Just a quote today

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Our quote for the day from a friend of a friend on FaceBook discussing Carrie Vaughn's "plan that is sheer elegance in its simplicity."

Kevin Martin: "A plan so elegant you can dress a weasel in it?"

;^)

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MUNICIPAL

Kath's (Mother Hen) latest post is a cute rhyme about her trip to a thrift shop. She has a pensioner's free pass to travel. What a wonderful thing to have.

A free bus pass wouldn't work very well in most of the United States because the bus systems here are such a joke. In most small towns there is no bus line. Small to medium cities may have a bus line, but to keep costs down one has to go to the central transfer station for most trips to the other side of town. Most folks won't put up with a 2 hour bus trip that only takes 20 minutes by automobile. Also for inter-city trips, Mid-western and Plains states towns with bus stations are so much further apart here than in Great Britain. Plus, if there is a bus stop it is usually on the highway—nowhere near shops—with no guarantee that there will be intra-city transport once you get to the town.

Admittedly, in some places in the States, where the population base is large enough, or where they are dedicated to the Green principle, the intra-city systems are better developed. Portland, Oregon, for instance, has a good light rail transport in conjunction with a bus system that really seems to work. Still, my son (who lives in Portland) has a pickup to take when he goes junking for his art materials. If he wants to visit friends in California, he rents a car. If he comes to visit us, he flies and then rents a car when he gets here.

Our word for the day is "municipal" — Pronunciation: \myu-'ni-s(ə-)pəl also myə-, mə-, -'ni-sə-bəl, ÷,myü-nə-'si-pəl\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin municipalis of a municipality, from municip-, municeps inhabitant of a municipality, from munus duty, service + capere to take — more at mean, heave
Date: circa 1540
1: of or relating to the internal affairs of a major political unit (as a nation). 2 a: of, relating to, or characteristic of a municipality. b: having local self-government. 3: restricted to one locality.

Our quote for the day is from Charles, Prince of Wales, on Peter Ahrends’s design for an office building housing additional space for the National Gallery, address at 150th anniversary celebration of the Royal Institute of British Architects, NY Times 12 Oct 84:

[It’s] a kind of vast municipal fire station … a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend.

;^)

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