Tuesday Tradition

In order to get some semblance of a real life back, I have started a Tuesday evening tradition.

In Melbourne, Tuesday nights are commonly called "tight arse Tuesdays". Many places have special discounted rates and tickets to encourage people to come out during the week. So, I decided that every Tuesday I am going to the cinema, since the tickets are a low price of $9 ($7.53 US). I also get a small popcorn and a large drink for $12.10 ($10.13 US). Each week, I am reminded that I could get a large popcorn and large drink for $12, but I think I can front the extra dime for having the size popcorn that I can actually eat.

Movies here are slightly different and a little wierd because many theatres have assigned seats. If the movie is not crowded (like today when I saw 28 Weeks Later with only one other person in the theatre, spooky!), then you don't have to keep your assigned seat. If the movie is very popular, then you have to sit in your proper place.

Also, they don't have the extra butter for the popcorn. The first time I asked for popcorn with extra butter, the woman told me that it came butter flavoured. When I said, "yeah, but can I get extra?" she looked at me like I had 3 heads and I realized why Americans are so fat.

But movies are not the only thing that are discounted on Tuesdays. Tuesday is also the day that petrol (gasoline) is the cheapest all week! So after I see my early evening movie, I go to the petrol station and queue up for the discounted rate!



Yes! It IS just as exciting as it looks!

This week's lineup was for petrol at the low price of $1.23/ litre, which is the lowest I have seen in the past several weeks. This works out to US$1.03/ liter, which in turn works out to about US$3.90/gallon.

And, just when I was at the front of the line, one of the pumps ran dry.


I was lucky that there was still another pump left and that I was still able to fill my tank because tomorrow it will probably be at least 5 cents more/litre, or US$0.15/gal more. I'll definitely remember this experience when I return to America and hear people complain about gas prices.