Boats and Continental distances -- FCS Discussion Forum

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Subject: Boats and Continental distances

Author:
Ed Harris (Venezia)

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Date Posted: 16:02:36 11/19/04 Fri
In reply to: Ian (Australia) 's message, "distance and time" on 15:10:07 11/19/04 Fri

Firstly, the stereotype of Italian driving is not confined to places where there are actually roads. If you spend any time in Venice, you will be initially surprised by the suicidal eccentricities of the ragazzi in their little speed-boats, until you realise that it is just the maritime extension of the universal Latin attitude towards vehicles - driving is not a means for getting from A to B, it is a competition in manliness. This applies even to those with little dogs with long ears who sit in the prow, the wind ruffling their ears as the boat bounces up the canals or across the Laguna.

Secondly, Continental distances are very difficult for Brits to understand. We consider London to Edinburgh - about 400 miles - to be an epic journey akin to Scott's trip to the Antarctic, and allow ourselves a couple of days just in case there's traffic. By comparison, a friend of mine was staying with some mutual acquaintances in the American Midwest, and they decided to go out for dinner. The Wisconsinite host recommended a little Chinese place "just up the road", which turned out to be a 70 mile drive taking just over an hour. Can you imagine driving 70 miles for an ordinary dinner and then driving back again afterwards? We might go as far as 5 miles to the next town for a particularly good meal, but a 140 mile round-trip for a bucket of kung-pow chicken seems to us to be the height of lunacy. Still, I like my little island, and am glad that Glasgow is not 2500 miles from London; it's just that sometimes these things make me think...

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: emptiness

Author:
Ian (Australia)
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Date Posted: 16:55:42 11/19/04 Fri

All Australians have heard stories of people arriving in Sydney from small countries (usually Japan) and wanting to take a taxi to "that big rock in the middle of the island", a distance marginally greater than that from London to the Canary Islands.

I remember when a friend and I drove the 4000-odd kilometres (or 2500-odd miles) from Sydney to Darwin. We had planned to take a whole week, because we weren't in any hurry, but we got bored with everything being so flat and sped it up a little to have an extra day once we got there.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: correction: Sydney-Uluru distance is more like London-Kiev
Author: Ian (Australia) [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 17:02:42 11/19/04 Fri [ Post a Reply to This Message ]