G'day Roy,

Tuesday September 24 1996 19:36, Roy Mcneill wrote to Gaelyne Gasson:

 GG>> Why is it I get the feeling most Ozztralians assume all of
 GG>> USA is nothing but concrete and city??
 RM>
 RM> Didn't you say earlier that (a) it would take you two hours to get
 RM> to a country sky, and (b) even the country sky is light polluted?

There's the difference.  The light from the cities radiates and you can
be miles away and there are glowing areas that you can point to and say
"This is CityX and there's CityZ and there's CityY".

What I was thinking of is the areas I've been that really ARE pitch
black at night, where you can look up in the sky and the stars are so
bright...  and to get to these places it really is a long way out.

All the little towns here are always lit right up too, so you have to
go where they can't afford that kinda nonsense and distance yourself a
few towns/cities from it.

My brother moved "up north" several years ago and had me help by
driving one of the vehicles.  I was fine until it got evening/night
time because it was the first time I'd been anywhere without a lot of
light at night.  I was totally disorientated by it.  You'd of been in
heaven.  

Hmm, come to think of it these places with all the light are the ones
with a crime rate or big fear of crime.  The areas where it's dark at
night don't seem to have much crime.   Curious.

 GG>> It's every bit as annoying as bloody Yanks that assume
 GG>> there's nothing but outback and kangaroos in Australia.
 RM>
 GG>> Everyone told me (Ozztralians that is) that Adelaide is a
 GG>> "small city".
 RM>
 GG>> Yeah, right.  It takes up two bloody phone book volumes.   By
 GG>> contrast, this area I'm in here in Michigan has a 1-volume
 GG>> phone book (smaller than the Adelaide A-M volume) and that's
 GG>> for THREE cities and a about

snip

 GG>> too.  (20,000 population in Saginaw compared to over a
 GG>> million in Adelaide).
 RM>
 RM> Is Saginaw where you are? And if so, why does it take 2 hours to
 RM> get out? A road planner on LSD? or caffeine?

Saginaw is where I am, yes.  Home of one of General Motors key Steering
Gear operations.  (There's a bit of trivia for you).

 RM> (I just now tried to impress Jan with my trivia knowledge of
 RM> Saginaw's population, mentioning that you were there, and she said
 RM> rather darkly "Yes, I like to keep track of where your girlfriends
 RM> are." Be warned. Her sister is *real* nasty.)

Careful!  Mine's nastier.  Looks like Gillian Anderson but has more
attitude.

 RM>> light pollution that you frequent. Yes, over here, there is
 RM>> actually open space in between cities! There are even enough
 RM>
 GG>> Get real, Roy.  I can drive for miles between towns here too.
 RM>
 RM> Then do so, find the damn comet, and stop whining about city
 RM> light.

Because "light" and "country/city" is NOT the same in
USA as in Oz.

 GG>> Someone took me to the state capital this past week (Lansing,
 GG>> home of MSU, where Magic Johnson got his start).   It's about
 GG>> 100 miles away from Saginaw - 2 lane roads almost the entire
 GG>> way... with nothing to see but fields, farm fields, fields
 GG>> (ie, paddocks) and more fields/paddocks.  Once there, I got
 GG>> "excited" because I saw a book store where they actually give
 GG>> you a shopping cart to browse with.
 RM>
 RM> Bliss

Same here.  And I came back with nothing.  Today my Ex-to-be decided to
torture me and talked me into going to the local Mall.  I hate
shopping.  Anyway, I did spend a fair amount of time in the bookstore,
and found a couple of decent "Michigan photos" books that I'd like to
bring back with me so people will have an idea of where I'm from, but
unfortunately, I can't afford it.  :-(

 RM> I'm in a town of 120,000 and the nearest SF bookstore is in
 RM> Cairns, 200 miles away. I've been to Melbourne 3 times, and each

The bookstores in Lansing were **heaven**.  But I didn't buy anything.
I sure looked hard though.  

 RM> best SF stores in the country. (I haven't been to Sydney
 RM> independently yet.)

LOL.  Not trusted that far, eh?

I was in Sydney last year for a weekend and enjoyed it but didn't spend
any time in bookstores.  Did a heap of sight-seeing though.

 RM>> Sorta like a small city block, only with fresh air (spooky, I
 RM>> know...)
 RM>
 GG>> Take your US assumptions and shove 'em, Roy.
 RM>
 RM> YEOWWW! Ouch! Ouch! Oooohh that stings! Aaaarrgghh! Ooooohhh!
 RM> Oooooh! Uuuuuuuummmmmmm... Aaaaahhhhh... Oooooooo... Just twist it
 RM> a bit... Gently, gently... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh..... A bit to
 RM> the left..... Oh yessssss.......

  Was it good for you?  ;-)

Aside to Rod:  See Honey, other people make noise sometimes too and say
things like YES!  :-)

 GG>> We call these Festivals and the entertainment groups are
 GG>> called "carnivals".   Many festivals have them.
 RM>
 RM> Ta. American language lessons appreciated. (honest, i'm not being
 RM> sarky.) We have very similar "festivals", usually complete with
 RM> Queens, quite separate from The Show.

Uh-huh, same here.  Did I mention I won ribbons this year for
needlework I made a few years back?   Here, when you enter something in
the show, you get a pass good for entering the grounds 3 times, and
free parking too.  Worth entering something just for the perks.

 GG>> up with exciting names like:
 GG>> The Munger Potato Festival
 RM>
 RM> Rofl! But I spose it's a matter of perspective - my home town of
 RM> 7000 has the Ayr Sugar Festival, and the neighbouring town five

There's one of those here too.  (For Sugar Beet communities, as this is
one of the key agriculture products here along with soy beans, potatoes
and corn.

 RM> miles away on the other side of the river has the Harvest
 RM> Festival. These consist of a parade and a (non-poof) mardi gras

Sad isn't it when you say parade and have to clarify it.

 RM> street party, with maybe a travelling ride or three (not the large
 RM> group of rides that turns up for the show.)

Uh-huh ---- and usually even that is a really BIG deal too.

 GG>> The Bavarian Festival
 RM>
 RM> that could be toxic - similar festivals here emphasize the brewing
 RM> skills of the Germanic people

Frankenmuth was known for it's brewery, Bronner's Christmas store
(open all year but Christmas) and Chook restaurants.
Unfortunately the 150 (or more) year old brewery was destroyed by a
tornado a couple months ago and is considered a total loss.  :-(

... I remember that night too (Frankenmuth is within 20 miles of here).
It was the first (and I hope ONLY) time I've ever heard the nuclear
bomb warning system sirens go off any time other than the usually
Wednesday morning 10am testing time.  Oh, did I mention the Yanks are
paranoid?  Anyway, it was a tense and heavy storm.  I actually saw my
father-in-law (er, EX F-I-L) jump, and he'd survived a hurricane.

 GG>> The Auburn Corn Festival
 GG>> Shields Homecoming
 RM>
 GG>> When I was about 7yrs old, I was a Shields Homecoming Jaycee
 GG>> Queen.
 RM>
 RM> That's one of the quaint Americanisms that have crept into the
 RM> language that I don't understand. Could you ask around and find
 RM> out what a Homecoming Queen is? And a Groundhog Day?

For any other purpose but the Shields one, a "Homecoming Queen" has to
do with High Schools and their football games.  Once a year, in the
Autumn, just after school has started, they have a "Homecoming" weekend
where graduates from years past come to watch the game.  The queen from
the year before has to show up and crown the new queen.  As to voting,
usually the students vote for a king and queen and  normally it's
a popularity contest having more to do with looks and snobbishness than
personality.

My graduating class had some class though.  Our queen was a nice person
who was overweight but well liked by just about everyone (obviously).
The runner up was a bitch with a perfect body and no personality.
Any other school/time would have seen her win.

It's more a "school custom" than a community custom, unless the
community happens to get involved.

 RM> re octopus:
 RM>
 GG>> It started to rain and my girlfriend and I (plus our two
 GG>> young children) were stuck in one such ride as the operator
 GG>> went off and got in a fight with some other "carny" and
 GG>> forgot about us.
 RM>
 RM> Thankyou!!! I haven't laughed so hard since the last election....
 RM> Would have made a great home video!

Yair, it would have.  Panic is something I used to be a professional
at.  :-)

 RM> I can remember the conceptions of our two kids. I can also
 RM> remember my last whatsit. It's a good thing I have a good long
 RM> term memory.

Short term memory problems suck.

Short term memory problems suck.  Oh?  Did I say that before?

Short term memory problems suck.

Cheers,
Gaelyne

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