Just to let you know...Air is NOT FREE

My weekend experience started off as one of "those" weekends, the moment I turned out of the parking garage onto Crystal Drive. Two people walking down the street starting waiving and yelling out, "Hey!" frantically in my direction. My first thought,....oh great I pulled into a motorcade or at the least left some papers, file, or beverage on the roof of my car. I was not however so lucky.

I rolled down my window to question the attention grabbers and they yelled, "You have a flat tire". Don't know about you, but I have had many a flat tire, and I am very much aware of the swoosh, glob, swoosh sound that it makes as you attempt to drive. I didn't have a flat tire. However, flash rewind, to when my very kind neighbor mowed the lawn at my house the other day. I do believe he said that I should put air in one of my tires. DAMMIT!!

So, I began anxiously searching down the streets of Crystal City for air. Towards Pentagon City, near the 395 exit and between all the garden and high rise apartments. NO GAS STATIONS!!! NO AIR!!! Arghhh!!

Finally, I gave up, not hearing that glob, swoosh sound, I knew the tire was not flat yet....

I made it all the way down to Edsall Road, my exit towards home off of 395. Luckily there are a choice of three different gas stations to choose from, right when you get off the exit ramp. I pulled into the first one and up to the the pump marked, "AIR".

By golly, that thing said it cost $.75 to put air in your tires and my first thought was that that must be just this gas station. How can air cost money? Air is free...We breath air! But as I pulled into each of the other two stations, sure enough...they were also $.75. What is going on here?

Well, fearing that I had already gambled with the slightly deflated, although NOT FLAT, swoosh, glob glob tire and my life enough, I went into the gas station convenience store and withdrew some cash (yup, of course I had none) and bought a diet pepsi so that I could coax the gas attendant to give me $.75 in quarters because, what should be FREE AIR must only be paid for in quarters...

As it was, I got my $.75 air while taking out my $2.50 cash from the ATM, and buying my $1.15 diet pepsi, to get my quarters. What an expensive ride home. At least I did not have to take the toll road or add any other expenses to my god forsaken commute.

But seriously, why does it cost to buy air? Although, in the late 80's, early 90's they said the same about bottled water.