We are currently visiting Australia and are enjoying it immensely.
We could not help notice all of the things in Australia that are different from where we live in the Okanagan valley of BC Canada. Some differences are small and really trivial but some are major. You decide.
1 – Backing in Angle Parking.
In BC, and I guess most of North America, we angle park by nosing in to the curb. Now the problem with this is getting out. When we try to get out of the parking spot and there is a van or something next to us and it shields the road we cannot see the traffic. So we edge out very very slowly hoping that the cars bearing down on us do not hit us or actually stop and let us out. I find this process quite nerve racking.
What some Australian towns do is to have cars back in on an angle. The advantage of this is to allow you, the driver, to see the traffic from a much improved angle so exiting is much easier and very much less stressful. A great idea in my opinion.
2 – Uniforms for everyone
It seems that Australians like to be members of all sorts of groups. There are the schools of course. Every school child has a school uniform that is unique to the school. This makes the problem of buying clothes for your kid in school very simple and hopefully much less expensive. We have seen crowds of school kids marching off to some function like the Museum, a field trip to a park or to some sports event and the mass of the coloured uniforms looks impressive. I suppose that there is a benefit to the teachers also in that they can scan the area and spot any student who is not where they should be. I would suggest that Canadian schools adopt school uniforms. Another great idea.
Workers in Australia also have colourful work shirts that are various shades of flouresent yellow, and red with the name of the organization on the back. The colour apparently a safety thing to prevent the public from driving over them and other workers from not seeing them in dimly lit buildings. It also adds some concept of the group and a sense of belonging I suppose. I think that this makes the workers look very professional and organized.
