Abandoned?

[HansV]

This looks like the entrance to an abandoned underground/subway station:

Station.jpg

But apparently it's in use - see Inside the Chinese Subway Stop Built in the Middle of Nowhere.

[Rudi]

It looks like an apocalyptic movie set!

[PaulB]

Chris Greaves and I met up for lunch today while he was in Ottawa. We enjoyed a wide ranging conversation, part of which focused on Chris' rather low opinion of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Looks like he's not alone in sharing this opinion. The one comment in the link above is from someone at Ryerson University ranting about the TTC. Small world.

Michael Lam · Ryerson University
A subway station in the middle of nowhere is still 10000 times nicer than the TTC.

[HansV]

Nice to hear that you met Chris! I hope his health is better now.

[PaulB]

He certainly appeared in good health and good spirits when we met.

[HansV]

Thanks - good to hear that!

[AlanMiller]

But apparently it's in use - see Inside the Chinese Subway Stop Built in the Middle of Nowhere.

"A station staff member told the Chongqing Morning Post that not many people can be seen going in and out of the station."
Quelle surprise!

Alan

[Rudi]

Its great to hear when members of Eileen's meet up and converse face to face. I can imagine that when two members meet, even though they are strangers (having never met in person), they can connect as if being long-time friends, knowing specifics about each other and chat about common interests.

[ChrisGreaves]

He certainly appeared in good health and good spirits when we met.

... but then I took a wrong turn off the 417 and ended up in Arnprior ... I was aiming for Perth.

Ottawa.png

For those of you who might be curious, Paul is much MUCH nicer in person than he appears to be in Eileen's Lounge.
(And he's nice enough here, already!)

This was my first day-in-the-country of the year, and Paul helped make it a great day.
Now.
Who else lives within a half-day's drive of Toronto?

[ChrisGreaves]

This looks like the entrance to an abandoned underground/subway station:

Actually it resembles pretty well any downtown street in Toronto - piles of discarded building materials, weeds, apparently inaccessible public facilities, a gaping hole into which money can be poured while we wait for the committee's report on whether we should hire a consultant or just go through an agency to find a firm to audit applications for the position of research assistant to investigate the feasibility of thinking about whether to go ahead with a project to review recommendations on the possibility of a pilot project to ... ...

I've spent less time debugging FORTRAN II ...

I kid you not. About 15-20 years ago we actually started digging a tunnel for a light-rail transit project, then we changed mayors and filled in the hole ...

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Its great to hear when members of Eileen's meet up and converse face to face. I can imagine that when two members meet, even though they are strangers (having never met in person), they can connect as if being long-time friends, knowing specifics about each other and chat about common interests.

Watch it, buddy!
You might be next on the list ....
I haven't set foot in Africa.
Yet.
All I need to do is reverse the spreading of the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and we would be next-door neighbours ...

[Rudi]

Watching an African sunset with a good wine in the hand is a must!

[stuck]

Watching an African sunset...

Is on my list. Not sure when it will reach the top though.

Ken

[Rudi]

Not sure when it will reach the top though.

One checkmark at a time.

[viking33]

Chris said"Who else lives within a half-day's drive of Toronto?" "

It depends on how fast you drive,old boy!

[Jay Freedman]

Chris said"Who else lives within a half-day's drive of Toronto?" "

It depends on how fast you drive,old boy!

If you can cover 400 to 500 miles, you can reach me (just outside Philadelphia) and you might find Bob in Cape Cod.

The site at https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm can draw a circle at whatever distance you estimate. Here's the 500-mile radius.

toronto_500_mi.png

[ChrisGreaves]

It depends on how fast you drive,old boy!

That is true. In my heyday (20 yrs ago) I could do three 17-hour days in a row - think Toronto-Memphis-El Paso-San Diego.
Friday's trip taught me that 12 hours a day is my upper limit now.
Although in early 2014 (the year that Georgia had snowstorms) I drove to Jacksonville Fl in two days.

TotalRoute.png

I am the old fart doing 100Km/H (60mph) in the right-hand lane, a control freak who spends as much time checking out the idiots coming up behind me as I do watching them slam on their brakes at the next blockage up ahead.
Hence 17*100*3 got me 5,100 Km away.
The trick is/was to stop only for gas, and my Hyundai Excel used to do 700-750Km on a full tank.
The Nissan Excreta I had on Friday claimed it could do 900Km on a tank, so in theory I would have to stop every nine hours.

Now, renting a car for a day means 24-hours, so I can leave Toronto shortly after 7am, drive, have lunch (when it's someone as fascinating as Paul, lunch will be a minimum of two hours) and drive back in time to park the car before midnight.
That leaves me with fifteen hours driving, or 7.5 each way.
My many trips in the Excel tell me that Columbus Ohio is a tank of gas, i.e. 7 hours.
Knoxville Tennessee is two tanks of gas, i.e 14 hours. (attached)

I suppose I could pull up an Excel spreadsheet and make plans to visit one person for lunch each day.
The first (and last) person would have to be about five hours away, the others could be 12 hours apart.

(signed) "Hungry for another luncheon trip" of Toronto.

[ChrisGreaves]

If you can cover 400 to 500 miles, you can reach me (just outside Philadelphia) and you might find Bob in Cape Cod.

Thanks Jay for the link.

500KM.png

Here is my 500KM limit (pick up car at 7am, hit the road at 7:15, assume NO delays at USA border ( ) and be at luncheon spot by, say, 12:30. Cape Cod is way too far for lunch (sadly for me, gladly for Bob).

I remember one trip around the USA where I stayed overnight in Richmond Va., drove the next day past New York to Rhode Island, had supper there, and drove home along the I-90 through Buffalo to Toronto.
THAT was a long day's drive, but I was heading home, and the day you drive home is always easy to stretch, because you know you're heading home to good food, fresh clothes etc.

RI to Ont was a heck of a drive after supper. I think I pulled into the driveway near 3am!

Cheers
Chris