Had I had a full tank and driven without filling up until the final opportunity at Berlin Airport, my fuel purchase would have been:

Diesel
50.67 litres @ €1.689 (£1.40)

Total: €85.58 (£70.95)

So I saved £7.11 through not having a full tank to start off with.

Here endeth my ramblings.

So, doing some simple arithmetic tells me this:

- my total fuel cost was £63.84, including half a tank used over the previous week
- my average fuel consumption for today's measured journey of 236.5km was 8.52 litres per 100km

What difference would it have made if I had only filled up at the end?

After queuing with Ukrainian grain trucks to clear random border checks, I reached a Berlin Airport convenient filling station, another 81.4km

To return the car with a full tank, I topped up one last fime

Diesel
6.80 litres @ €1.689 (£1.40)

Total: €11.49 (£9.53)
11:34

I then drove exactly 155.1km to the large Orlen service station on the A2 just before the Poland-Germany border at Frankfurt-on-Oder. Here, I knew the price would be higher, as motorway fuel tax is higher.

ON Diesel
13.36 litres @ 7.24zł (£1.41)

Total: 96.74zł (£18.84)
09:54

Left home 8:00.

Audi A5 TDi Avant Quattro fuel tank was almost exactly half full (the tank holds 60 litres, according to the tech spec)

Stopped to fill tank at known Poznań low-cost filling station run by Auchan hypermarket

ON Diesel
30.51 litres @ 5.97zł (£1.19)

Total: 182.14zł (£35.47)
08:40

I have little doubt that flight AHY8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines was shot down, possibly by a nervous Russian air defense commander (Buk or S-300) in Chechnya or Dagestan.

Modern suburbia demands ever newer housing developments, further and further from the heart of the city. These create car dependent families when mass transportation is not extended to service these dormitory estates. Once you have a car, the last place you want to visit is the city centre.

Get some Ptasie Mleczko seasonal Plum & Gingerbread flavour....