Heating Oil Costs High As Ever

The Bay Tree coffee-house in Holywood, County Down, was buzzing as usual this morning. Four of us arrived at about elevenish and managed to get a table in the main body of the café. I enjoyed the customary "coffee and a cinnamon".

Afterwards we drove up the main street and parked outside the off-licence, just to dart into Stewart Miller the news-agency; I remained in the car which was just as well because a parking attendant approached and I heard him telling the car behind that they were parked (like us) on a bus-stop. I took immediate remedial action and motored off before he could do anything.

We'll shortly be needing more heating oil and the price seems to be at its highest ever. We've been buying ours from Valueoils, which is very competitive. There is an oil price comparison site in Northern Ireland on the internet now called CheapestOil.co.uk and I'll stick with Valueoils, having seen the comparable prices. The cheapest current price for nine hundred litres is around £450.