Agaricus thank you for your generous description of me as a 'numptie'. I shall remember that.......
I admit I didn't take account of the difference in size between the US and UK gallons, and my $8 estimate was off the top of my head without detailed calculation, so let's refine it, shall we?
In my local garage this morning, regular unleaded was £0.82.9 per litre. The exchange rate today is quoted at $1.8331 to the pound. At 4.55 litres to a gallon, that's $6.9144 for a UK gallon of petrol. I'm sure
747FOCAL can convert to the US gallon for himself, though he and
Trag will no doubt have noted that petrol is not sold in US gallons here in UK. I'm also sure that he did not misunderstand my original point, which was that it is bloody expensive. But, hey, let's split some hairs - that's far more helpful
As for the net income, the thrust of my post was to point out that the UK government deductions from income doesn't stop at income tax, and that £39k is not a realistic assessment of the net cash in hand from a wage of £55K - believe me, I know! Certainly, if our friend's wife could bring in £2K
net a month (for which she'll need to earn around £40k gross), they would be able to live a very comfortable life - even in the south of England. But, if you re-read
Trag's post, you'll see he suggests that his wife may bring in around £1500 - £2000
gross, which is quite a different matter.They won't be poor, but the cost of living in the south of England is among the highest in the world. Why lead him to believe otherwise?
FOCAL I'm sure that if you guys want to get rid of Bush, you'll find a way in November. I doubt he'll make it easy by raising gas taxes to our levels!