Old maps

Tramway Routes Perth
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I love old maps. Hehe, I seem to expose all my nerdy habits on this blog you must think, but this map is particularly cool to me because it shows my home city nearly 80 years before I was born, and when the streets I grew up on didn't even exist. I think I got this nerdy thing for maps started when i was by the Thames at some riverside market and I discovered this old book from the 1850s or so where the seller had ripped out pages to sell for people to frame individually. They had old maps of empires long gone, and little countries and places with names i'd never heard of before (I had better not get a ticket to Prussia). I thought it was a crime that this guy could just rip up such an old book! ..so I had to get a few of them. Hmmm moral pickle there.. ..does it only encourage him to do it more or am I saving it from being lost forever?

Next thing I knew I had a cool old map of Denmark and Scandinavia from the 1500s (just a print, sigh, not the real thing), and then I had was given a globe of the world circa 1947 for a Birthday one year.
So far I've only seen 30 countries of the world. I am yet to see the other 130 or so, so I had better get a move on! Having a globe staring at me inspires me to not get too complacent with my life and to remember to get out there and discover.

In other news, I got the keys to my new house last Tuesday! It's a great feeling to know that I have my own place now, and no dodgy landlord can turf me out or randomly put up the rent! I will put some pics up of my place soon.