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Posted By: stales Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/16/02 12:07 PM
A popular thread now long buried in the archives dealt with what each of us saw as we looked out of our window. In the spirit of this past favourite, I tender that there may be some interest in comparing where you live against where somebody else lives. Apologies for the self indulgence, but I'll start the ball rolling...

Stales’ place

We live in South Perth, the centre of the known universe. Our house has a “cottagey” feel to it and is typical of the average place here. However, only hundreds of metres from here are houses with views of the river and city – the blocks alone costing in the vicinity of A$1.2 – 1.5M (halve it for USD). This is typical of Perth – even in the “flashest” suburbs you can turn a corner or drive down the street and be right back among some pretty ordinary real estate.

Our house was built in 1936 and is of the “Californian Bungalow” style very popular here between the wars. Leadlight windows, plenty of wood (floorboards, picture rails, skirtings, windows etc), ornate plaster ceilings etc.

South Perth

South Perth is located 3km south of the Perth CBD – on the south bank of Perth Water, a broad part of the Swan River. It was first Gazetted as a Roads Board on 19 June 1892. (“Roads Boards” were the historic Western Australian form of local government – created to administer and maintain the roads in what was (and is) a huge, but sparsely populated colony.) South Perth was Proclaimed as a city on 1 July 1952 and has remained the “City of South Perth ever since”. In 1999 its population was 37,523.

South Perth covers ~20 sqkm, of which 4.3 sqkm are parks and public gardens – (quite a high percentage I’d imagine?) There are 6 Pre Schools (my wife is the sole teacher at one of these), 12 Primary Schools, 1 government Secondary School and 3 private Secondary Schools.

South Perth has got to be a pretty unique place. I’m not that well travelled, but I can’t think of a place where you can lead a village lifestyle within walking distance (2 miles/3km) of the CBD of a major capital city? (We can’t get any closer, there’s a two mile wide river (“Perth Water”) between us and the tall buildings!). I said village lifestyle – the oldest houses around here range go back to the 1920’s (OK, I know we’re Johnny come latelies by world standards but, in Australia, 1920 was a long time ago!!) and block sizes are 400sqm to 1200sqm. (Don’t know what this is in acres, but our 615sqm block is about 40’ wide and 150’ deep.)

Perth

One of the great things about all of Perth is that there is no private ownership of riverside real estate. Well, there is....but we are talking no more than a couple of dozen blocks that benefit from some quirk of historic politics. This means that the foreshores of the two big rivers at the centre of Perth (the Swan and Canning) are available to everybody. It’s almost continuous parkland or beaches, with plenty of free electric barbeques, picnic tables. Running through these is an extensive network of cycle paths, used by both get fit types and commuters. In guiltier moments (usually after a week or two of conferencing and/or lunching), I do a lap of Perth Water – 10 km’s (~ 6 miles), the foreshore being 400m from my front door.

Perth itself is located in the south west of Western Australia, 15 – 20km upriver from where the Swan River flows into the Indian Ocean at Fremantle – famous for hosting the America’s Cup yacht race in the mid 80’s. It is reputed to be the most isolated capital city in the world, closer to Jakarta than it is to Sydney, Melbourne and the nation’s capital, Canberra. The nearest major Australian city (ie more than 40,000 people) is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia – a good three days drive away 2,700 km (2,000 miles) to the East.

Western Australia was stumbled on by Dutch sailors early in the 17th century looking for a quicker route to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) via the Cape of Good Hope. Many a shipwreck occurred during the 17th Century as the sailors missed the turn north and ended on the WA coast. Three hundred and twenty one shipwrecks occurred on the Western Australian coast between 1622 and 1945. Some famous examples are the “Batavia” in 1629, and the “Guldern Drakk” in 1656.

(An aside here re the Dutch East Indian merchantman "Batavia” - wrecked on reefs off the Abrolhos Islands in 1629. In a horrific chapter, a small band of bloodthirsty survivors of the shipwreck slaughtered more than 125 men, women and children. Many of the victims were eaten. The wreck of the Batavia was found some years ago and it, and its story, are graphically presented at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. It's worth having a look at the Museum's site http://www.mm.wa.gov.au/Museum/march/department/batavia.html - though I note there's no mention of the cannibalism.)

Some of the early seafarers landed safely in WA, for example the buccaneer William Dampier and the explorer Dirk Hartog. Perhaps the most significant however as far as Perth goes was Willem de Vlamingh and his crew who discovered an estuary whilst looking for fresh water. They were stunned to find an abundance of swans which, in contrast to those known in Europe, were black. Vlamingh also encountered strange wild life on the small island 20 kilometres out to sea from the Swan River. The island was infested with large, hopping “rats” (or so they thought – these animals were known by the aboriginals as “Quokkas” and were in fact marsupials of the kangaroo family) so they named the place Rottnest ("rat nest").

In 1827 an English Captain surveyed the Swan valley the area and found an uncharted fertile valley that he decided was suitable for colonisation. Captain James Stirling travelled back to the colonies that had been established 50 years previously in the eastern part of “New Holland” and recommended to the Governor that a colony be founded in the Swan valley. After initially rejecting the idea, the Governor relented and on the 1st of June 1829, the first colony was established.

The going was tough for the new arrivals living on the beaches of Fremantle, Rottnest and Garden Islands. Many ships ran aground leading to the loss of the colonists’ possessions. They were inappropriately dressed for the harsh climate, water was scarce and influenza broke out.

Some of the land around the river was granted to the colonists, but the government retained the majority of the good land. By 1840 Western Australia had its first depression. Landowners struggled with the labourers, seeking to pay low wages for land clearing, which resulted in much of the local workforce departing for the eastern colonies. With England's goals still overflowing, a convict workforce was the best answer so it could be said that the murderers and petty thieves who arrived from 1850 to 1869 saved Perth from ruin. Productivity rose sixfold, the population dramatically increased and, after 19 years, Western Australia had its first export commodity, sheep. At about the same time (or slightly before?), sandalwood from the scrubby forests to the south east of Perth was exported to India, China and elsewhere in south east Asia.

FAQ

Western Australia is huge – TWICE the size of Texas, Japan and New Zealand combined. Bigger than all of western Europe (ie everything west of Germany and Italy inclusive – also including the UK and Ireland)

Average minimum temperature ranges between 12 and 15 degrees C. Zero is rare, 3 or 5 degrees overnight happens a few times each winter. Average maximum temperature ranges between 21 an 24 degrees C – though this doesn’t tell the story of summer, especially February. Try 30 consecutive days over 30 degrees – often including a week over 40 degrees!

Rainfall is low, chronically low at 24” – 36” p.a. Probably one of the few cities in the world where the TV weather presenters are genuinely excited to report imminent rain – or gleefully recount the rainfall for the past 24 hours. Official controls over water usage, even rationing, are regular summer events. The mean number of rainy days per month ranges between 2.5 (February) and 18.3 (July), with a total of 10 – 15 thundery days each year.

Perth is famous for its south westerly sea breeze, known as “The Fremantle Doctor”. I’m not sure what constitutes a breeze, but I think it’d be fair to regard the Doctor as more of a pocket gale! Kite flying, kite surfing and windsurfing are all very popular.


------------------------------------

Stinking hot days aside, it’s easy to love this place!

Really looking forward to learning about where you hang your hat!

stales

Posted By: Jazzoctopus Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/17/02 02:11 AM
Oh boy, now me now me!

Well, I live in both the city and one of it's suburbs, so I guess I have to do double duty.

Cincinnati is in the south-west corner of Ohio directly across the Ohio River from Kentucky. The population is about 300,000 a number that is shrinking as people dissipate to the vast suburbia that encompasses areas of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The metro area is about 2 million, which I was surprised to find out is larger than the metro areas of Indianapolis and Columbus. The urban sprawl is resulting in a doughnut effect, all the population around the egdes, but nothing but the main business district in the center. If the current trend continues, and it will, the Cinci and Dayton suburbs will basically become synonymous.

The city is currently working hard on improving the riverfront on both sides of the river with new sports stadiums (Reds and Bengals), large parks and the soon-to-be-started Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The idea is that the riverfront is integral to the city economically and historically. It was founded in 1789 as a fort town. The infrastructural joint of I-71 and I-75 that runs right between downtown and the riverfront is called Fort Washington Way. The city grew as an important port for steamboats heading to the Mississippi and then became known as Porkopolis for it's numerous slaughterhouses. It served as the largest stop for the Underground Railroad and Harriet Beecher Stowe lived here when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. In the 1880s Cincinnati was at the height of it's popularity, referred to as the Paris of the West. It had the highest concentration of theaters and such in the US and the central artery (Vine Street) of the district still has the largest collection of Italianade architecture the nation, but that area, north of the road that was once a canal, called Over the Rhine, is basically the slum area of the city now, but many efforts are currently being made to revitalize the area.

Longfellow referred nicknamed Cinci the Queen City. Mark Twain said that if the world was going to end, he'd want to be in Cincinnati because it's 10 years behind everyone else. It's a pertinent quote based on the city's recent claim to (in)fame as a center for racial inequality and rioting. The black population is about 40% and there's definitely a we/they atmosphere. Fortunately, the city has recently (within the last week) accepted recommendations from the Justice Dept. about how to better handle police, citizen relations. It probably won't have much of an effect though. Cinci is still one of the most conservative cities in the nation, but we do have the highest audience rating for Survivor.

Despite the recent events, Cinci has frequently been named as one of the best places in the US to live. Most of the region's schools are very good and there's a high concentration of parks and forests in the metro area. Cinci is also the least flat city in the midwest, which doesn't really say much, but it does have some nice hills, mainly because it's a valley. It's been said the city has a southern US charm, whatever that is.

The biggest cultural icon of the city is probably the distinctive chili, which is very thin, but includes a pinch of chocolate and is served over spaghetti noodles. There's also an ice cream company named Graeter's which is, quite frankly, the best in the world. The ice cream is incredibly thick and creamy because they use the French pot method, which is apparently not used anywhere else in the US anymore. I guess it's not very efficient, but it's damn good. All of the franchises are owned directly by the family, so it hasn't expanded beyond Columbus and Lexington, KY.

One speech quirk, that I hear is unique to Cinci, is the saying of "Please?" for "What did you just say?". It doesn't make sense. I'm not a native, haven't used it and don't plan to.


I actually live in Loveland (when I'm not at the university). Loveland is a suburb about 20 miles north east of the city. It was settled in 1796 on the Little Miami river, which eventually flows into the Ohio. It's a quaint little forested town with a population of about 12,000. It got it's name from one of the city's early (maybe first) postmasters named James Loveland. It was originally named Paxton, after the founder, but when sending letters, people would send their mail "to Loveland's" and the name caught on.

The downtown is quite small, but an important bike trail runs right through the center. At some point they started converting old train lines into walking/biking paths, and Loveland was the center of a fairly large one, so it's commonly called the Loveland Bike Trail. It's now been extended north and connected to a trail that runs to north of Dayton. The goal is to eventually have a continuous trail from Cinci to Cleveland.

Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, had a home in Loveland at some point, and Jerry Springer, a former mayor of Cinci, lived here. It's now the home of Dan Stroeh, last year's Kennedy Center national student playwright.

Loveland is a very nice town. It's a suburb now, but it's one of the oldest in the area, so it doesn't have the sprawling feel of other suburbs.


Posted By: Flatlander Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/17/02 12:03 PM
Texas, Japan and New Zealand combined

Now THAT would be a country!

I'll do one on my corner of the world later, I promise!

Posted By: Chemeng1992 Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/17/02 03:10 PM
Prattville, Alabama

History:
In 1833, a man named Daniel Pratt, a native of New Hampshire, came to Alabama to build and sell cotton gins. Over a period of years, he built an industrial village that bears his name, Prattville. While most southern towns feature a town square, Pratt's town showcases the original 1850 industrial buildings at heart and center of Prattville. In keeping with his New England heritage, Pratt established his village along the banks of beautiful Autauga Creek which provided water power for his many industries.

Demographics:
The City of Prattville has about 25,000 people with almost 48,000 in the County. Prattville and Autauga County is in one of the fastest growing areas of the State of Alabama. Overall growth trends for this area reflect a steady 9% increase in population for each five year-year increment for the last ten years and projections for the next five years anticipate an additional 9% increase. Prattville is one of the fastest growing cities in Alabama. Prattville had a 30% increase in population from 1990 to 1998. Over 1 billion dollars of capital investment has been announced in Autauga County over the last 18 months. The population is young with a median age of 35 and the 2000 Census points to an average household income of $48,141 which is above the state average as well as Montgomery and Birmingham. Unemployment figures for 2000 and 2001 reflect a 2.9% average unemployment rate.


Attractions:
Capitol Hill, Robert Trent Jones
Located on 1,500 acres of the finest nature has to offer, Capitol Hill, the latest addition to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, features three 18-hole championship courses with the option of a fourth course to be added in the future. Prattville played a key role in building this site (part of which is still under construction) when it's City Council approved an expenditure of $6.5 million to purchase land for the project-a full quarter of the $22.5 million price tag.

10 miles to the south is Montgomery, Alabama's capital city with a population in the 250,000 area. There we find the 4th largest Shakespearean festival in the world as well as a museum dedicated to the birth of the civil rights movement. Selma, yes - THAT Selma, is only 45 minutes west and full of historical sights including the infamous Edmund Pettis Bridge.

Prattville has a beautiful historic district full of old homes, churches and an 'under construction' remodeled shopping district. The houses are the grand plantation type houses with the tall ceilings and hardwood floors. Wrap around porches, dogwoods and azaleas are popular features.

Prattville is right on the Alabama River and has it's own boat launch. We are hosting a BASSMASTERS tournament later this year.

The beaches of South Alabama or the Florida Panhandle are less than 3 hours away, New Orleans is 4.5 hours and the beautiful mountains of Tennessee are only about 5 hours to the north. Northern Alabama has beautiful state parks and camping sites and Lake Martin, an hour away, is home to awesome boating and million dollar homes.

Personal note: I've lived in Prattville for almost 10 years and have seen more growth than I could ever imagine. When I moved here there was one steakhouse and a mexican joint and one 2-screen theatre. Now, we go to Montgomery for virtually nothing (unless crime and rundown areas are appealing that particular day). Climate is perfect, rarely below freezing in the winter, regularly over 90 in the summer. The humidity is the only gripe I have - 95 degrees with 100% humidity downright STINKS!

Everyone's welcome to visit!

Posted By: Jackie Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/18/02 03:09 AM
stales, what a great idea! Really cool, to learn all this.
Boy, it seems I'm coming across the word foreshore all over the place, now. Query: you used the phrase, "I tender that there may be some interest"--it's clear what you mean, but. I've never heard of anyone saying I tender, before. Is that common there?

Posted By: stales Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/19/02 11:14 AM
re "I tender"

I didn't think twice about using it so it's probably in common usage. Racking my poor, soon to be even older brain, I think I've heard it used as parliamentary or legal parlance.

Good pick up! (Though we'd say good ute!!)

stales

Posted By: Alex Williams Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/21/02 02:43 PM
I live in Lexington, Kentucky but I was born 12 miles north in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Georgetown is the home of Georgetown College, a small Baptist college of about 1000 students. My father is retired from the faculty there, having taught studio art there 1965-2000. Georgetown is also the home of the Toyota Camry. The town has changed quite a bit since the Toyota factory came, as you can imagine. In the 1700-1800's Georgetown was in Bourbon County, but Scott County (where Georgetown is) split off from Bourbon Co. some while back. Georgetown is the birthplace of Bourbon whiskey, which was first made by the man who founded the town and the college, Elijah Craig. Ironically, Criag was a Baptist minister. There is a brand of Bourbon named after him, but it isn't made in Scott County and it isn't really one of the better ones anyway.

My father and I like to fish in the Elkhorn Creek, which meanders through rural Scott County. The Elkhorn is mentioned in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"

One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same
and the largest the same,
A Southerner soon as a Northerner, a planter nonchalant
and hospitable down by the Oconee I live,
A Yankee bound my own way ready for trade, my joints the
limberest joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth,
A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deer-skin
leggings, a Louisianian or Georgian,
A boatman over lakes or bays or along coasts, a Hoosier,
Badger, Buck-eye;
At home on Kanadian snow-shoes or up in the bush, or with
fishermen off Newfoundland,


For more info on Georgetown see http:// http://www.georgetownky.com/

Lexington is the home of the Universiy of Kentucky, a state university of about 23,000 students. The surrounding area is famous for horses, especially thoroughbred race horses. The town is mostly white collar and service-oriented as far as the major employers. Besides the University, there are several private hospitals and LexMark, which manufactures computer printers at the site of the old IBM factory where typewriters used to be built. Also in Lexington is the Keeneland Racetrack where horses are raced and auctioned. The Keeneland spring season is going on currently. Yesterday one of the races was aired on ESPN-2, the Coolmore Lexington Stakes. I was at Keeneland yesterday, and had uncharacteristic good luck: I won $130 on a six dollar trifecta bet!

I am a resident in Radiation Oncology at the University of Kentucky Hospital - Markey Cancer Center, which serves not only Lexington and the surrounding area, but also the entire eastern half of the state.

Posted By: of troy Re: Where Do You Hang Your Hat? - 04/21/02 04:39 PM
What can i say? My home town is New York, New York, a town so nice, they named it twice!

Most tourist, domestic or foriegn, usually only see 1/2 of 1 borough, Mid, and lower (down) Manhattan.

Manhattan is a interesting place... a huge chunk has been made into a park,(Cental Park) and some there are places,( 2 to 3 mile stretches), where the average income exceeds 5 million dollars a year. It has more museums than you can imagine, with incredible collections. many-- are virtually free.. All have big sign offer (small print, suggested donations) big print $7.50, $10, $13.50... You must pay something, but you don't have to pay the suggested price. a quarter will do!

NY, unlike most of the east coast settlements started out as a commercial operation, and since day one, money has been at the root of the cities culture. Nothing has changed in 400 years. but there was a real civic character right from the beginning, so there are many cultural institutions that recieve public support.

NY has a greater mix of nationalities than other city in US.
Some cities may have more Poles, or more Germans, but we have more variety.

the city is an archipelago, made of thousand of islands-- of which 30 or so are occupied-- either full time or parttime. Manhattan is the most famous island but Roosevelt, Wards, Governers, Randles, City, Staten, Rickers, Big and Little Brother, Liberty, Ellis, The Rockaways, are some of the bigger ones. Only The Bronx is part of the main land.

Tourist who extend their stay, might get a chance to visit The Bronx zoological gardens, -- one of its original purposes was to save the US bison. Not for ecological reasons, but just to be sure there would alway be a supply for hunters.. It was a Bronx Zoo Bison that was used for be Buffalo nickle (US 5 cent coin).

Brooklyn used to be a city in its own right, but became part of, --oops, did i mention the offical name of the NY?--The City of Greater NY(yeah, it right there in the name, Greater NY!) in the 1890. Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island were incorporated into NY at the same time.

The Brooklyn museum, is a world class treasure house of egyptology, its total collection is smaller than the Mets, but it's egyption collection is much more important.

Queens is home to 2 of the NY area's 3 major airports, and has been the site of both of the cities world fairs.

Engineers love NY-- not only for our buildings, (which are world famous) but for our bridges.

Writers love NY for its libaries, there are over 300 local branches of the NY/Queen public libraries. Branches carry books, and other material in over 50 languages. each boro has a branch that is open sunday, and aside from christmas and thanksgiving, you can find a NY library open ever day of the year.

Same is true of many of our other cultural institutions.

Our subways? Nothing comes close. London's are just as extensive, but don't run 24 hours a day, and while we NY's complain about the cost, NY cost almost half as much as London's, Japan's, or DC's. They span every boro, and you can go 35 miles, from one end to the other, in about 1.5 hours, for $1.50.

I think was surprizes people most, is once they leave Manhattan, is the character of each boro is usually very identifiable. and each boro has large parks, and many neighborhoods like mine.. of private house, set on nice size lots, It could pass for suburbia, but on my 1 block long street, of 30 or so house, we have 20 nationalities living together!

Mind you, there are still enclaves, neighborhoods that 1 nationality predominates, but neighborhood border are flexable, and if you want to go out and eat ethnic, its not hard.

with in a short walk, i have italian, zen buddist vegitarian, japanese, Korean, chinese, persian, indian, german, french-moraccan, greek, -- hop in the car, and the selection increases.. a short trip, and i can be in a neighborhood of south and central american restarants, and dine on guinne pigs. or in other direction, i am in little russia. Don't know the finer points between czech, austrian, or german foods? you can find them all here, and compare.

want to eat real african style? Go to the bronx, and check out Ghanian, nigerian, or ivory republic foods styles.

The southern edge of the NY also marks the southern edge of glaciation.. (inland, the glacier went further south) and if you are interest in geology, staten Island offers several place to inspect the terrmial morain.

NY water system, over 100 years old, still provide NY with all the water it needs. for the most part, it is a gravity feed system, and pumps are only needed in building over 65 or so feet high.. (making a 5 floor or story building very common.. no legal requirement for an elevator, and no need to have a water tank and pump)

Taller building all have water tanks.. as tsuwm, i think mentioned, Coopering is still a very active trade in NYC! 95% of the water tanks are made of cedar, and assembled in place. they last about 100 years with a little care.

To say it is a dynamic city is just the beginning.. NY expect the best, and gripe and complain, but we are so, world famous for our ability to get along. 2 major black out's in my life time, and while the was some localized looting, there was no wide spread lose of civility. There have been at times, minor riots, but NY has never suffered the wide scale riots that have devistated some cities.

We suffered a blow, last year, but we never really got knocked off our feet. the 16 acre WTC site is larger that many CBD's, and we took it in stride.. (yeah, we are limping a bit, and yes, everyone in the world, came and held our hand, and did something for us, but NY never came to a stand still..

I think we sort of expected everyone to help, because as proud, and as self centered as we are, we are also one of the most open cities in the world.. we open our arms and hearts, and every one has a place here. The trick to being a NYer is live here, and say "i'm a NYer!" that it! we don't stand on cerimony, and excuse me please, but your cerimony is getting in the way of my making a buck.. so fork some over or move it! AnnaS lived here for 3 years, years ago, but she is still just as much of a NY as i am, (if she wants to be!)



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