About Palm Beach
god's country aka the insular peninsular
A visiting man of the cloth came to Sydney and needed to make an urgent phone call to a “higher place,”
First stop, St James, in the city. He was very impressed, what a magnificent church, but at a telephone box just outside there was a sign that said “Phone calls to God, $2000 / minute.” Unfortunately this was well outside his modest budget so he figured somewhere a bit further from the city centre might be more reasonable. Next stop St Matthews in Manly, however, just outside, another phone box, this one with a sign saying “Phone calls to God, $1000 / minute,” somewhat more reasonable but still beyond his budget. Getting more frustrated by not being able to make his urgent call he decided to go to the furthermost suburb of Sydney on the Northern Beaches and arrived at St Davids in Palm Beach where he found a somewhat more modest church but again with a phone box just outside, with a sign “Phone calls to God, 60 cents. Hardly believing his luck, he raced inside and asked of the local clergy “Bless you, bless you, but why are phone calls to God $2000/min in the city, $1000/min in Manly yet just 60 cents here ?”
“Welcome to Palm Beach my son … it’s a local call from here.”