It’s The Small Things

Green for Diesel - Black for Petrol ... Right?

It has been said that the United States and Great Britain are two nations separated by a common language. I believe that this is just half of the truth that explains why our differences amount to chasms in to which many unwitting people fall.

In my adventures across the pond over the years I have encountered the wild, the wonderful and the down right confusing.

I submit to you, Difference #197 – the Petrol (Gas) Pump.

Perhaps I could lobby the UN to draft a resolution for the promotion of a code unifying petrol pump colours? Why, oh why, would you pick the two same colours and reverse them?!

Yes, in this picture Diesel is from the green pump and Petrol from the black pump.

Never mind that the Americans drive on the French side of the road (yes, that’s right, you heard me) and that conservative politics are draped in red hues whilst the liberals sport blue (is it just a case of reversing anything the Old Empire does?) this almost beggars belief. It’s hard not to conjour up elaborate conspiracy theories of men in horn-rimmed glasses, suits and black ties scheming up plots to trick us.

What is your experience of the clash of our two great cultures? Are you a Colonial with stories from your time in the Old Motherland or perhaps you like me have ventured out West following the grand expeditions of years before? Share your thoughts – I know there’s a vast resource of stories to pool from!