RE: RAMBLE ON #5 | Falling Flat Like a Joke
Just down the road = Eight hundred kilometres.
This reminded me of when we moved from San Diego in Southern California to Albuquerque, New Mexico. In California, when we got in the car, we were prepared for at least an hour's drive to get anywhere. (In most of my memories of the place, I am driving to get somewhere.)
When we moved to New Mexico -- 40 years ago -- Albuquerque was about 250,000 people ... and yes, it's grown since then! But one day in a store, while we were checking out, I said something to my husband about going to the Far North Shopping Center to look for something we wanted, and the clerk said, "That's way across town. You don't want to go there."
I nearly laughed out loud -- because I knew we could be there in 15 minutes ... tops! We could go there, get what we wanted, have lunch and still spend less time than I used to spend driving somewhere in California.
It's all a matter of perspective ... so I get what you mean. The change for me from one place to the other was so wonderful -- back then.
Driving an hour just to get anywhere is normal in Australia. It used to be just for country drives, given the vast distances, but now it includes even driving around the cities. They are all so big these days that taking more than 1 hour just to get to work is normal.
Country holidays as a kid were always 2 hours drive away. And even driving between Melbourne and Sydney (an 8 - 10 hour drive) was quite normal. Now everyone flies, but back then driving was a way of life.
It gets even more exaggerated the further into the outback you go. The Northern Territory (which has a population of around 200,000) takes several days to drive from one end to the other, with only one main road on which to do it. That does put things into perspective.
Living in Albuquerque sounds interesting. New Mexico strikes me as similar to the ruggedness of parts of Australia.
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