Random Aussieness
Jan. 27th, 2010 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird_lj1) Yesterday, I was driving home (on a major, three-lane road) and the entire road suddenly slowed to a halt. We all sat there and watched while an echidna slowly waddled its way across the road... and drove off only once we'd all made sure it was safely on the grassy bit.
2) Just saw someone on the internet talking about driving in Melbourne, and mentioning hook-turns (which I'd expect) and roundabouts (which surprised me). Does the rest of the world not use roundabouts, or something? I'm sure I've seen them in movies...
3) Okay, I give up. How on earth do housenumbers work in America?
Here, we (very sensibly) start with "1" at the end of the street, and count up until we get to the other end. So how does an ordinary street in California end up with "1530" as the number on the letterbox?
2) Just saw someone on the internet talking about driving in Melbourne, and mentioning hook-turns (which I'd expect) and roundabouts (which surprised me). Does the rest of the world not use roundabouts, or something? I'm sure I've seen them in movies...
3) Okay, I give up. How on earth do housenumbers work in America?
Here, we (very sensibly) start with "1" at the end of the street, and count up until we get to the other end. So how does an ordinary street in California end up with "1530" as the number on the letterbox?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:35 pm (UTC)I believe US street numbers go by block. Presumably because some of the streets and avenues are so long.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:35 pm (UTC)We call them circles in the US (or at least in my part of it), and they're pretty rare, except in Washington, DC, much to the consternation of me.
(Out of curiosity, what is a hook-turn? I suspect it might be what we in New Jersey call a jug handle. People not from New Jersey hate them.)
As for the house numbers, it really depends. Sometimes they start at 1, but other times they start with 10 or 100. Sometimes they use every number, but other times they skip in multiples of 10 or larger.
ETA: And
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:44 pm (UTC)Wikipedia to the rescue!
Basically, it's a way to make a right-hand turn from the left lane. (Or, if you're in America, a left-hand turn from the right lane.) Very common in the centre of Melbourne, but most of the world doesn't do it.
Roundabouts are rare? Really? *has them everywhere, over here*
We even have two-lane roundabouts in the middle of highways.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 10:27 pm (UTC)The Magic Roundabout! Ah, how I remember it. It was the most interesting image on a 4-picture postcard celebrating 50 years of Hemel Hempstead - winner of a highly competitive 'shatteringly tedious postcard' contest at my college. Two of the other images were pictures of the shopping precinct, before and after pedestrianisation. I think the fourth was an empty field. The stuff of memories.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:47 am (UTC)That sounds about right. I avoid Hemel Hempstead, however, to be safe.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:12 am (UTC)*hugs our oh-so-simple-and-teeny roundabouts*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 04:14 am (UTC)"Roundabouts with trams
Tram roundabouts are most notably found in inner Melbourne, particularly in the inner suburban area of South Melbourne, where the tram network is extensive. Tram tracks always pass through the central island of these roundabouts, with drivers required to give way, not only to vehicles coming towards them from their right, but also to trams coming at them from right-angles.
Having trams pass through small roundabouts is not a problem; through larger roundabouts it can be difficult, particularly when there is a junction between tram lines as well. In these cases, the roundabouts are very large, and often have tram stops in the middle. The Haymarket roundabout between Royal Parade and Elizabeth Street is the most notorious junction of this nature, containing a tram-stop, pedestrian crossings, three entering tram lines, traffic signals to stop vehicular traffic at each crossing point when a tram is due, service roads and pedestrian crossing."
I have been round the Elizabeth St roundabout several times, all of which occurred consecutively one day when I was still a P-plater. I believe I was attempting to get to the zoo. By the time, I'd been around it three times, I no longer knew or cared where I was going, I just WANTED TO GET OFF THE DAMN THING. I finally decided to take my life in my hands, ignored the frantic hooting of all other drivers, picked some random direction dodged across several lanes and just took off out of there, putting several streets between myself and the horror before I dared to stop and work out where on earth I now was (some completely different part of the city, from whence I plotted a VERY laborious route to the zoo that would be guaranteed NOT TO GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE ROUNDABOUT).
I think this is a map of it:
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4HPAB_enAU251AU258&q=elizabeth+st+melbourne&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Elizabeth+St,+Melbourne+VIC+3000&gl=au&ei=T7xfS7rGJoSwswPhy8GhCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ8gEwAA
I assume I was supposed to somehow change lanes while on there...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 04:19 am (UTC)On re-reading that entry, I note that the level of mis-spelling and mis-punctuation is directly proportional to the level of horror effected even by the memory of The Elizabeth St Roundabout.
(You should have seen it while I was typing it. It was practically illiterate.)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 02:35 am (UTC)Gah.
Just... gah.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:52 pm (UTC)ETA: Found a diagram!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:28 am (UTC)Roundabouts aren't all that rare - there are a lot of them being installed in and around No. Virginia and Maryland now. And, I suspect, other places. Theoretically, they move traffic more efficiently and save fuel. The old ones, that have been around forever (in DC and also where I grew up there was a big one with five different roads leading in to it)were (and are) called traffic circles. The new, usually smaller, ones replacing some intersections are being called roundabouts.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:42 pm (UTC)I rarely see street numbers that are sense-making. Sure, sometimes they might start at 100 or 1000 or something, but more often than not, it's totally random. On my street, for instance, my number is 4423. And then it skips to 4311. No rhyme or reason. Not all are that bad, but sometimes they are.
Of course, also in my city, most roads have at least two names, sometimes three or four, depending upon where you are. So...getting around is sometimes difficult for out-of-towners.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:44 pm (UTC)I live in America and I don't even know. I think we do another 100 for every block or some such. Shrug.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:48 pm (UTC)2) we have roundabouts in america. maybe not everywhere, but definitely where i live.
3) american neighborhoods are divided according to where they fall on a North/South, East/West grid. there is usually a couple of major city streets that do the dividing, and every block moving outward in any direction is numbered accordingly. that's the first part of the number. so, the "15" in 1530 revello means buffy's house is on the 15th block (not sure of the direction since it's imaginary - does anybody know?). the second half of the number indicated where her house is in relation to the block itself. "30" tells us her house is the 30th one on the block. at least, that's how it works most places.
take my address, for instance. it is 608. my house is on the 6th block West of the dividing street. there are 10 houses on my block, and mine is number 8. my neighbors on either side are 606 and 610. we also have all even numbers on one side and all odd numbers on the other so if you're searching for an address you know which side of the street to look on.
is that confusing enough for you?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:57 pm (UTC)I think that only works in large cities where the streets are actually in a grid pattern. In my town, for instance, the residential neighborhoods have winding streets that intersect all over the place, so there's no way to divide it in a grid.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 09:59 pm (UTC)thank goodness for mapqwest, yes?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 08:49 pm (UTC)I couldn't even begin to describe what the streets do around here. The two things that make me completely crazy are (1) the fact that 28th St. is in between 23rd St. and 25th St. and (2) the intersection of Glebe Rd. and Glebe Rd. WHO DOES THAT???
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 10:21 pm (UTC)2) Roundabouts (or traffic circles, as we usually call them) happen sometimes in America, especially in cities, but not everywhere.
And the Wiki page of hook turns kind of blew my mind and also made me want to cry.
3) Fuck if I know.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 04:43 am (UTC)Support.
Also, it made me wonder if it was designed by an Aggie.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 11:07 pm (UTC)I think everywhere in the world has roundabouts except for big tracts of America. I saw this being discussed on LJ a while back and the Americans in the discussion said other Americans found roundabouts were too complicated and they preferred lots of sets of lights...
Echidnas are wonderful - we stop for ducks, but Echidnas are much cuter!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:15 am (UTC)(We do, of course, have extra incentive for stopping for them - those spines could probably puncture a tyre if they tried...)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 11:21 pm (UTC)3) Okay, I give up. How on earth do housenumbers work in America?
There is absolutely no rational explanation. Most often it's even numbers on one side of the street and odd on the other. In developer subdivisions they usually start at, say 100, but it's usually at the discreation of the developer. On gridded cities such as Birmingham the number coincides with the streets. For example buildings on First Avenue North near 21st street then have numbers like 2105 First Avenue North. Once they cross 22nd street it becomes 22XX First Avenue North. (Then it goes 'over the mountain' from the city limits of Birmingham into Homewood and a whole new grid starts up so the continuity is blown based on city limits. 20th Street Birmingham literally becomes 18th Street Homewood. See? No rational sense.
And on old streets... Well, let's put it like this. I recently designed a house for my sister that was built in an older part of the city where there are regularly houses 70 to 100 years old and when my brother-in-law went to get a house number, city hall literally told him to "choose". So he chose a number somewhat in between the numbers on houses up the street and those below him on the street.
So basically the answer tends to be "whatever works."
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 10:38 am (UTC)It can get worse, LOL. My parents live out in the country. And apparently (based on results) numbers were assigned as houses were built, and assigned in order. So you would have an address like RT 1 Box 260, and down the road somewhere would be Box 261. Except, over time, more and more houses were built in between other houses, which ended with a ton of RT 1 Box 260B, and 260C, and 260D, etc. We were forever getting other people's mail, because we had the original box number, and they had letter variations. Thankfully, that's all been done away with since the adresses were redone for 911 number purposes.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 03:33 pm (UTC)I live in a developer created subdivision (so I don't now what his excuse was) and yet only being the 3rd house in the subdivision I'm... 108. Why? Beats me. And every street is a name variation of "Old Brook". We have "Old Brook Place", "Old Brook Lane" "Old Brook Circle," etc. Honestly, I don't know how he came up with enough variations of "Old Brook" for the entire subdivision! (And yeah, it screws up the mail. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 11:47 pm (UTC)Simplicity, please. And yeah, our numbers don't always make sense.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:03 am (UTC)Just checked on a map - in a 2.5-by-2.5km area of suburbia (2.25 square miles), there are over 20 roundabouts. If I drive home from the shops (5 minutes of driving) I'll encounter at least 4 of them.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:09 am (UTC)(Now imagine that you're dealing with a roundabout that's oval rather than round, so you have to start with a sharp left turn and then swing round the wheel really fast to avoid going up on the footpath, and you're doing this at the same time as trying to change gears with one hand... and you'll have the roundabout near my parents' house. That one was horrible when I was learning to drive.)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 02:34 am (UTC)I agree.
I've never seen another like it.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 02:47 am (UTC)Yes, exactly!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 07:52 am (UTC)Ooh! Echidna!
even though it's already been answered a billion times
Date: 2010-01-28 03:09 am (UTC)Generally, houses are numbered with the hundred or thousand digit assigned to a block, even numbers on one side and odd on the other, but that isn't always the case. It all depends on where you are, when the neighborhood was established, et cetera.
The problem with going "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" is if you build a house between 1 and 2 sometime after 1 and 2 were built, or if you extend the street so that it goes before 1 (though you could always count up in that direction again, and then call one side "South Main Street" and the other "North Main Street" or some such thing.) What's really fun is to have Pass Road go through both Gulfport and Biloxi, and have the numbers repeat for each city, even though it's the same road, and you can't tell where G ends and B begins except for a tiny little road sign, so you have to know which city a store is in if you have the street address. (Well, it's easier to tell now when Biloxi begins, because they re-paved their side last year and since then it's much nicer than Gulfport's side is.)
Hook-turns make more sense for bicycles than for cars, but that's probably largely because there are so many more cars trying to turn left than would fit in that little space.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 03:06 am (UTC)I have yet to live in a street where there are less than three roundabouts. Uni dorm, mum's building, dad's building -- and some cities here have even more. I think I counted seven roundabouts in one street in some city, some years back.
re: hook turns: Just looked in Wikipedia, and dude, we have them too. How can it be any other way? o_O
|Meduza|
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 03:10 am (UTC)Wow. Most of the streets I've lived in have been fairly short, so until my current house, I'd never lived somewhere with more than one roundabout. (But the idea of Americans just not having them at all weirds me out.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 03:20 am (UTC)Oh, short streets have the roundabouts too. Cities prefer those to traffic lights. We have some with two or three lanes, too. Now that's ridiculously scary.
Americans have Stop signs a lot more than I've seen in other places, to complement the traffic lights. They're probably the one nation that actually obeys the stop signs.
Stalking. <3
|Meduza|