Gas station

Time to find a blip, so I grabbed the camera and headed down hill, hoping that I would find something soon, as the return trip would be uphill. Thirty yards was enough, as I reached the barred eating house, the welding shop and the gas station.

Introducing Mr.Sepudin. This handsome, shy young man runs the local gas station. It took a lot of coaxing from me and the two welders, to convince Sep that this was a good idea and I managed three shots before his shyness prevailed and he called a halt to the shoot. The other two shots were technically better, but only this shot showed off that delicious smile of his. Maybe one day, when I have the D70 to play with, I will feature the smile. He will be reluctant, but a bribe might work.

Sep spends a long day in this little shack, the front of which is visible plus a doorway. He scoops the benzene up with a jug and pours it into the motorbike tank, through a filtered funnel, which he is seen holding. Sep starts work at 7am and finishes around 9pm. Unfortunately, I don't think he will ever see a letter from the Queen, to celebrate his hundredth birthday, working in this carcinogenic environment, but nothing could be further from his mind. He is making an honest living and will never go hungry.

Every traffic busy street in Indonesia will have several of these mini gas stations along it's length, so running out of petrol in an urban environment is not such a big deal, as I have done a few times. I always buy my fuel from Sep, as he doesn't stiff me with the price, like some of them do. His price is constant, US50c per liter.

I don't want to leave you with the impression that this is how fuel is delivered officially, we still have all the normal, western style petrol stations, delivering fuel through pumps etc, but this system works and keeps a lot of people off the breadline. In fact there is no breadline, if you don't earn money, you starve to death, there are no handouts here, other than from your own kin.

You might be under the impression that life is therefore hard here and again you would be wrong, unless of course you are a malingerer. Indonesia life is all about family. The people who really suffer are those that are unable to earn a crust and have no family to support them, now this situation is extremely sad. With no social support or soup kitchens, the only option is to beg a few coins at the traffic lights, but even this activity is run by syndicates of gangs, taking their cut. I could write pages on the subject, but maybe another day.

Dave