. He was the boss and other fellows did the messy stuff. Haha.
DeleteAnd yes, we are. Although my blogging friends do keep me feeling connected to people.
I was thinking recently about the service station near my home growing up, Ray and Eddie's. My father thought he had such a great connection with the two guys who ran it and maybe he did but even as a teen I wondered if they took advantage of his complete cluelessness about cars because they did an awful lot of repair work on our family vehicles! I think he learned how to do self serve but my mother is very unwilling to learn. I tried to show her recently because I don't want her to be stranded in an emergency (I think someone would probably help her but she might be too proud to ask). There are two gas stations locally that still pump for you but the prices are always higher.
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting about the garage guys. I bet you are right!
DeleteYup - I'm with your mother, though I wouldn't be proud at all to ask. I don't actually drive very much anymore so it really isn't an issue. It has come on slowly over the past five years or so, and then the virus hit. You can tell her she is not alone!! Lucky you to have those stations. I'd pay tons more just to have someone do it for me!
Nan, I hear what you are saying. I'm not sure Oregon still has this rule, but when we lived there and visited after that time people are not allowed to pump their own gas. Les would know, of course. I remember when we first moved there and a person came out to pump the gas I told them that I knew how to do it. They said, yes, lady, but you are not allowed to pump your own gas. I was really, really surprised. Anyway, are there places that will pump your gas for you these days? I don't think I've seen any in a long time. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI think I've heard that about Oregon, and maybe New Jersey. I should move. Ha!
DeleteThat's still the rule, Kay. We are not allowed to pump our own gas. I love it! We don't know the folks who pump our fuel for us, though. There's always someone new at the pumps whenever we go. When we lived in Nebraska, I would go to to the full service pump at our neighborhood gas station when it was super cold so I wouldn't have to leave the warmth of my car. It was so much more expensive, but so worth it!
DeleteKinda sad you don't know the people. Mostly young? Maybe not a steady job?
DeleteDoes the pumper wear a mask?
It's a fairly large community and the gas station has over a dozen pumps. They have several people working so customers don't have to wait for an attendant to pump their gas. Since it's a tourist area, they get a lot of RVs, which take longer to fill. I guess what I'm thinking is they have a lot of employees working different shifts, some are in their late teens/twenties and some could easily be in their 40s/50s/60s. Yes, the employees all wear masks.
DeleteThanks for this. It gives a good picture of the station and the area.
DeleteI sometimes wish we could drop back in time and it was a simpler life. We read the paper, a real newspaper and asked the other person if they were done with a particular section. No staring at phones, people havng conversations.
ReplyDeleteI actually bought our weekly local paper last week! I read a couple regional ones online, but there is just something about the local - high school field hockey on the front page!
DeleteI have gotten increasingly upset about phones. I use mine to text and take pictures and instagram. I would never pay my bills or email or read articles on it. Too small.
If you ever fly to PEI you would get to walk down the stairs and outdoors off the plane to get to the airport! No matter the weather.
ReplyDeleteWell, isn't that the best thing!!! Thanks for telling me. I'm gonna go look for a picture.
DeleteNan, when I used to travel for business in the late 90s. I had to fly to a couple small towns on prop planes - One was Pink Hill, NC and we deplanes with those outside steps and boarded the same way. They would balance out the inside seating by weight too LOL - I was invited to a pig roast while I was there, I respectfully declined but, I guess it's a big thing there LOL - Us northerners not so much.
DeleteI love it! I looked up Pink Hill and it doesn't seem like any planes fly there anymore. There still seem to be some outdoor stairs around. You may have read my PEI friend's comment!
DeleteI've still gone up and down steps onto / off planes, I'm sure. I know I did in Iceland in 2016 because going home I'd run a marathon 2 days before and was worried I wouldn't manage!
ReplyDeleteIt must be that the smaller places still have them. So great!
DeleteI've never pumped my own gas, Nan. But Bergerac! I thought I was the only present day fan of the show. Finished the series a few weeks ago. When I watched the first episode the actor playing him was so familiar and finally I realized he was Barnaby of Midsomer Murders, who I dearly loved. I loved seeing the island of Jersey in the series and loved that John Nettles obviously spoke French fluently. It was such a nice twist having his ex-father-in-law as a regular character on the series.
ReplyDeleteThat pleases me so much that you watched Bergerac! John Nettles was also in A Family at War, which I watched a few months ago, having seen it on PBS when it first came out. He really is a good actor.
DeleteJersey is beautiful. I'd like to go but prob never will. Gerald Durrell's zoo is there. Did you watch the Durrells on PBS? A great, great series. He was quite a fellow. Knew right from the start what he wanted to do with his life.
And yes, the ex-father-in-law, and even ex-wife, and the daughter add a lot to the show.
And that car!!!!