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I'VE always been something of a petrol head. It's genetic because my dad loved cars as well.

Consequently spending a good portion of my journalistic career through the 80s and early 90s as a motoring journalist - alongside some other roles - was a gift-wrapped job.

There were two questions I was always asked; what's the worst car I'd tested and which was the best? I remember launching into one youthfully-charged diatribe at a party about Ladas saying that I'd rather be seen driving around in a Huntley & Palmers' biscuit tin.

Of course someone whispered in my ear that so-and-so who was listening to this full-on expert' wrecking spree had just bought one.

The best was without a doubt the Aston Martin Tickford Capri. It was pearly white, all spoilers and skirts with the sort of acceleration that left your teeth fighting their way out the back of your neck.

It was also worth more than my three-bed semi-detached house where it was proudly parked during the week I had it.

Of course in the ensuing 20 years car technology has gone space age. For instance you can't repair them yourself now, so gone are the days with bits of engine all over your garage floor.

In fact these days most people's garages have nothing to do with cars. They've become glorified garden sheds or storerooms. Also cars are much better with fuel consumption. Instead of knocking petrol back like some larger lout on speed, they sip it like Martini.

My old MGB used to do 18mpg, but it didn't matter back in the 70s because petrol was cheap. I now have a two-litre MX5 - certainly more of a spiritual MGB than the current anaemic MGF.

It does around 36mpg and with the price of petrol heading up into the stratosphere it certainly needs to.

Still I dare say that, like me, you were relieved when both BP and Shell reported their trading figures last week for the first three months of 2008. They revealed that these giants hadn't made a loss.

BP managed to squeak a pre-tax profit of £3.3 billion (48 per cent up) while Shell managed to keep the wolf from the door with £3.9bn.

Jeroen van der Veer, Shell's chief executive, said: "Good operating performance, combined with increased oil and gas prices, offset the impact of downstream conditions in the first quarter."

No, I don't know exactly what he means either, but as petrol and gas prices hit record levels biting even bigger lumps out of our hard-earned cash I share your wrath.

4:37pm Tuesday 6th May 2008

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