Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

The bad, the good and the just plain ugly

Alas, it was another bad day for the Fremantle Football Club yesterday. They played against Melbourne at the MCG. Early in the third quarter Freo were leading by 51 points. Such a lead is usually the stuff of great victories, however in this case it wasn't. Melbourne won the game by six points. Arghhhh!

Luckily I didn't see the game on TV. We had a commitment to watch the closing ceremony of the Sea Scout Master Mariners' competition at Pelican Point. Our youngest son was in a team from 1st Fremantle Sea Scouts. There were 11 groups from around the state in the two day event. One of the groups was from Kalgoorlie-Boulder which is a long way inland in semi-desert country. I think they must have some land yachts.

Competition is fierce for the perpetual trophies. This time 1st Fremantle guys and gals didn't come first, but their forbears have in past years. Here's a pic of the concluding presentations. Bear in mind that these are only the competing teams and leaders, there are plenty more Sea Scouts who had other business elesewhere

At the opposite end of the moral spectrum there is much turmoil in our state's politics. Last week it was revealed the the Liberal leader of the opposition had in the past distinguished himself by sniffing the vacated seat of a female staffer. Prior to that he'd interfered with the bra strap of another woman by giving it a snap. When confronted with the allegations there was obfuscation, but eventually he confessed. Today his party are to vote if they still want him as leader. It appears he has many supporters who feel such sexist behaviour is a mere storm in a teacup.

However, now it's also the turn of the Labor state premier to be in the hot seat. He just returned from a trade-trip to Russia. I always pegged him to be a pretty well behaved moral person, but he's been caught up in an alleged scandal involving buxom women at a ribald celebration a few years ago. He's denied that there is any substance in the allegations, but there's some juicy quotes from a female MP in this morning's local newspaper must make the readership wonder otherwise.

On page three there's a more disturbing story that the Australian Catholic Church has not gotten the Pope's message that child molesters have no place in church activities. Furthermore, it mentions some intriguing family links to a local senior politician.

There's a moral decline in Australia. That makes me sound like an old codger. I get a dozen or so spam emails a day offering to improve my sex life. But now in Fremantle there's a brazen and very large sex-spam advertisement gone up in Queen Victoria Street, one of the main thoroughfares into the port. I think it does little to enhance the somewhat seedy image of Fremantle.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.

Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

About the writer

Click here to see our backyard.

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!

Advertisement