mybestkungfu's Diaryland
Diary
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home and away
i must have mentioned it before.
Melbourne is lovely.
the architecture is a mix of old and new world.
spired churches and old fashioned cinemas nestled between between glass and steel high rises.
cafes/shops/restaurants tucked in sidestreets.
there's a huge open air market with endless stalls of fresh fruits,
veggies, assorted crafts, and
live baby chickens and ducklings and rabbits! a note about the trams though.
if you want to catch one,
it's in the middle of the street.
no special raised platforms.
sometimes there's a railing.
tricky.
the lanes are organized something like this: _____________________________________
parking lane
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
--> traffic lane right --> -->
-------------------------------------
(space for you to stand single file)
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--> --> tram going right --> -->
-------------------------------------
<-- tram going left <-- <-- <--
-------------------------------------
(space for you to stand single file)
-------------------------------------
<-- traffic going left <-- <--
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
parking lane
_____________________________________
it's disconcerting.
the tram stops, you step off and suddenly you're in the middle of traffic.
or when you're waiting for one, you're just standing there
and cars are whizzing by on one side, and other trams are passing on
the other. and there really isn't room
for two people to pass each other without encroaching on track space.
forget a fat backpack.
a tilt of your head too far in the one direction and you get a tram in the face.
one stray toe in the other,
and you get it flattened by a car.
some streets downtown don't even
have a space for you to stand on the street.
the tram will stop on a red light,
just enough time for you to jump
on or off before cars barrel through.
and because trams run down the center of the street, if you're a car,
you can't pull up to the center
while you're anticipating a right turn
(remember we drive on the left side of
the street).
you have to do what's called a 'HOOK TURN'.
this is where you pull up to the left.
(basically block the cars of opposing
traffic, who are facing you but
currently waiting on a red.
you wait there while the cars behind you
pass. then when the lights turn green
for the cars you're blocking, you gun it
and make your right turn. i'm surprised people aren't getting smashed left and right.
and what's even more amazing is how efficient
they are. every six minutes. and the stops
have digital read outs so you can see how long
you have to wait till the next one.
and on a few stops they have touch screens.
you can click on a map and it'll tell you
exactly how to get there from where you are
down to how far you have to walk from
the tram stop in meters. makes it very convenient after 3 hours of 3 dollar drink specials way across town and you're trying to figure out how to get back to your front door.
4:54 p.m. - Jul. 16, 2005
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