30 May 2009

An American's view on Ice Hockey here in Canberra

| johnboy
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The San Jose Sports Authoritiy’s “Inside Sparta” publication has an intriguing article on former Spartan Ryan Lowe coming here to Canberra to play ice hockey with the Knights.

    While Lowe said that his new home is very similar to the United States, there are some significant differences. Water spirals in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere and the folks drive on the opposite side of the road.

    “I see a hundred kangaroos a day,” Lowe said. “It seems every animal here can do serious damage to humans if crossed. Oh, and you don’t tip here, and everything costs exactly what it says, tax is already included!”

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I’m in the states right now (and funny you should mention San Jose, I was there last monday) and I gotta say, this whole + tax + tip thing ain’t too bad. For the most part, even after you add tax + tip + convert back to AU dollars, I’ve found it about the same as prices in Canberra. But the resturant staff go out of their way to make sure you feel welcome because they know that they are working for your tip. It’s kinda like having an “at risk” or bonus section of your pay.

On that note, since it’s now 1:30 in the morning here, I’m off to bed…

Steady Eddie said :

Did you know that in the US and Canada ice hockey is simply called hockey – they don’t have grass hockey at all.

They most certainly do have grass hockey! My sister was applying for a uni athlete scholarship to play over there…there’s big bucks involved… though no doubt less than ice hockey.

Oh, and you don’t tip here, and everything costs exactly what it says, tax is already included!

What amazes me is just how confusing a lot of yanks seem to find this. “It means what it says? What the hell sort of country are you running here?!”
I make semi-regular trips to New York for work and one of the more annoying things is going out to dinner with a group of friends and trying to divide up the cost of a meal based not on menu prices, but on menu prices + tax + arbitrary tip, only the first of which is actually shown on the menu.

The Yanks have field hockey but it is regarded as a girls game.

Steady Eddie4:10 pm 30 May 09

Did you know that in the US and Canada ice hockey is simply called hockey – they don’t have grass hockey at all.

Water doesn’t swirl in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere, it’s entirely dependent on the specifics of the basin/toilet etc.

http://blog.sciencegeekgirl.com/2008/04/06/myth-3-does-water-swirl-counter-clockwise-in-the-southern-hemisphere/

Sounds as if he likes our little corner of the world! Welcome Ryan.

GottaLoveCanberra2:59 pm 30 May 09

He’s doing pretty well on the ice too.

Hopefully we win tonight!

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