According to the Guardian Soaring petrol prices push commuting costs higher than mortgages, which I find worrying despite having neither commuting costs nor a mortgage.   Of course I could point out that car drivers will now have a chance to see what rail commuters have been putting up with for years – and for anybody living a few miles from the town centre here it is still far cheaper to drive into town and pay for parking for a few hours shopping than for two or more people to take the bus in.

Also, there is every chance that mortgages will rise this year to overtake commuting costs, but that is hardly the solution anybody really wants.

I’m feeling a little smug about getting into a position where I can walk to work, but that feeling doesn’t last long.   I realise that just about anything I want to buy gets transported by road at some point and so fuel costs are going to push up those prices even more.   Not needing to use the car doesn’t make life life any cheaper, it just means I get one cost increase fewer than most of my work colleagues – and we are all going to find this year’s pay settlement of less than half inflation doesn’t help a lot, coming on top of last year’s settlement of half of inflation.

At least we have a bonus to keep us going.  A whole £75 before tax.  Good job we moved to a smaller car.  £75 after tax will nearly fill this one up.

Even with our pathetic mileage (900 miles since we got the car, including some trips to Brighton, Chichester, East Grinstead and East Surrey) I’m starting to check whether it would be cheaper for Jayne to get a monthly bus pass than to drive to work.  Some of my colleagues drive 50  miles or more to work every day.  And then 50 miles home.  Some of them can’t even be blamed for poor work/life planning: they worked and lived close to a London office that we transferred out to Sussex last year. I really don’t know how their 2% pay rise will cover it.

I suspect 2011 is not going to be a particularly happy year.  To add insult to injury, when the economy goes down the pan completely we won’t even have the pleasure of seeing the smug grin on Osborne’s face disappear: I suspect it is unshiftable.

I’m starting to wonder if this is part of some Tory masterplan for the local elections in May: making sure that nobody except the landed gentry can afford that extra journey to the polling station.