From petrol to cooking oil

Forget the weather - the hot topic in Prague this summer is the price of petrol. For a nation of country cottage enthusiasts for whom a weekly trip to their country cottage is a must the price of petrol is a big deal. And it has been climbing steadily all summer. Nowadays you'll see many drivers slowing down as they go past a petrol station with an eye out on where you can get the lowest price.

There are many signs of a growing petrol-fever in the Czech Republic. Rumours of yet another increase always create long lines at petrol stations. The police report a high number of petrol thefts - i.e. petrol pumped straight from parked cars under cover of dark. And one private radio station has launched a competition called "Get your petrol for free". The idea being that one petrol station would give away free petrol for 60 minutes to anyone who turns up. In order to find out where and when you have to listen to the mentioned station all day - and then make a dash for it. Lots of drivers did. Some just grumble and say that things are looking very bad - but what can you do - they'd pay what they had to anyway. Others are taking drastic measures and getting their cars converted to gas. Allegedly the 200 or so firms providing this service are working night and day to meet demand - and they have their work cut out for them for months ahead. According to statistics some 200,000 cars have so far been converted to gas power. Mechanics have been warning people not to attempt to convert their cars on their own since this could be a serious health hazard. This week finally brought some relief. The price of petrol has stopped climbing and although economists are not predicting a drop it should at least stagnate at the present level. It was high time too. Some drivers had taken to running their cars on cooking oil.