Hi G



 GG> Why is it I get the feeling most Ozztralians assume all of USA is

 GG> nothing but concrete and city??



Didn't you say earlier that (a) it would take you two hours to get

to a country sky, and (b) even the country sky is light polluted?



 GG> It's every bit as annoying as bloody Yanks that assume there's nothing

 GG> but outback and kangaroos in Australia.



 GG> Everyone told me (Ozztralians that is) that Adelaide is a
"small city".



 GG> Yeah, right.  It takes up two bloody phone book volumes.   By contrast,

 GG> this area I'm in here in Michigan has a 1-volume phone book (smaller

 GG> than the Adelaide A-M volume) and that's for THREE cities and a about a

 GG> dozen rural towns.   Some people would think the cities ARE rural towns

 GG> too.  (20,000 population in Saginaw compared to over a million in

 GG> Adelaide).



Is Saginaw where you are? And if so, why does it take 2 hours to

get out? A road planner on LSD? or caffeine?



(I just now tried to impress Jan with my trivia knowledge of

Saginaw's population, mentioning that you were there, and she said

rather darkly "Yes, I like to keep track of where your girlfriends

are." Be warned. Her sister is *real* nasty.)



 RM> light pollution that you frequent. Yes, over here, there is

 RM> actually open space in between cities! There are even enough people



 GG> Get real, Roy.  I can drive for miles between towns here too.



Then do so, find the damn comet, and stop whining about city light.



 GG> Someone took me to the state capital this past week (Lansing, home of

 GG> MSU, where Magic Johnson got his start).   It's about 100 miles away

 GG> from Saginaw - 2 lane roads almost the entire way... with nothing to

 GG> see but fields, farm fields, fields (ie, paddocks) and more

 GG> fields/paddocks.  Once there, I got "excited" because I saw a book

 GG> store where they actually give you a shopping cart to browse with.



Bliss



 GG> It's a metropolis in comparison.



I'm in a town of 120,000 and the nearest SF bookstore is in Cairns,

200 miles away. I've been to Melbourne 3 times, and each time I

spent about two hours and a small fortune in one of the best SF

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



 RM> Sorta like a small city block, only with fresh air (spooky, I

 RM> know...)



 GG> Take your US assumptions and shove 'em, Roy.



YEOWWW! Ouch! Ouch! Oooohh that stings! Aaaarrgghh! Ooooohhh!

Oooooh! Uuuuuuuummmmmmm... Aaaaahhhhh... Oooooooo... Just twist it

a bit... Gently, gently... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh..... A bit to the

left..... Oh yessssss.......



 GG> We call these Festivals and the entertainment groups are called

 GG> "carnivals".   Many festivals have them.



Ta. American language lessons appreciated. (honest, i'm not being

sarky.) We have very similar "festivals", usually complete with

Queens, quite separate from The Show.



 GG> To put it in perspective, Roy....  we have such pitiful towns they come

 GG> up with exciting names like:



 GG> The Munger Potato Festival



Rofl! But I spose it's a matter of perspective - my home town of

7000 has the Ayr Sugar Festival, and the neighbouring town five

miles away on the other side of the river has the Harvest Festival.

These consist of a parade and a (non-poof) mardi gras street party,

with maybe a travelling ride or three (not the large group of rides

that turns up for the show.)



 GG> The Bavarian Festival



that could be toxic - similar festivals here emphasize the brewing

skills of the Germanic people



 GG> The Auburn Corn Festival

 GG> Shields Homecoming



 GG> When I was about 7yrs old, I was a Shields Homecoming Jaycee Queen. The

 GG> crown was cool, but it was a heck of a lot better than being the Munger

 GG> Potato Festival Queen, I'm sure. We never did find out why Shields

 GG> called it a Homecoming though.



That's one of the quaint Americanisms that have crept into the

language that I don't understand. Could you ask around and find out

what a Homecoming Queen is? And a Groundhog Day?





re octopus:



 GG> It started to rain and my girlfriend and I (plus our two young

 GG> children) were stuck in one such ride as the operator went off and got

 GG> in a fight with some other "carny" and forgot about us.



Thankyou!!! I haven't laughed so hard since the last election....

Would have made a great home video!



 RM> Making love in one should only be attempted after a proper training

 RM> course, which can take a week or two. Experience in hang-glider



 GG> My friend and I weren't kinky.  Besides, the kids were there too.



I can remember the conceptions of our two kids. I can also remember

my last whatsit. It's a good thing I have a good long term memory.



Cheers



--- PPoint 1.88