Doing detail.

Recently, on one of my daily ambles along the West Penwith part of the South West Coast Path near Botallack, I spotted some people some 150 yards away. Keeping more than 6 feet 6.75 inches away from one of the men I asked the following question: “Is it a bird you’re observing?”
He replied, “Yes.” and then went on to tell me what sort of bird it was. I have forgotten this answer, suffice it to say the creature had feathers, two wings and a beak.
I then asked: “Have you travelled far or are you a local?”
He replied, “I’ve driven down from Derbyshire.”
I then asked: “Today?”
He replied, “Yes. I set of early this morning.”
This man’s harmless activity upsets a number of Botallack residents who happen to be members of the subversive organisation, “Extinction Rebellion”. This because this man and others of his ilk will upon receiving an email/’phone call/text message that a particular type of bird has settled upon a bush somewhere, will immediately grab a bag or suitcase that has been packed ready for an instant getaway and set off on a journey that can be hundreds of miles to observe the creature and take photographs of it!
It is not that these CO2 obsessives are upset about these birdwatching obsessives potentially disturbing the bird they have come hundreds of miles to observe – after all the wind turbines they so earnestly want kill hundreds of birds with great regularity! No it is that they deem the man is not making an essential journey that can justify the output of the CO2 generated.
These two sets of human beings have a common problem; they have an obsession. The difference is of course whilst the twitcher’s obsession causes problems for him (they are mostly male) the CO2 obsessive causes problems for the rest of us with their occasional acts of civil disobedience.
Being obsessed with something or someone is a common mental health condition.
Of course when the obsession is focused on a particular person it becomes potentially serious. This is something that attractive women holding a high public profile are very well aware of.
The image at the top of the post is an example of another obsession of which the title of the post alludes to. This is an obsession that certain men (I have yet to learn about a woman so affected) with keeping their cars in a condition that many would commonly refer to as “spick and span”. These obsessives go far, far beyond polishing the car’s paint and bright work and keeping the interior clean and dust free. It extends to cleaning every bit of the vehicle to a state of high polish. And when I mean every part, I mean every part. Including all suspension and steering parts and all parts of the engine! These obsessives call this, “detailing”. I am sure many readers will be able to think of their own terminology to describe their actions!
Of course, one person BG readers know who most definitely does NOT suffer from this aliment is a certain Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson!
The PM’s problem of course is precisely the opposite! He does not do enough detail!
Like our twitcher friend, our esteemed PM is not alone in his particular failing. It is in fact a common failing amongst the political elite – which of course helps explain why the country is in the mess it’s in!
Then of course there are individuals who do not possess the failings of either our twitcher friend or our PM. These individuals do “do detail” but not to any excessive or obsessive extent. These are careful, diligent persons often entrusted with high office or a responsible occupation. One such individual is a certain Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet “Ben” van Beurden, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Mr van Beurden of course is very well aware of Mr Johnson’s failing and also that the PM’s failing is shared by many other Dutch and UK politicians.
This is why the stock commentator Sven Carlin (below)is wrong about his opinion about RDS’s prospects when he states; “Unfortunately, I expect things to remain ugly for RDS over the long term because their touted transformation into a green company is just words where the investments are just 5% of their total CAPEX.”
What Mr Carlin FAILS to realise is that the 5% CAPEX [capital expenditure] figure has been carefully worked out and assessed by Mr van Beurden and his colleagues.
This is because Mr van Beurden’s comments that Mr Carlin has noted are intended to please politicians. It is of course the case that RDS intends to invest in wind turbines and their associated gas turbines, plus new storage battery technology. However, most of RDS’s revenue will continue to flow from oil – pun intended.
You see, the reason for the slump in the oil market has been caused by what people often like to refer to as a “perfect storm” – a term for the coming together of different dangers/problems to create a really big danger/problem.
BG readers of course know what these problems are:
#1: COVID-19
#2: The determination of Saudi Arabia and Russia to do each other down.
You see, Saudi Arabia has about the cheapest production costs of crude oil on the planet. Much of Russia’s oil is lies under the Arctic tundra of Siberia and this adds to the extraction cost. Considerably. Herewith a Wikipedia article about the Ghawar oil field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghawar_Field
BG readers of course know that Saudi Arabia lies in a politically unstable part of the world and that there is always a possibility that the autocratic monarchy could be overthrown by an extreme Islamic regime. This is after all what happened in Iran.
The military fact of the matter is that the Ghawar oil field could be put out of action by Russia at any time. And there is little by way of direct military response that Saudi Arabia could do about it!
There is an old saying: “What goes up, must come down.”
It is also true to say that things that tend to go up quickly also come down quickly! Artillery officers across the world know this to be the case!
This is why I am watching the RDS “B” share price almost as carefully as our twitcher friend watches the birds he is from time to time notified about!
My plan – that can of course change as quickly and as radically as our twitcher friend’s travel plans – is to reign in my expenditure until October 2021 when I will hopefully will be able to begin receiving my “Old Age Pension”!
You see, I have no idea what the RDS share price will be on Monday 1st November 2021. I do know it is unlikely to be exactly the same as it is today. I also know that it more than likely either be higher or lower than it is today. IF it is very low (half it’s present level) I will consider buying more RDS shares to reduce my average cost of purchase. Then, when the shares eventually pick up in value I have a better prospect of getting my money back! Which as a Yorkshireman is something of Great Importance to me!