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Recently, my older brother came to stay for a few days and, having errands to perform, he brought with him his street directory in case he got lost. There was just a wee problem with that: the street directory was the 1979 edition.
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Sydney has expanded just a smidge since then, Baz. Half the suburbs here now, weren't there then. And, half the roads that were there then, are unrecognisable now.
Here, take my updated version ...
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15 comments:
This is such a great post!
Ha ha! Were the 'exclusive plastic place markers' still intact?
Julie I collect old street directories, yeah crazy I know, my favourite from Sydney is the UBD 18th Ed with a stunning red mercedes crossing the h bridge with brand new MLC building in the distance. My all time fav is a Gregorys from Brisbane in the 1950's.
I think you bother is cool to use "old school' directory.
You have a time capsule of what Sydney was like back in 1979 :-).
And it was a lot smaller again when I look in my Gregorys 1934 reprint.
Wow. I bought that exact edition for my dad for Father's Day back in 1978. I remember the cover because he kept it in the garage for years, even after he got newer editions.
Goodness. It does look familiar, I probably had one of those as well. Can't remember the last time I looked at a street directly. Its all google maps or whereiisit these days. And those infernal talking things in taxis.
Send him over to Hartford. A 1977 map would work just fine.
My parents in the US have maps just like this, and we had one when we lived in Germany that covered most of the continent--not in great detail, but the major roadways.
I'd give anything to have a book like this for Beirut and Lebanon, but it doesn't exist. Even if it did, the book is only half the story--unmarked, unnamed roads are the rule rather than the exception here. So, reading a map would require better than average skills.
I did hear that UNDP might implement a street-address project. Now that would be something.
Good ol Gregory's, someone told me that the glue was designed to break down soo you had to buy a new one.
What he needs is one of those Navman things to send him wildly astray. Did you know that Queenslanders call the street directory a Referdex -- I still slip up and call it that sometimes.
Who in 1979 knew that in 2011 we could own a tiny digital device to triangulate three satellites hurtling above to tell us where to turn to get to the milk bar? Beats turning the road map upside down!
Some of us get caught in a time warp. Where you bin?
Sydney the year that I was born! Awesome!
Yikes! The year my daughter was born, too ...
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