Hi Donald, I know the feeling about the disorientation when the sun or coast are in the "wrong" place. During my time in Canada and Arizona, I was frequently lost because the sun was in the southern sky rather than the northern. When I have visited cities with the ocean to the west (e.g. Perth), I found myself going south instead of north! This causes great amusement to locals, but like you, I had just become so used to it from years of living in Sydney.
When I was teaching visiting US students at Macquarie University, they were always fearful of all the poisonous things here (snakes, spiders, box jellyfish, etc.) but I reassured them that the funnel web spiders all over campus which are quite lethal were nowhere as dangerous as pedestrian crossings. Two US students were killed crossing a main road when they looked to the left, and walked straight in front of a truck coming from the right. Tragic. But I nearly did the same in reverse in Arizona. When Sydney had the olympic games in 2000, almost every street crossing was adorned with a stencil on the kerb "LOOK -->" to remind overseas visitors to look to the right for on-coming traffic. Cheers, John John Pickard [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: Donald Christensen To: [email protected] Cc: Sundial List Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 10:44 AM Subject: Re: upside down world I was borne in the northern hemisphere and lived there for 22 years. I got use to reading maps where north is on top, south is on the bottom, west is on the left, and east is on the right. So far so good. I also got use to the equator is south of me, the ocean is west of me, and inland is to the right. Now I live in Brisbane Australia. The equator is north, the ocean is right, and inland is west and on the left (when facing north) We also drive on the wrong side of the road. For 3 years after my move, I kept mixing up right from left. I have been living in Australia for 24 years. Sometimes when someone gives me a ride, I walk to their car to the drivers seat thinking it's the passengers seat. It isn't easy to 'unlearn' the first 22 years of my life. When I draw a sundial for the southern hemisphere, I have to check it, check it again, re-check it, and build it. 6 months later I'll get disorientated again, look at the sundial that I built and second guess myself that I got it wrong. (I didn't) cheers Donald
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