Concerning electricity, I noticed at The Women’s College that almost all electrical outlets have an on/off switch directly above the plug-in, but on the same switch plate. This is so handy for cutting the electricity to an outlet, especially for appliances that draw power even when you are not using them.
There is also a marked difference in the number of public restrooms available. Most shopping areas have public restrooms, but restaurants in general do not have restrooms, including Starbucks and McDonalds, no restroom. Again, I imagine even if they provide a restroom for employees that businesses are saving a lot of money by not having public restrooms. They save the expense of building them, paying someone to clean and supply them, the cost of the supplies, and restrooms are probably the most vandalized area in many restaurants, especially fast food.
Driving to Hunter Valley and while staying in Sydney, I don’t think I saw a single pickup or SUV. The cars are all smaller cars and probably a lot more fuel efficient. In addition to smaller cars, Sydney has an excellent bus transportation system that we took full advantage of. We all had our passes and I think we became really proficient at getting around Sydney on the buses. This same pass also worked on the ferries and many of us used our pass to ferry to Manly on our free day Sunday. This same pass also works on their subway/train system, which we did not utilize. When we were in Manly on Friday at The Environment Center, the staff told us that most of them don’t even own a car, only the ones that need a vehicle to haul equipment.
I realize that public transportation is much more realistic in an urban area, but even our urban areas in Washington state need to invest more into public transportation. Janet
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