Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Tarawa tourists acquire unforgettable memory of visit to hoonville

I was annoyed to read in this morning's newspaper that three sailors from USS Tarawa were mugged by a gang of youths in one of the shopping malls in central Perth. Fortunately the victims escaped with bruising and the loss of their wallets and cigarettes.

Not only is smoking bad for the health, but it has long been an excuse in these parts of the world for ratbags to cadge for a cigarettte and then take the innocent target by surprise.

Too often victims get knifed, killed, or suffer brain damage. When/if the perpetrators are caught, the punishment handed out by the courts is usually feeble. The criminals never have to make restitution, they seem to have have more rights than their victims.

In this case, two youths aged 13 and 14 were arrested with the help of closed circuit TV. Two more of them are lying low. They 'll probably all have several previous convictions, and be back on the streets in a few months. Doing time is a rite of passage. Their identities will be kept secret because of their age.

It's Law Week this week. In his opening address the Chief Justice reportedly said he was concerned about the state's growing culture of violence - assaults were increasing at a faster rate than any other crime. Well how about that? The WA public have known about it for a long time.

I had to go into Fremantle yesterday and saw USS Tarawa was still alongside. The timing of ship departures are never made public any more in case some imaginary terrorist takes advantage. It's a stupid rule because the information will be common knowledge amongst thousands of people engaged in the service industries - taxi drivers, hoteliers and the like.

However, my business was at Valentine's camera shop in Market Street. In March I bought a Hoya UV filter for one of my lenses. When I was cleaning it on the weekend I noticed a small flake of glass was missing from the edge. It had to have been done by pressure from the spring clip which holds the glass against the rim of the screw mount. The man behind the counter agreed and replaced it without any quibbling. They always give good, cheerful service in that shop.

Then it was a trip out of the port to visit Spotlight. This is a large shop specialising in secret womens' business. - in this case coloured sewing threads to match the badges which need to be attached to the shirts of our recently invested scouts.

While my wife attended to this assignment, I entered the nearby premises of JB HI-FI. They have more DVD titles than it would be possible for a single human to watch in a lifetime, and they are usually one or two dollars cheaper than anywhere else. On the five dollar table I found a copy of The Four Feathers. Not the recent Heath Ledger version which I enjoyed watching on TV last month, but the 1939 version starring Ralph Richardson. The blurb says, "The film is a handsome tribute to the glories of early Technicolor." I just had a quick peep and it looks like the glories have been spoiled somewhat by a transfer from a salvaged cinema print. Maybe I should have shelled out another five bucks and gone for the Heath Ledger version.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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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!

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