Funny thing happened on my way to Fox Valley... met a Canuck!

[thefoxaroo]

On the train en route to Fox Valley this morning I met a rather disorented Canuck who was very grateful for my assistance. I in turn was very intrigued to hear (albeit briefly) of how Sydney differs from where he came from (Toronto I think he said, though I could be wrong

Comments

[dhlawrence]

Far fewer. Outside the maze that is Union Station, a lot of the railway lines have only one track per direction. They're laying a third on the Lakeshore West line, though. Union Station only has 14 platforms, to my knowledge.

[thefoxaroo]

"Outside the maze that is Union Station" :D I like that! That's very good. :D

Central, from memory, consists of 26 platforms. 1-15 are the terminating platforms for the interstate trains (though I've never seen 15 actually being used to collect passengers, but more of a waiting platform for idle trains). 16-22 are the regular suburban platforms. 23 & 24 are the underground platforms for the Bondi Junction line (IIRC) and 25 & 26 are the platforms for a never-finished line, and used for document archiving by the railways.

I'm not 100% certain about those numbers though, I'll need to check this out at some point. It's been a long while since I was at that end of the staiton.

[thefoxaroo]

A point I only remembered just now. He was quite shocked at the prices here, particularly when he visited Bondi Junction. Even with the Canadian dollar being slightly higher ($1.20 Aussie at this moment) he was taken by surprise.

[ccdesan]

I recall similar surprise during my visit to Oz clear back in the Winter of '85. [Heh... I sound like some old prospecting geezer.] Those Ozzie dollar and two-dollar coins slip through your hands like water.

My hat's off to folks that can navigate a transport system full of names like Pymble, Turramurra and Wahroonga!

[thefoxaroo]

ccdesan said:"Those Ozzie dollar and two-dollar coins slip through your hands like water.", Quite right there; those coins are a joke. When they first emerged people said it was a con to make people spend quicker. What's most ridiculous is the $2 coin being smaller than the $1. What was the idea behind that? The New Zealanders got it right; they made the $2 bigger than the $1.

Are you sure it was '85 though? The $1 coin came out in 84, but I'm pretty sure the $2 didn't come until '88. I recall a hilarious skit on television which started with the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke looking at something through a microscope and our then Treasurer Paul Keating (AKA "The Undertaker", "Mr J Curve" and "Mr Recesion") came running up saying "Bob! Bob! Have you seen the new $2 coin?"
Bob Hawke looked up from the magnifying glass and said "I'm just examining it now. Why is it so small?"

ccdesan said:"My hat's off to folks that can navigate a transport system full of names like Pymble, Turramurra and Wahroonga!", Oh those are just the start. Before

[ccdesan]

Will you forgive me if I laugh out loud at Chinaman's Knob, Wet Beaver Creek and Tittybong?

[thefoxaroo]

ccdesan said:"Will you forgive me if I laugh out loud at Chinaman's Knob, Wet Beaver Creek and Tittybong?", I'll happily forgive you, though I cringed slightly on realising the common theme running through those names. :0 Wet Beaver Creek probably sounds perfectly innocent on its own...

ccdesan said:"Of course, here in Utah we have our own unusual place names as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqR0-FUQyp0...", My goodness!! ROFLOL!! That video deserves to win an award! So well composed, and arranged (needs subtitles though - not all the place signs are clear enough to read). Did those young people performing write the song as well, or perform to one that was already recorded?

You have a Manilla in Utah? Guess what, so do we :P (Animated foxaroo blowing razberry not available at this time).

Now if you'll excuse me I'll just go all melancholy over my inability to travel... ;)