Grumpy old buggers thread

[JDNSW]

How well would that work for you, me and many others, John?

Where I live is like many others, bereft of public transport. Should I take the train to the City, for my bi-anual pilgrimage, I am forced to abandon my car at a railway carpark, a Mecca for thieves.

Yes, it does not work for me - although I should point out that the local rail passenger service stopped over 50 years ago - if it still operated I could get the train into town with only a 6km drive and park at a relative's house two minutes walk from the station. Mind you, the railway is inoperative at the moment after a bridge was destroyed in a bushfire in December, and won't be replaced until the middle of the year. And my annual pilgrimage to Sydney is by train, although parking is, as you say, an issue.

However, a large proportion of the fuel used in Australia is used in commuting in Australia in single occupant cars, which really could mostly be done in a sensible public transport system.

Remember that most (about 90%) of Australians live in urban areas and two thirds live in the capital cities, and for a large proportion of them most fuel use is in commuting to work.

[NavyDiver]

What amazes me is the huge line of cars,all idling with the AC on,outside schools at pick up time.
Some of them are parked like this for well over 45 minutes.

How times have changed,we couldn't wait to get out of school and onto our Dragstars
And get home sometime before dark,or we got a clip around the ear.

When on a School Council I saw a stat that blew me away. Most students lived <2km away. Most were driven to school and picked up. I could run both ways with the kids' bikes in the time to took to pick them up by car due to traffic. Finally got a bike shed a year before we left that school

I walked from Prep to grade one then when in the country it was the school bus which was a 1km walk to get to and from

[Saitch]

What amazes me is the huge line of cars,all idling with the AC on,outside schools at pick up time.
Some of them are parked like this for well over 45 minutes.

It's appears to be more of a social, get-together for parents, these days. Not to mention the 'Look at Me' factor of dress and vehicle make.

I have to admit though, that some of the 'Look at Me-ers' are well and truly worth a look!

[V8Ian]

When on a School Council I saw a stat that blew me away. Most students lived <2km away. Most were driven to school and picked up. I could run both ways with the kids' bikes in the time to took to pick them up by car due to traffic. Finally got a bike shed a year before we left that school

I walked from Prep to grade one then when in the country it was the school bus which was a 1km walk to get to and from

I had to walk ten miles, in the snow, with no shoes, piggybacking my big sister, both ways.

[RANDLOVER]

I had to walk ten miles, in the snow, with no shoes, piggybacking my big sister, both ways.

Me too, but it was uphill both ways to and from school.

[scarry]

I have to admit though, that some of the 'Look at Me-ers' are well and truly worth a look!

i will agree with that,i went to 5 schools yesterday for work.......and a look

The boys have this saying "Yes i know when you were a kid you used to ride your bike 965Km to school and back very day".

Now the younger lot of Grandkids have been saying it as well
We are going to Moreton Isl with them in a month or so,i bet i hear that saying every bloody day

[V8Ian]

Me too, but it was uphill both ways to and from school.

We must've gone to the same school.

[JDNSW]

I only walked 1/4 mile to the bus* stop for a three mile trip to town, then about half a mile (uphill) to the highschool - primary school had a bus stop only one block from it. I think that over my entire school career, I walked home twice for various reasons - it was uphill most of the way, mostly with no footpath, total perhaps 4 miles or a little more.

When I was at school, in the 1940s, few families had cars, and few mothers had drivers licences, let alone a car to drive. By the mid 1950s car ownership had become more common, but I can't think of any kid I knew who was driven to school. By the time I was in my final university year (1961), I occasionally drove about 20 miles to university in my own car, but usually walk-bus-train-walk.

*No special school bus, just the regular bus stop, cash only, so you had better not have lost your bus money!