The recent hacking of the Colonial Pipeline seemed at first an impossible nightmare, but also an unpleasant déjà vu feeling. I was hacked myself by a ransom virus last decade. I lost 2 books that I was working on, plus photos and other irreplaceable items. Afterward I got Carbonite to prevent this from happening again.
I can't help but wonder why these huge corporations and companies don't already have such a measure in place, or at least a reasonable facsimile.
Seeing long lines of cars snaking around corners brought memories of the OPEC Oil Embargo surging back. The year was 1973 and I was 22 years old. Only a couple years before my father purchased a flower shop with an attached wedding chapel. We lived in Stuart but our business was located in West Palm Beach an hour's drive away. We commuted back and forth.
Also we had delivery trucks that constantly needed refueling. Fortunately the man who owned the gas station across the street assured us we would always have gas even if others didn't because we were his bread & butter.
Then came talk of rationing, thankfully the embargo ended before it came to that.
However during the Covid pandemic & lockdown paper products should have been rationed!!! For months it was downright impossible to buy Kleenex or paper towels, much less tissue paper.
As to the recent oil shortage, it really shouldn't have been a problem here in Florida, only a small percentage was derived from that particular pipeline. However our fool, Trump turd of a governor created a shortage and hording by declaring a state of emergency where there was none!
My father had always told me never to allow the gas tank to fall below 50 per cent. The week before the Colonial hacking was announced I was out grocery shopping. I knew I needed to fill up my tank; however I got a late start that day and was eager to return home. I told myself I'd take care of it when I was out the following week. Later I could have kicked myself for waiting!
Upon seeing the long lines at every station I kept driving. Instead, I bought enough groceries to last for several weeks to wait it out. Nothing I haven't done before thanks to the pandemic. I'd save my half tank of gas for emergencies.
I am grateful that I wasn't as inconvenienced as many others. I think of all the people who had urgent places to be with important business to attend who were stuck in that situation.
A snowbird couple, friends of mine was forced to spend 2020 in Florida year round due to the pandemic. By May they were eager to return home. However the trumped-up oil shortage here in Florida derailed that several weeks.
At least that issue is now over.
And there's more good news, I am fully vaccinated at last! Although it feels as if everything is changed. Life seems to have undergone a mutation and is almost unrecognizable in so many different ways now. Was there ever a time when life was normal, I wonder? Then I recall what someone told me in therapy, "Normal is just a setting on your dryer."
No comments:
Post a Comment