Quote:
Originally Posted by Aktungbby
In London as you exit the metro underground car, a loud recording constantly states: "MIND THE GAP"! B.A.R.T in San Francisco does not...perhaps that simple admonition would be useful elsewhere! 
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Kudos to the Oz-ians for stepping up and helping out. It's always good to see people working together to help out someone in trouble.
The reference to the BART system brought to mind another San Francisco rail system -- the fabled Cable Cars:
The Cable Cars, aside from being the only moving National Monument in the US, are rife with lore since their creation in 1873. The cars only do a top speed of 9 miles an hour, but they are quite a ride. Two of the lines have some pretty tight curves which they take at full speed and, on one curve, slightly above top speed since the car coasts around the curve using the inertia generated form a run down a hill. The cars have 2 crew members, a Gripman who actually "drives" the car and a Conductor who takes fares and operates the rear brakes. It used to be the custom for the Conductor to call out "Watch out for the curve!!" when the car was about to go through one of the tight curves. A popular story when I was growing up was about a Conductor who, in a lapse of judgment, brought both of his hands to call out "Watch out for the curve!!", instead of holding on himself, and was thrown off the car at full speed. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, except for a few scrapes and bruises and the continued derision of his fellow conductors...
BTW, Maya Angelou, the famed American poet and playwright, had the distinction in her youth of being the first African-American female Conductor on the Cable Cars...
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