What are your favourite cities/countries? Or what country/city would you like to visit?

[RelentlessOblivion]

8 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Sounds more like Guardians of the Galaxy but with metal instead of incipid classic rock.

 

The scary part is I could have been one of those guys if I had been born into a redneck familiy in a backwoods rural area instead of to college educated people in the suburbs of New York. Although I still have my doubts that I would have been abe to go along with the Christo-indoctrination psychosis regardless of what circumstances I'd been born into.

As the only social progressive in my family it’s not a uniquely American problem. Anyway GG is right, when I was in LA half the people I bumped into thought I was British, and the other half thought Australia was just some trendy new suburb. They hadn’t been to yet. Needless to say America is fine to visit, but I couldn’t live there.

[Dead1]

17 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yeah but the rednecks in them open carry states wouldn't like you bro, you're a foreigner and you talk funny. Don't tell them you're from Tasmania as they'd probably think that was in Africa somewhere. Good ole boys aren't so good at geography, and most of them have never been 500 miles from where they grew up. You're better off in a purple state where you can apply for a concealed carry permit, although that's really just gonna cover you for handguns. Here in deep blue New Jersey it's legal to own a firearm and have it in your own home, but if you ever get caught actually firing it or taking it out of your house anywhere that's gonna be a real big problem for you. This isn't one of those states where you can just go out into the woods and have some fun shooting your guns. I had to drive to PA just to buy a little BB gun for the kid to shoot at a target I hung up for us to have some fun with in the backyard.

Truth is there's really nowhere in this country that you can actually walk around in public with an $1,800 SMG carbine slung across your back without getting hassled. And the H&K USC only comes with two 10 round mags, if you upgraded to an illegal (in most states) aftermarket larger capacity 20 round magazine (the first video) and took it out in public you'd probably get arrested for that too. Looks like most of these dudes get these converted to UMP (to accept double-stacked magazines) which costs about $1,000 (and up) and involves changing out serveral parts and poterntially shortening the barrel down to a nub. (2nd video) Not sure why you'd want something chambered for .45 ACP anyway as it's god damned expensive ammo, .48 cents per round (that's .78 AUD)

 

 

 

 

So you're saying I'd have to live in Texas!

As for .45 ACP better stopping power than 9mm and more importantly the M1911 is a classic! 

Do you do a lot of shooting?

The other thing I'd do if I lived in America is become a state executioner.

I would gladly pull the switch on some scumbo murderer or rapist.  Justice needs to be more permanent IMO!

 

---

 

And yes whilst I am left wing near socialist, I like firearms.  Australian gun laws make it too difficult and expensive to get into shooting as a hobby.

 

[Hyena]

I liked Scotland.

[RelentlessOblivion]

On 10/29/2023 at 6:04 AM, Hyena said:

I liked Scotland.

Whereabouts in Scotland did you visit? I only saw Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Inverness myself, the latter briefly.

[Dead1]

Just booked flights to Europe for Apr-May 2024.

 

Going back to Croatia (where I am from), Paris (for daughter) and Vienna (wife and I favourite place) but also adding Venice, Salzburg and Bratislava to mix.

First time travelling on a sleeper train.  In fact we're catching a few trains which are more environmentally friendly, you get to see more and you avoid all that airport bullshit.

[AlSymerz]

I've done the Indian Specific twice, once from Radelaide in a sleeper and once from Melbourne, (Overland change over) in a seated cabin. Fucked if I'll ever go on such annoying fucking transport again. Buses and trains for me rate lower than cruise ships. At least on a cruise ship there is shitloads to do while the thing is moving and you can keep away from people. On trains the walls are thin, the corridors and skinny and people are everywhere.

[Dead1]

37 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

I've done the Indian Specific twice, once from Radelaide in a sleeper and once from Melbourne, (Overland change over) in a seated cabin. Fucked if I'll ever go on such annoying fucking transport again. Buses and trains for me rate lower than cruise ships. At least on a cruise ship there is shitloads to do while the thing is moving and you can keep away from people. On trains the walls are thin, the corridors and skinny and people are everywhere.

 

I don't like buses.  I am 6 foot tall and you can't really get up and stretch on a bus.  Difficult on a plane too in economy class.  You can do that on a train - you can even go for a walk..

Airplanes for short routes are a pain - a 45 minute flight actually requires 3-4 hours!  You have to get there 45 minutes to an hour before (and sometimes more - during COVID it was 2 hours before flight)  and it's often a 15-30 minute drive to the airport.  Then fart arsing around at the airport waiting for luggage and trying to source transfer into town and the transfer.  And planes are usually late (at least here in Tasmania - my wife's flight on Sunday was delayed by an hour).  In Australia your flights often get changed too (sometimes by whole days - happened to us for a Melbourne to Cairns flight).

 

Trains (and bus) stations are often smack bang in the middle of the city in Europe so you can walk to the station.  There's usually no mega customs or whatever.

So we figure:

 

a.) Trains are easier to get to and often don't have all the customs and other bullshit you get to with planes.

b.) They're often cheaper that air travel.  Indeed Vienna -> Zagreb flights are horrifically expensive.  Plus one saves on airport transfers due to central location.

c.) Sleeper Paris -> Vienna - save 1 nights accommodation as well as a days travel as we're travelling over night.

d.) In Austria, trains are fast (up to 230 km per hour) and pretty regular.  So Vienna -> Salzburg is reasonably fast.

e.) You get to see more country side than a plane.

f.) We haven't had trains in Tasmania since 1978 so it will be a novelty for my wife and daughter (I've caught overnight trains as well as lots of metro trains as a kid in Croatia and Sydney).

 

 

[AlSymerz]

I'm not a fan of any transport I can't control myself. But I hate being stuck in cabins, buses, trains, even cruise ships. But I'd rate cruise ships higher because they have a lot more room.

[Hyena]

On 10/30/2023 at 1:27 AM, RelentlessOblivion said:

Whereabouts in Scotland did you visit? I only saw Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Inverness myself, the latter briefly.

Edinburgh. Gorgeous city, friendly people, everything was cheap (ten or so years ago at least) and we had a blast.

[Dead1]

31 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

I'm not a fan of any transport I can't control myself. 

That's pretty much the Australian way,  Along with the environment and government welfare for anyone except themselves, there is nothing Aussies hate more than public transport even when they have access to good reliable public transport.  Country has too much of a car culture and is too lazy. 

Tasmanians are worst for it - only 7% of Hobart uses public transport and most of the network is being dismantled (we just lost our main bus transit centre in Launceston).  The buses are mainly empty and heavily subisidised.  Well known joke among Tasmanians is they won't walk anywhere and have to park right outside their destination.  It's one of those "it's funny coz it's true" things.  

 

You could put in free efficient public transport and people will still insist on driving their own oversized polluting vehicle. 

"Sure I could catch the free super fast train but I'd rather be stuck in traffic in my Toyota Prado paying $2.10 for a litre of petrol."

"I could also walk but I don't think that is what my legs are for."

 

 

I used to walk to work and catch bus home (steep hill) but then Aussie wife wanted the Aussie dream and we moved to a big house outside of town and now we have to drive everywhere.  There's buses but they are $12.20 return per day per person so unaffordable.  They also go the slow way so a 10 minute trip becomes a 45 minute trip.  This is because they've been cutting number of direct routes due to low utilisation.  It's a vicious cycle.

[AlSymerz]

Massively over simplified to suit a specific rhetoric but okay.

[Dead1]

1 hour ago, AlSymerz said:

Massively over simplified to suit a specific rhetoric but okay.

How else can you explain following low utilisation rates:

- Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide - 6%

- Sydney - 9%

- Peth - 23%

- Melbourne - 37% - a real outlier but  extremely high migrant population without all that car culture baggage.

Compare this to 46% in London, 70% in Paris, 54% in New York, 61% in Madrid or 57% in Tokyo.  Or looking at smaller non-alpha cities - 40% for Lyon, 47% Prague and Warsaw 57%.

Or the stat that Australia is 7th highest for private vehicle ownership?  Over 91% of Australian households has at least 1 car and over 55% has more than 1 (actually many I know have 3 cause dad's like to own motorbikes and other toys).

Australians don't like public transport and the stats show they don't use it.  The fact that many places have had public transport networks dismantled or reduced to low level heavily subsidised rump services is testament to this. 

 

Excluding aircraft, I don't know anyone locally who use mass public transport (buses).  Uber and taxis used by some people I know when they're drinking.    I know two people in Hobart that catch the bus but that's it.

 

Public transport initiatives in Australia tend to be torn apart by media as wasteful spending both during building and once they're built.  Even supposed left wing progressive media like ABC and The Guardian attack public transport initiatives (eg Sydney light rail, Melbourne's massive rail way revamp etc) and they're meant to be pro-environment and pro-better access for disadvantage people.

 

Great Australian dream is a big arse house with more bed rooms than you need, a His and Hers SUV, cars for the teenage kids, a motorbike or sports car for dad, a boat, an RV/caravan and a "shack" (euphemism for large weekend house).  Oh and several rental properties so one can benefit from all those speculative property gains whilst squeezing poor people out of their hard earned cash.

(By the way this is literally my whole neighbourhood - nice town as a whole but I fucking hate all the wannabe rich and all their waste - there are  literally caravans/RVs and boats in every second drive way/yard and dad's toys like Harley's parked in open garages).

It's an environmental and social nightmare.

 

[AlSymerz]

I don't have to explain anything. My comment was that I'm a control freak and like to drive my own destiny, specifically referring to holidays. After that you've just thrown a heap of stats around that even with the best intentions don't paint the entire picture of the public transport systems of Australia.

[Dead1]

44 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

I don't have to explain anything. My comment was that I'm a control freak and like to drive my own destiny, specifically referring to holidays. After that you've just thrown a heap of stats around that even with the best intentions don't paint the entire picture of the public transport systems of Australia.

My comment was that you share that particular trait with most of your countrymen.

That picture is accurate enough.  

 

And it's not even a sob story about lack of services "woe is us for the government does not provide".  The metro buses I used to catch were big 44 seat things.  They were pretty regular.  They were mainly empty.  On a good day there'd be 10 people on board (almost all teenagers).   Most of the times it'd be 5 or less.

I used to catch the bus to and from Hobart when I was at Uni.  There were only 2 services a day (evening plus morning).  Again the buses were mainly empty - a dozen people on a good run.  Only once was it packed (some sort of festival happening). 

Thank the heavens government continues to subsidise both intra-town and inner city buses or they would close down.

 

So I will repeat myself again:  Australians hate public transport, hence your preference for being in the control of your own vehicle and avoiding public transport is totally and utterly rational and fully expected within the context of your culture.

 

 

[AlSymerz]

You can repeat it all you like but me driving my own vehicle has nothing to do with my views of public transport and doesn't see me avoiding public transport. Under the right circumstances I'll use public transport without a second thought.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Gentleman perhaps you’d prefer to bicker less publicly?

 

Re Edinburgh the history of the city was fascinating, now I feel old recalling I was there 20 years ago. As an Australian visiting in the middle of that winter, though, not overly fond of the bitter cold. 

[Dead1]

1 hour ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

 

Re Edinburgh the history of the city was fascinating, now I feel old recalling I was there 20 years ago. As an Australian visiting in the middle of that winter, though, not overly fond of the bitter cold. 

That's what I love about Europe.  The history is tangible - it's in the buildings, the landmarks, the statues and monuments and in the names of places and streets.  It's amazing standing in a place where so many important things happened or where famous world leaders, scientist and artists lived and or worked or where things that mattered globally  happened such as battles or signing of treaties.  

[AProperCat]

I'd say most of Germany, it's quiet, un-obtrusive, and they will leave you alone unless you start acting like a Nazi.

[Thatguy]

On 10/31/2023 at 2:17 PM, RelentlessOblivion said:

Re Edinburgh the history of the city was fascinating, now I feel old recalling I was there 20 years ago. As an Australian visiting in the middle of that winter, though, not overly fond of the bitt

My strongest memory of visiting Edinburgh  -  in July - is my first exposure to men and women stripped down to their underwear sunning themselves in public parks. I can never unseen the sight of pasty fat blokes in string vests...

They do this in England too.

[Dead1]

7 hours ago, Thatguy said:

My strongest memory of visiting Edinburgh  -  in July - is my first exposure to men and women stripped down to their underwear sunning themselves in public parks. I can never unseen the sight of pasty fat blokes in string vests...

They do this in England too.

I remember gross fat old guys doing same in Paris.    Oh and then similar looking gross fat guys with the hottest young women I'd ever seen and driving Maseratis and other luxury sports cars.

 

What's it with Europeans and sunbaking?

 

[Thatguy]

5 hours ago, Dead1 said:

gross fat guys with the hottest young women I'd ever seen and driving Maseratis and other luxury sports cars.

I was waiting for a bus in Vence - in the south of France - and an aged and overtanned specimen with a feral moustache drove slowly past in his open top yellow Lamborghini with - of course - a hot model grade gorgeous young woman sitting beside him. Then a few minutes later he drove back the other way just in case any of us missed it.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

5 hours ago, Thatguy said:

I was waiting for a bus in Vence - in the south of France - and an aged and overtanned specimen with a feral moustache drove slowly past in his open top yellow Lamborghini with - of course - a hot model grade gorgeous young woman sitting beside him. Then a few minutes later he drove back the other way just in case any of us missed it.

You should have hopped in at the light to inquire if they were up for a little ménage à trois. Could have dunked your biscuit and then when he fell asleep taken the meuf for a joy ride in his Lambo. Beats riding the bus.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

3 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

You should have hopped in at the light to inquire if they were up for a little ménage à trois. Could have dunked your biscuit and then when he fell asleep taken the meuf for a joy ride in his Lambo. Beats riding the bus.

That's a good way to get shot if I've ever heard it. I remember when my sister was at the end of high school for her, and I was back at the folks place to work for the summer. She was dating this complete fucking tool who came from money. His parents bought him a nice new car every year; not as a bday gift, nor as any type of occasion based benevolence. Just because. So he'd grown up with a brand new car every year just as a matter of fact in his delusional world. In any case they decided to visit my grandparents and extended family on my dad's side who were all very rough and tumble ranchers and farmers and had callouses on their hands from the age of ten. They had decided to make this little trip in the middle of the night without warning, and my sister's tool of a boyfriend decided he didn't want the gravel roads to ruin the paint job on his vehicle. So, without telling me, they took my beat to shit Plymouth Voyager and left his vehicle. I woke up for work the next day and... my vehicle was missing. No warning whatsoever. They'd just snagged the keys off the rack by the door. I did what any reasonable person would have done and I grabbed his keys and took his car to work. It was a twelve hour shift and I'd never really had any experience with vehicles whose lights were automatic, and I got pulled over for having my brights. I had a hell of a time explaining the situation to the officer who wasn't exactly convinced when he asked me "Does your friend know you're driving his Porsche?" and I had to say "No, officer, but he stole my minivan!"

[Dead1]

Nasty Cabbage, that's awesome!

 

What was it like to drive a Porsche?

[Nasty_Cabbage]

5 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Nasty Cabbage, that's awesome!

 

What was it like to drive a Porsche?

I was a little too cranky to really appreciate it. I hear there are about a billion Hindu peoples in the world for whom waking and seeing "the signs were bad" is a legitimate excuse to not go into work. I can almost hear the laughter on the other end of the line if I tried to pull a stunt like that.

"Hey, boss. It's me. Look I was kidnapped by Stabs the homeless birthday clown on my way in today. Once I've finished filing my report I'm headed home. Bad signs and all, you know."

"Dammit, I've told you all a million times Stabs is a paying customer, and generally a pretty good guy if you stay out of stabbing distance. You're still coming in!"