Anyone up for a chat thread?

[seeking.IAM]

I rode the incline in Pittsburgh up to Mount Washington 2 years ago. My kids thought it was great fun.

I rode the incline back in the 70's while attending a Child Welfare League of America conference in Pittsburg. There used to be an upscale restaurant near the top where we dined. It was my first experience in life with white gloved waiters and restroom attendants. I cannot remember the name of the place. I wonder if it is still there.

 

[The Liturgist]

I rode the incline back in the 70's while attending a Child Welfare League of America conference in Pittsburg. There used to be an upscale restaurant near the top where we dined. It was my first experience in life with white gloved waiters and restroom attendants. I cannot remember the name of the place. I wonder if it is still there.

Splendid!

 

[Shane R]

I rode the incline back in the 70's while attending a Child Welfare League of America conference in Pittsburg. There used to be an upscale restaurant near the top where we dined. It was my first experience in life with white gloved waiters and restroom attendants. I cannot remember the name of the place. I wonder if it is still there.

When I was in Colombia we went to such a restaurant. It was quite near the main government building where their congress meets. Our hosts told us the place was a popular lunch spot for politicians. It was a good meal.

 

[The Liturgist]

When I was in Colombia we went to such a restaurant. It was quite near the main government building where their congress meets. Our hosts told us the place was a popular lunch spot for politicians. It was a good meal.

But presumably without an inclined railroad to access it? I can’t recall any operating in Colombia but I could be wrong.

I do know that they have built aerial gondola cable cars as public transport links, which has also been done in La Paz and several other Latin American cities that are highly mountainous. These gondola systems are descended from the famed Von Roll Model 101 “Sky Ride” which still operates at a few amusement parks in the US and used to operate at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, which recently installed a modern system of the sort used in South America to improve transport around the resort, to replace the vast fleet of busses used to go anywhere outside the reach of their monorail and boat network and the famed parking lot trams.

In Valparaiso, Chile, they have the largest number of funiculars (like the incline you road in Pittsburgh) in the world, along with a historic trolleybus line. Chile also has one of the best intercity rail systems in South America, although lately Argentina has rebuilt much of their network and has eclipsed Chile, which has failed to maintain long distance services to the far south of the country and also passenger services on their narrow gauge railways in the North, which connect to those of Bolivia and Argentina and carry large amounts of ore from the deserts of Arica.

 

[seeking.IAM]

When I was in Colombia we went to such a restaurant...It was a good meal.

Mine was as well although I found it unnerving to have someone assisting me in the toilet - for a tip of course - especially after I had been doing it unassisted for free all those years.

 

[seeking.IAM]

@Shane R I wonder if any of your children screamed like a banshee going down the incline like my co-worker did?

 

[The Liturgist]

Mine was as well although I found it unnerving to have someone assisting me in the toilet - for a tip of course - especially after I had been doing it unassisted for free all those years.

You mean they do more than the standard cleaning service you get at nicer European pay toilets like McClean (where somone cleans the toilet after each person uses it) or the Luxury Washroom at Harrods, which in 2000 cost 1 GBP per person, which was quite a lot at the time, and at toilets at luxury hotels like the Savoy that have an attendant?

Because I do like the services where the toilet is cleaned after each use.

What I dislike are paytoilets in Europe where this is not done, for example, at Bahnhof Zoo where the DB had a “ToiletZentrum” which was horrifying back in 2001 and 2003, which used to be a major international station in Berlin, having been the main railway station for West Berlin where specially authorized trains of Deutsche Bundesbahn coaches and also sealed trains for Western Allied military personnel were routed, since it was the largest station outside of the Soviet occupation zone, with Ostbahnhof the largest station in the Soviet zone, as the name might imply. Even more vile were the public conveniences on the Ile de Cite by Notre Dame, which featured the strange variety of toilet one encounters in some places in France and other European countries.

 

[seeking.IAM]

You mean they do more than the standard cleaning service you get at nicer European pay toilets

I have never been to a nicer European toilet, but as I recall you could get a towel handed to you, a splash of your favorite cologne, and even a shoeshine in case you accidentally...well, you get the picture.

 

[Shane R]

@Shane R I wonder if any of your children screamed like a banshee going down the incline like my co-worker did?

No. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 

[The Liturgist]

No. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Well next time you can take them on the other one, since Pittsburgh has two of them.

 

[The Liturgist]

I have never been to a nicer European toilet, but as I recall you could get a towel handed to you, a splash of your favorite cologne, and even a shoeshine in case you accidentally...well, you get the picture.

Well that’s mostly typical of a nice lavatory in a hotel or posh restaurant, the kind with an attendant. The shoeshine is not just in the event of mishaps but also is there if you happen to need it, although most toilets don’t provide that; I will say having a shoeshine is very nice. I don’t recall the men’s room at Harrod’s offering that.

 

[Shane R]

"Daddy, we should get a female emu." What? Where did this idea come from? "Abbie's family has an emu for sale from their farm." I'm actually tempted to buy this emu.

 

[PloverWing]

"Daddy, we should get a female emu." What? Where did this idea come from? "Abbie's family has an emu for sale from their farm." I'm actually tempted to buy this emu.

Do you have emus in Ohio? I wouldn't have guessed that.

 

[The Liturgist]

Do you have emus in Ohio? I wouldn't have guessed that.

Sure, the Cleveland Rapid Transit Red Line uses them:

Oh wait, you meant the animal, not electrical multiple units.

 

[Paidiske]

Emus? In America?

Umm, so I don't know if you've had much interaction with emus, @Shane R, but they can be rather aggressive birds, and they get big. Like, taller than me big (I know, I'm not that tall, but that's pretty big for a bird!). I'd think carefully about whether you'll be able to keep it happy, including not being lonely, because an unhappy emu is going to be a challenging addition to any household. (Oh, and bear in mind they live up to 30 years...)

 

[Shane R]

Do you have emus in Ohio? I wouldn't have guessed that.

I think they were kind of trendy at one point, as well as ostrichs. The ostrichs for red meat and the emus for the oil on their bodies. I use that stuff for muscle aches from time to time.

Years ago I lived with my grandparents in Kentucky and there was a chap who had an emu. Only emu in the county. Someone stole the bird and it was never recovered.

When I lived in Hampton, Virginia the city farm had a flock of them. One bit my younger daughter one day and she was terrified of emus for about 2 years. But she's forgotten and isn't afraid of them now.

@Paidiske we are currently experiencing an egg shortage in the US and drastic inflation in the price of the eggs that are making it to market. I'm curious how often the emu lays an egg.

 

[Shane R]

Due to the magic of the interwebs I have discovered that they only lay for about half the year and will typically lay 1 egg every 3 or 4 days.

 

[Paidiske]

@Paidiske we are currently experiencing an egg shortage in the US and drastic inflation in the price of the eggs that are making it to market. I'm curious how often the emu lays an egg.

Yes, bird flu is causing massive shortages here too. I had to google, but apparently during breeding season an emu might lay an egg every three days or so. That's for less than half the year, though.

They're not typically eaten, even here, so although google says they're similar to chicken eggs (but much bigger) I can't offer you the insight of any personal experience there.

 

[Shane R]

I've been lifting weights and was eating 4 eggs every morning for a while. And a pint of whole milk.

 

[Paidiske]

I've been trying to eat eggs as a good source of lean protein (trying to shift some unwanted weight). But that's an aspirational option just now!