So, billytea, was Canberra built on a swamp?
No, it was built on the Limestone Plains. One politician at the time referred to it as "A waste of good sheep country".
Incidentally, Canberra today has three times as many trees than there were before it was built.
Was there a gypsy curse involved?
Yeah, let's go with that. Canberra wound up where it was because neither Sydney nor Melbourne was willing to let the other be the nation's capital, so there may have been cursing involved.
No, but surpsingly sex with a teenage slayer was involved.
Canberra is also regarded as the sex capital of Australia (first place to legalise licenced prostitution and such like), so maybe this one too.
and being a city without a soul
I find Washington DC is often like this. Anyway, there's a certain freakish rootlessness, when the cultural winds shift at every election. We used to joke that 9pm was the best time to get a dinner reservation, because all the civil servants would be on their way to bed by then.
(Which is not to say there weren't film festivals, opera, free museums, and stuff like that; but compared to Baltimore, DC was an airport concourse.)
Poking head to wish health and all good things to Jim and Penny, and congrats to Moonlit!
Yeah, let's go with that. Canberra wound up where it was because neither Sydney nor Melbourne was willing to let the other be the nation's capital, so there may have been cursing involved.
This is true about Washington, DC. Maybe we've established how you create a city with no soul. See also: Brasilia.
Hmph. DC has plenty of soul, these days. Though no voting rights.
t /defensive resident
This is true about Washington, DC.
Yep, there's more than one parallel. I suspect that's at least partly deliberate, such as the model of defining a separate territory for it (though the ACT gets Parliamentary representation).
DC has plenty of soul, these days.
Um, I think it's called go-go.
Um, I think it's called go-go.
The one thing that does NOT NEED MORE COWBELL!!!