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Fizzle

About ten days ago I first heard of the threatened protests this week over the price of petrol and diesel.

I can laugh now at what I wrote during the protests five years ago; I know the situation didn't get bad and that it resolved fairly swiftly. I don't agree with the protesters at all but I was just starting to look forward to a fun few days: quiet streets, working from home, cooking more.

What I didn't anticipate is just how spectacularly the bravado would fizzle out. Was it all just media hype? Reporters trying to stir up a big story in a slow month? (Or maybe the conspiracy theorists would have us believe the "flop" of the protests is just spin to stop us stressing.)

Perhaps the best punch-line is the news that fuel prices are expected to drop today, and that those who, convinced of the impending shortage, filled up their cars earlier in the week would have been better chilling and waiting.