You can still get free air (and not just to breathe)

VIRGINIA BEACH

In these desperate times, take heart. Sure, unemployment is up, bank loans are tough to get, home prices are down, and nobody from the Treasury Department has called to offer you a bailout.

But, and this is no joke, you can still get free air.

What? People are charging for air?

Yes, pressurized air for your car tires, at most places, costs 50 or 75 cents. And you have to take all your valve stem caps off first, put the money in, then race around the car trying to get four tires pumped up before the machine cuts off.

Not at Wawa, the store chain that over the past decade has established a presence in South Hampton Roads.

At Wawa, air is free.

And most days, especially at lunchtime, cars line up three and four deep to pump up. Ivy Best waited behind other cars this week getting ready for a Thanksgiving drive to Connecticut.

"It's awesome," she said. "I came, change in tow."

Gotten anything else for free lately?

"Ha!" she said. "No, not really."

Tonya Smith waited behind Best to top off her tires. Smith usually pays 75 cents for air.

"I think it's about the only free air around," Smith said. "About time they give us something for free."

You can press the button to start the machine as many times as you want.

Fine print: You don't have to buy anything inside the store. You don't have to ask for a token. You don't have to buy one blast of air to get the second blast free. No registration required.

Just free air.

Lon Wagner, (757) 446-2341, lon.wagner@pilotonline.com