h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[BB]

Sol

Most of us take pride in being able to find our way around the complexities of the UndergrounD.

The thing is that like London it just grew, like topsy

Still growing too with the announcement of the Hackney extension.

*wakes up*
Backlog. Too much.
Maths, binary, little eatsmice, spiny and garden fork, multiposting mindspring, , transportation. little eatsmice. Little Eatsmice Ya wee dancer! Congratulations! Exhausted.
*falls asleep again*

Who IS that guy on the couch that keeps waking up and summarising the backlog?

Oh well, the garden fork didn't go in too far to my foot, but it's badly bruised nonetheless. By the time I went to bed last night I was sure I'd never get to sleep for the pain, and was convinced I'd have to go and sit in Accident and Emergency amongst the winos for eight hours. Believe me, you've got to have something hanging off before you'd contemplate going there. But instead because of the amount of hard graft we'd put in in the garden, I was off to sleep in minutes and woke up 8 hours later with the pain almost gone. Taking no chances, though i went up to the doc for a tetanus injection. So now I've got a dead foot and a dead arm!

Buses in Edinburgh are cheap enough but whole areas get a poor service. My local bus stops at 1900 and doesn't run at all on Sundays. Because it goes through a posh part of town and is hardly used (because it's hardly there to use...), the Council wanted to withdraw it. Being an un-reconstructed Labour council, one particularly left-wing idiot was reputed to have said, "these people have plenty of money and can just use taxis". So not only do they make us pay the highest Council tax, they want to deny us the same rights as others. Eh?! Eh?! Don't get me started!

The other priceless thing that the Edinburgh council want to do is ban the car from the centre of town. They want to charge motorists an entry fee to city centre roads, and use the revenue collected to pay for an improved bus service, which they will start to improve when they've collected enough money from the dwindling numbers of motorists who have decided, "bugger this, I'll shop in Glasgow."

You must have to go on courses to come up with stuff as sense-defying as this.

Okay. Rant now over.

You know, really I was refering to tjhe state of the Metro now rather than the circs under which it arose. Since it is one of the newer systems, and god help us was started by stalin, centralised ruthless planning was clearly the order of the day. My point is, given the state of Russia and the Russian economy at the mo vs, say, Britain, it is jolly impressive, even if it wasn't the best, which it is.

[Metro good. Underground bad. Metro good. Underground bad. I'm trying to imprint on your subconcious. You will be assimilated]

I don't know, Spiny, but doesn't he do a smashing good job?

*sips and warms her feet under a blanket* Its cold here at work today!

G7

*snuggles under blanket and hugs G7 feet in his sleep, keeping them warm*

Mmmmm... That's nice...

Denver's public transportation is pretty good - as long as you don't want to go anywhere but downtown. Once you get out of the city core, it may as well not exist.

G7

Public transports. It's been forever since I've been on one that I've been thoroughly pleased with.

Although busses rented for band trips are fun. Lots of Mao gets played. I finally initiated another Grand Mao around here. Now there are two nerds supporting the World's Most Annoying Card Game.

[op]

Oh, Mao. that brings back memories

[]

Mao. Isn't that the game where you're not allowed to explain the rules to newcomers?

So, Spiny, have you got a convincing limp, then?

Indeed it is.

Even though no one asked, here's a critique of the underground systems I've been on.

Munich (70s): Spiffy. Efficient and clean.
London (70s): Impressive. Dirty and safe.
Paris: (70s) Efficient: Pity about the fellow travellers.
Sydney: (90s) A bitza, some parts good (new), some parts bad (old).
Auckland: We wish. Four councils have been arguing about installing a system for 50 years.

/* Zeppo looks under the sofa and start barking incessantly at a peppermint candy that someone dropped. */

Yes, Lil, Mao is the game where you have to pick up the rules as you go. I'm a Grand Mao in two versions of the game.

We call them Mao gods. I'm not one, that's just what we always called them.

Thanks for the info Loony!

Loreth, my pleasure

Next month I will be able to report on progress in transport matters in Brisbane (no underground) Adelaide, where buses magically turn into trains (without stopping) during your journey (true) and the state of Melbournes 1950s-style trams (I await Caframs (a Melbournite) comment on the trams)

*remembers roxy music in '72*