One of the great things about living in Perth, Western Australia is that there is no actual way to end this sentence. And my feelings about it are sharpened all the more for having lived and travelled elsewhere.
On my most recent jaunt across the country, however, I had an epiphany — that one of the best measures of the commercial health of a city can be found in the answer to this question:
How easy is it to get a sandwich at the central train station?
If your city doesn't have a rail system, just go and sit in the corner and practise your banjo until we're done.
Sandwiches are a fantastic form of food. Originally the sustenance of chronic gamblers saving time better spent trying to disprove the universe, they compress an entire gamut of market stalls into a portable parcel of anything that can be sliced.
Nature: now only necessary in thin slices
Why sandwiches though? Why not, say, pizza? Or fruit? Well, firstly... fruit? Can you not find your banjo? But secondly: my hypothesis revolves around the idea that sandwiches are the food of choice for busy people, and are therefore an indirect measurement of the presence of business.
People who are just out to have a nice night can take the time to sit down and eat a meal. Groceries and takeaway are for people headed home. But busy workers on their break, or people out for some specific task... they require sandwiches! Or possibly sushi. But mainly sandwiches!
So if a shop is open and selling sandwiches, it must mean that people are out being busy and prosperous, and that they're busy for long enough to get hungry, and that they're prosperous enough have money to spend in their off-time. The most important part of this measure, though, is the time: if a sandwich shop is open at 8pm, it's because all of this is true at 8pm.
In other words, just like the spectral peak of a short-lived radioactive decay product must indicate the presence of a parent radionuclide, sandwich availability must indicate the presence of a certain amount of commercial activity. By measuring the flux of sandwiches, we get a sideways glimpse of the activity of the city. (In this analogy, sushi can be considered a secondary spectral peak.)
In Melbourne, I passed a sandwich bar in the central station at 11:30pm (and it didn't look like it was closing, either). In Sydney, I'm pretty sure you can still get one at 1am, but it's been a while.
In Perth, the bakery in the central train station closes at about 5:30pm. Earlier on weekends.
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So,not being forced to slave away at work until 23:30, nay, 01:00 is now a reason to condescend on Perth? Some people are just impossible to please.
Also, here are some other (some might say better (or even rational) reasons^ why WA is ok: http://bogurk.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/in-defence-of-western-australia-and-its-inhabitants/
^ Yes, I said rational reasons, if you want to make something of it, Heeris, we can adjourn to the carpark...
I think you may have the word "forced" confused with some other word, eg. just about any other. On the other hand, being forced to not work because you're only available after hours is a little frustrating.
It's nice that you've never had to try to find lunch during a Sunday shift in the middle of Perth or Fremantle, Nevs, or late on a weeknight, but yes, some people work then because they want to, or maybe they don't really but it's better than cutting classes, or maybe it's a necessary hit to take in an otherwise great job, or maybe they can trade some hours here or there so they can take time off when Perth is actually open for business to buy presents for orphans.
It's not slaving away, and it's not forced... it's just when some people work. And if you've ever gone to a movie on a Sunday or a weeknight, or your favourite science centre, or the zoo, or ever exchanged money for anything during those times you would classify as "slave time," you're being a bit of a hypocrite in exploiting those workers you're so valiantly defending now. And those people that you pay, they can't get any sandwiches, Nevs. None for them, because it would be exploitation of the poor sod who has to work the sandwich stand.
Incidentally, that post only makes the case for WA, not Perth... and that's if you love (a) doing radio astronomy research or (b) visiting a specific winery. Neither of those things involve being within 100km of Perth, let alone living here. In fact, Perth could disappear and it would make the radio astronomy better, unless there's residual radiation from a nuclear blast or something. But I agree that it's perfectly rational to claim that one of the best things about this state is that it's an isolated, radio-quiet plain.
My point still stands: Perth is commercially dead most of the time. Most people here, like yourself, think it's a good thing and should be legally enforced, so good for you.
As for being impossible to please, I thought the post made it abundantly clear that all that I require are sandwiches.
You both make me laugh. I wish more places were open later. I thought the extended trading hours might help with that, but it seems that most stores are still happy to stay shut. I've previously worked evening shifts up to past midnight, because, as Jason says, it isn't ideal but it's better than having to skip classes to work. Now that stores are allowed to open later (not full deregulation but better than nothing) I guess I'll have to move on from blaming the government to blaming the generally conservative population of WA. On a side note: my post about WA was never meant to claim that we're modern and cosmopolitan, just that we're about more than mining and that at least 3 of us are not racist rednecks. I still believe that to be true.
I'll have to move on from blaming the government to blaming the generally conservative population of WA
Well, on this issue, the first is merely an accurate representation of the second. Now, I would be happier to accept that I can't buy sandwiches simply because I'm a rare species of worker, and there's just not enough demand for it, but the laws we have mean we'll never know. It remains true that Perth is a ghost town outside 9-5 Mon-Sat, and whether that's through self-imposed laws or spontaneous communal aversion to commerce, I don't really care.
"But I agree that it's perfectly rational to claim that one of the best things about this state is that it's an isolated, radio-quiet plain."
ha ha ha ha
For me, the purchase of sandwiches has more to do with: (a) it was too inconvenient to bring my lunch/dinner/miscellaneous atemporal snack, and (b) I have a mild, short-term sense of urgency with regard to my health.
This situation occurs mostly for me when traveling long distances, when you typically can't bring any food with you. Also, I always experience some form of malaise, which makes me look for whatever is likely to go softest on my intestines.
I posit, therefore, that the absence of sandwiches from Perth train station outside "normal" business hours is more an indicator that there aren't enough tourists arriving/leaving via the rail network. After all, long distance travel is one of the few human activities that seem to be almost completely decoupled from the influence of the sun.
However, neither of us has specified a causal relationship; it may be that the presence of sandwiches does not simply result from economic activity or tourism, but facilitates one or the other. So, there is a relatively simple way to test our hypotheses. If we were to open a 24/7 sandwich bar in Perth train station, we could then monitor (a) tourism levels, and (b) economic activity (minus the sandwiches and the tourists).
This situation occurs mostly for me when traveling long distances, when you typically can't bring any food with you.
It occurs for me every couple of days, simply because there's a low point at which I'd rather buy than make a sandwich. For most people I'd wager somewhere it's somewhere in between. The distribution of this is probably not narrow.
long distance travel is one of the few human activities that seem to be almost completely decoupled from the influence of the sun
Yes, but it's not the only one, and an activity doesn't have to be completely decoupled from daylight to have after-hours components.
the absence of sandwiches from Perth train station outside "normal" business hours is more an indicator that there aren't enough tourists arriving/leaving via the rail network
In Perth, tourism factors more into this because only a stranger to the city would think to go out. (I once had to explain to some German tourists on a Sunday morning that, no, it wasn't a holiday, no, there's no evacuation... this is just what Perth looks like on a Sunday morning. Of course, the rest of us know not to bother.)
Furthermore, tourism itself is economic acticity, and generally requires other businesses to be open, so sandwich availability as a result of tourism would still indicate economic activity (albeit by different mechanism than I proposed).
If we were to open a 24/7 sandwich bar in Perth train station
Funny you should say that, since it was only a couple of months ago that an enterprising Perth business owner wanted to expand his existing sandwich business to sell to very early morning commuters. Unfortunately it was illegal for him to do so. Experiment denied.
However, neither of us has specified a causal relationship; it may be that the presence of sandwiches does not simply result from economic activity or tourism, but facilitates one or the other.
Or, more to the point, that both are part of an economic ecosystem that comprises all sorts of dependencies and feedback, no single part of which can be isolated, but parts of which can be measured as indicators of overall health. People don't venture out after hours in Perth because they know everything is going to be closed. No businesses want to open after hours because (a) no-one will be out and (b) it's usually illegal.
If we removed (b) then business owners might try your experiment, and people would accept or reject it, and we know for sure. Either way, the observation remains: no sandwiches correlates with no activity.
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