guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
Party at Gobbler's Knob... Then there was always the low water bridge at a nearby town..
Our prom was in the cafeteria, much smaller than the gym.
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
About giving directions using places that aren't there anymore: When I was in high school, I made deliveries for the family farm equipment business. The directions often included places named for people who owned the land years, perhaps decades, before I was born. I'm not talking about commonly known names either. I'm talking about "You know where Otto Schmidt used to live out on Goehmann Lane? Well, you turn right about a quarter mile past his place and..." when "Otto Schmidt" died thirty years earlier.
Worse, you had to be careful about what someone meant when they gave a certain name. See, a lot of large ranches were formed when the area was settled but they've been subdivided over the decades. That meant when someone talked about the "Schmidt place", it could mean any of a half-dozen ranches spread out across a few miles of countryside. First names didn't always help either. After all, people were often named after relatives so there might be more than one "Otto Schmidt". (Is it obvious I grew up in a town settled by Germans? )
We did have more generic names like "round top", "cross mountain" or "hippie hollow"
There's also animals as landmarks. "Turn Left just past the pasture where Rudolph Ludquist has that big bull in his pasture then..."
Odd stuff works too. I once had to deliver to what amounted to a commune. The directions included "Go through Luckenbach* then look for the big teepee the hippies set up. It'll be on the right..."
* Yes, that Luckenbach. It's just a few miles from where I grew up.
Posts: 716 | From: San Antonio, TX | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I could relate to a lot of things on that list.
Several years ago, I went to my 10 year high school reunion. Someone gave me directions by referring to the "old post office". Of course, I knew what they were talking about but I'm pretty sure it hadn't been a post office in at least 15 years.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote: Most of the list doesn't apply to where I grew up because it's about a much bigger town. For example, if I had lived there through to the end of highschool I would only have had to remember six names for #1, and the nearest stoplight was at least an hours drive away, so using it as a landmark for directions would be doomed to failure.
Gee ithought my fiance grew up in a small, town, but yours takes the cake. The fiance grew up in Gornong in Victoria, which had 1000 people spread out over 10kms. We have towns out my way now that have a population of 2.
-------------------- Love is a sudden revelation: a kiss is always a discovery Posts: 902 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
This place is also in Victoria. It had a population of less than 100 if you included everyone within a 10km radius and accidentally counted a couple of sheep as well. There were 19 kids in the primary school when I moved, and that's with the baby boom the year I was born. Six people in one grade!!! Unheard of!
posted
Hee. I experienced most of those when I went to college in a very small town in Missouri. The college was half the population of the town!
It was a small private college with international students, so talk about culture shock for many of the students! I always found it interesting when meeting someone new who would mention that the classes (15-20 students) were larger than their graduating class or their entire highschool population! My response was always the same - Really? Wow! My entire highschool graduating class was larger than the entire college population! Heck, my highschool had more students than the entire town has people!
-------------------- I swear, it was funnier in my head. Yeah, I used to be pink. vanilla_pink. Posts: 2493 | From: California | Registered: Nov 2003
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quote:This place is also in Victoria. It had a population of less than 100 if you included everyone within a 10km radius and accidentally counted a couple of sheep as well. There were 19 kids in the primary school when I moved, and that's with the baby boom the year I was born. Six people in one grade!!! Unheard of!
There are actually still quite a few one- three teacher schools around the area of north quensland where i grew up. heir classes have about 20 kids, but thats from say year 1-3/4 and then 4/5-7.
-------------------- Love is a sudden revelation: a kiss is always a discovery Posts: 902 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote: 1) You can name everyone you graduated with. Yes all 50 of them.
Yes, all 11 of us!
quote: 10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town. Oh, yeah, especially if the guy was a 6'5" tall football player...
Not for me, I didn't date and there was no football team, but the closest town by road was over 100 miles away and in another country. The closest town is 17 miles away flying or by boat. If you are going by road, it is over 350 miles.
quote: 11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation. Not me, I went my own way.
Yes, we all went, that was a fun party. 3 day hangover!
quote: 13) The golf course had only 9 holes. We had to borrow the next town's course.
No golf course in town or anywhere near
quote: 16) The town next to you was considered "trashy" or "snooty," but was actually just like your town. Yeah, but you still dated their jocks...
No, my town was always better
quote: 20) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally. Of course.
We didn't have any farms so no tractors
quote:22) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference. No stop light and only two 4-way stops.
No stop lights, no 4 way stops either. Just two way and yield
quote: 23) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride. Yeap.
Yes indeed. It was nice to know that people were looking out for you.
quote: 26) You could charge at any local store or write checks without any ID. Yes. My sister still has a carge account at the local grocery.
No charging anymore, but you still don't need to show id
quote: 27) The closest McDonalds was 25 miles away (or more). Yes.
No, over 100 miles away! When they finally opened that one, my town had a plane chartered to fly in a load of Big Mac's and fries. We called it "The Big Mac Attack"
-------------------- "of all tyrannies, the tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive." C.S. Lewis Posts: 49 | From: Anchorage, AK | Registered: Sep 2005
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