maps and animals

I don't have nearly enough postcards from Australia but was thrilled to get a second map postcard earlier this month to go with the one I got last December.

this card's arrival means a little shuffling is in order as my album of maps and large letter cards is now full

and some more iconic images

I spent a long six months backpacking around (a tiny portion of) AU and NZ and for years thought of little else but going back. It was a bit of a shock to realize (due to someone's significant birthday next month) that that trip was 25 years ago. 

For sure, if/when I do make it back, it won't be with a backpack.

PostcardFriendshipFriday
for ANZAC DAY

street signs - 4th St SW

These street signs were found in Chesley. I was curious enough to ask in the post office why they had two names. Seemed a logical place to ask. I can't quite remember the reasoning behind it, (and I gathered the woman in the PO wasn't entirely convinced it was necessary) but it seems to have had something to do with the absorbing of the town with 19 other towns and villages into the Regional Municipality of Arran-Elderslie. (What a mouthful!) Interestingly, I have driven through the two other towns, Paisley and Tara, and neither of them had to change their street names...

In my research, I found these directions to the Community Centre:
Chesley is located approx. 20 km south of Owen Sound and approx. 190 km northwest of Toronto.
From the South: North on Regional Road #10. Take the first exit to Chesley(Bruce Road 19) and left turn. Turn Right on Bruce Road 30 which becomes 1st Ave. (also called Main Street). Turn right on 4th Street SE (Davis St.) which is the second street past the St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church. Arena is at the end of the road (across 4th Ave. SE).
From the North: South on Regional Rd. #10. Turn right on Bruce Road 30 which becomes 1st Ave. (also called Main Street). Cross bridge and proceed through downtown. Turn left on 3rd Street SE (Adolph Street). Proceed through community park to north side of arena.

Now, numbered streets can be a godsend in certain places. Manhattan comes to mind. Even someone who cannot read a map should be able to easily navigate their way around most of the island from the East Village on up by counting the cross streets. Once you know that the avenues run north/south and start at the East River, with 5th Avenue as the main E-W dividing line, you're good to explore. (you just have to remember where the other main avenues are (Lexington, Park, Madison, Broadway, Amsterdam, etc) It all makes logical sense. I especially like the fact that each cross street is exactly 200 feet apart, making  20 blocks equal to one mile.

Here is a map of Chesley. I would be hard pressed to accurately find 9th St SE on my first try without a map. And where, pray tell, are 5th & 6th St SW? It all has a haphazard look to it. 
And why aren't all the streets renamed into numbers?

hmmm, I thought this would show up much smaller.
Anyway, from the above directions, we know that 3rd St was once called Adolph St (a publisher) and the sign tells us that 2nd Ave SW was once called McGaw St (he was a hotelier). I found this 1911 postcard from the Bruce County Museum archives showing a house at the corner of McGaw and Adolph. 

my photo of this house was the next one I took after the street signs. it is very similar to the one in the postcard.










sixth in a series of street signs for signs,signs (even though there is no F, or even a 6, in either sign. though 4+2=6)

and the squiggles are....

Maps and I go well together. I always have a map of any new city I'm visiting.
These particular maps from yesterday fascinate me.

For the way they take something that is so familiar and mess with your brain by leaving out certain details.



Yet, manage to make it more accurate.
A legendless map.
I grew up in Toronto, always seeing the city as lying on a straight east-west axis with Yonge St running straight due north. Just as the map indicated.

It is not. We are on an angle.

Subway (Metro) maps are notorious for their distortion.

The iconic London Tube map was designed for simplicity, not geographical accuracy. Note how the Beck map (designed in 1933) has lines that are only vertical, horizontal and at 45 degree angles. It is also not to scale.


This is a more geographically accurate depiction.

Not nearly so pretty, is it?
That Beck design has been copied and used throughout the world, though.

New York's subway system presents a unique challenge in part due to the size of the land in Manhattan and the number of lines running though it. I could go on, as it has a fascinating history but, I won't. Don't want to bore you. And it is again a beautiful sunshiny day (ironic as I am writing about undergound rail transport that rarely allows the light of day in....) and I need to finish this and get myself outside.

Again, one could be forgiven for getting a little confused as to which direction one was actually travelling. And, this doesn't give an accurate description of how many rail lines are involved on several levels with each colour coded line.

I am not as familiar with Montreal's system, Maybe Jazz can expand on it's deficiencies.

I am also not familiar with Chicago's system, but to me this looks pretty darn close. I included this one as I thought it might be recognizable by a couple of you (as it was!)

I included Moscow's map, just because I like it and I have always wanted to see their Metro Stations

So thanks for playing and for your guesses!