I hate to dump on Sydney (NB that's obviously not true), but: is it just me, or does Sydney have the most weird-looking and confusing rail map in the world? Whenever I'm there it takes me endless trial and error to figure out which line I'm actually supposed to be catching. It also doesn't help that what's called, say, the "Inner West line" on the map will be called something totally different on platform signs!

Really? Howso?

Meara - it's underfunded, and has significant capacity issues. Bear in mind, it's a Victorian system that's been hacked for over a century to keep up with demand, and it's getting harder and harder.

Thanks for the shinola, Nutty!

I hate the PO. But the only other option is to weigh stuff yourself.

In Australia we don't even have this option anymore. Well, not for packages. Everything that leaves the country goes with a great big "ID provided" stamp and your driver's licence number (or similar). Frustrationpalooza.

Oz (Australia, not the prison or the Werewolf or the magical Land) is even behind the UK, in Buffy as in most other aspects of civilisation.

Well yes, and no. As I understand it, it's only showing on paytelevision in the UK at the moment, right? And it won't be on free-to-air for a while? So at least Australia has that going for them.

or possibly just "what Angus said"

Also, because this has just occurred to me, I never say, nor write, Oz. Yet foreigners appear to do this all the time. I wonder why this is?

erm.. also, also, don't mind me. I'll be over in the "working, really" corner with Fay.

Because Australia is too sodding long to type!

And yes - free-to-air UK TV is half-way through s6, IIRC.

It's taken me a little while to figure out the Sydney rail system myself, esp. in Central Station, where I can never find a map to tell me what line I want to take, what platform it leaves from, or how to get to that platform. OTOH, at least Sydney HAS maps; I never understood how tourists were supposed to be able to figure out the Melbourne tram system.

In local slang, Oz tends to mean places that aren't real, or the block of science buildings on the campus since they're reached through a bridge that used to be called the Rainbow (but then the Rainbow Alliance was formed, so that name was stopped so that people wouldn't think the bridge was gay.) So Oz is a sort of equivalent of Xanadu or Nevereverland or Rand McNally - unless it's specifically said to pertain to that country.

Zoe, do you live in Edinburgh?

No, I commute between Edimbru and Corescant.

Edit which in this flat are represented by the bedroom and the living room with Edinburgh being the hallway in between :-P

I never understood how tourists were supposed to be able to figure out the Melbourne tram system.

In the old days, you asked a conductor. But sadly the conductors were all sacked and replaced by machines (and some of them were re-employed as ticket inspectors because no-one bothers buying a ticket any more!). It may be a Darwinian system but we're fond of it. (Not.)

But maps of the tram system are pretty widely available, I would have thought?

The New Orleans bus system is pretty much designed to be as hard to figure out as possible. The bus stop signs all just say "Bus Stop" and have no indication as to what lines stop there or where they go. I've been here for four years, and I only know where three of the lines actually go. (It doesn't really help that, at college orientation, we're told, "The buses are dangerous. Don't take them," so it took me until the middle of sophomore year before I even tried.)

Angus, I never saw any at any of the tram stops, which is where one might reasonably expect to find them (except for the fact that most tram stops don't have shelters, so maps would get rained on and ruined pretty quick). They may be available elsewhere, but I wouldn't know where to look. Some of the tram stops did have little maps for their individual lines behind fogged-up glass, but stops that are used by several lines don't have maps of every line.

It's also possible that I just didn't try very hard to find a map. Because it should be easy, dammit! :-)