Straya!

[Tero]

[pErvinalia]

He looks like a friendly fella.

[JimC]

Python of some sort, non-venomous...

[JimC]

Man has shitty car: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-25/ ... e/11339656

[Sean Hayden]

[Scot Dutchy]

They must be regretting it now in Sydney:

Erased from history: how Sydney destroyed its trams for love of the car

As the city prepares to open a new line built at vast expense, the decision to get rid of trams in the 1950s looks more questionable than ever

The Anglo-Saxon obsession of the 50's egged on by American car manufacturers. Some great photos.

The new tram:



We have had those for a few years now. Better late than never I suppose.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah it's a shame they got rid of them. The Gold Coast has built a flash new tram system as well. They never had trams, so there isn't that same facepalm feeling as there is with Sydney.

[JimC]

Melbourne has lots of trams!

[Scot Dutchy]

Shame that Sydney did not have the same mentality but that goes for many British and American cities. The car was (and still is in many) king. Europe was far more level headed and were not so capitalist driven.

[pErvinalia]

Australia and the US are large countries. A car is more necessary here than in Europe. Particularly in Australia where the population is separated by large stretches of not much.

[Hermit]

Australia and the US are large countries. A car is more necessary here than in Europe. Particularly in Australia where the population is separated by large stretches of not much.

I think we're talking about transport infrastructure in big cities here. Yes, we finally caught on, but it's not as though the Dutch have not been seduced by the false promises of individually owned motorcars either. They just cottoned on to to its drawbacks earlier than we did. Scott Dutchy wallows in that fact, of course, because it demonstrates that the Netherregions are the best in the world in all things once again.

[Scot Dutchy]

I dont "wallow" Hermit. Europe suffered after the war. The great car surge that happened (by chance?) in Anglo-Saxon countries in the 50's just did not happen as fast and by the time we had caught up in the 60's we realised the car was not the answer. We turned to bikes.
Why did Melbourne keep its trams and Sydney did not? In Britain it was pure corruption. You had two ministers on the pay role of auto-industry; Beaching and Marple. One cut the trains and the other built the motorways which in turn put the demand on the roads in towns and cities and in order to make space trams were removed.
In the town I grew up in which had like so many a great tram infrastructure the removal was obscene.

[pErvinalia]

Screen Shot 2019-08-06 at 2.31.49 pm.png (403.56 KiB) Viewed 3090 times

[JimC]

Suck it up, Poms! Crushed in the first test!

[Hermit]

Suck it up, Poms! Crushed in the first test!

(sand)paper beats scissors.



As long as Warner, Bancroft and Smith are in the Australia team I want Australia to lose every match.