Yes, I was thinking about not letting the gas tank get down to fumes.
We all have things we hate to do, even when they’re not terribly taxing.* Getting gas is something I hate to do. I hated it in 1970 when gas was 36 cents a gallon and I wasn’t even the one paying for it, so it’s not a price problem. It’s a “me” problem. Despite being necessary, for some irrational reason, that wasn’t enough so I added urgent. Admittedly, this was a weird type of procrastination since running on fumes made me anxious, but every time I coasted into the station was validation that I had things under control. “See, I didn’t need to call AAA or wander down the road with a gas can.” I never once ran out of fuel, but I sure pressed the limits.
Some years back, when I drove a car with a diesel engine, I began to take urgent more seriously. Running out of fuel in a diesel was more than just a self-inflicted inconvenience that AAA could fix. I’m back to gas, but my diesel fueling habits have stuck with me.
About a quarter of a tank registers “empty” for me now. So I stopped to get gas, feeling good about myself for having skipped anxiety. Well, anxiety didn’t want to be denied. The flap that covers the gas cap wouldn’t open. This is not a higher order skill but I failed, or rather the flap failed. The owner’s manual failed -I already knew how to open it when it was working, but what the hell do you do when it isn’t? The first dealer I called failed- there is no fix other than bringing it in and we don’t have any appointments for a while. It was not looking good. I was glad for those 75 miles still in the tank. Filling up now looked unlikely but I called another dealer. He gave me a work around that worked, an appointment for the next business day to get it fixed and some reassurance about it probably being a computer glitch that “threw a code”. A gas flap governed by a computer… not entirely reassuring.
This trifling tale is turning into a saga so I’ll leave you with this. When things are both necessary and urgent, get them done, pronto. When they’re necessary but non-urgent- still get them done but with some wiggle room in the timing. When they’re urgent but unnecessary- have a talk with yourself. And when they’re neither necessary nor urgent- skip it, please.
*As I think about it, buying gas is really taxing, but the act of stuffing the nozzle into mouth of the tank really isn’t.