I Have Gas!

Yes, I chose that title because it was kind of funny.
We decided that we would take a chance, and go into the neighboring town of Hitachi-Ota to fill up the car with gasoline. The wife has become a twitterholic, and some of the people she follows said that the Shell station there was allowing you to fill up the tank- not just put 10L or 2000 yen, but full tank. So we gambled.

In my life so far, I have never left the house wondering if the car had enough gas to get me back home. Think about it. You might worry that you don't have enough gas to get from your house to the gas station, but not knowing if you can actually get any gas- it was unsettling.  I knew that we had enough to get there, and at least part of the way home. And of course we could walk if the worst happened, but it was unsettling all the same.

Well, we made it to the gas station and lo and behold, the line was only about 60 cars long! So we got in line, and 20 minutes later we had a full tank, and a 10L can of gas as well. So we headed for the family restaurant and celebrated- in no particular order- my birthday, the daughter's last day of school, the son's upcoming first day of school, temporary fuel security, buying groceries, and finally getting the wife out of the house. It was quite an event.