Posted by Matt Hayden on Saturday, November 1, 2014,
On this blog I often write about how the Perth of today compares to the one I grew up in. In so many ways it's a different and more dangerous place.
One notable aspect of the change is how teenagers and young people behave. So many of them are feral these days it's scary!
Sure, being over fifty now, I'm well on the way to codgerdom. And oldsters have been griping out whippersnappers since time immemorial.
But this is different. Take reports of out of control parties in this city. I know they o...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Monday, September 9, 2013,
I'm not surprised that a recent test has found that Perth trains are actually
cleaner than the average kitchen. The general spotlessness inside the carriages is something I really noticed after spending several years in Sydney.
The trains are grotty
as in that city. And it's not just because they are more crowded and scrubbed less thoroughly (and presumably less often) than the ones here. I think it also has much to do with the general attitude of the people there.
Basically, Sydneysiders come...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Friday, June 14, 2013,
This scandal over Howard Sattler's blunt and stupid
questioning of the PM has got me thinking about Perth radio culture as compared to Sydney's.
Sattler is a local "shock jock" that PC types love to hate. But he really is the only one here. Pretty much every other broadcaster is drearily right-on. (I suppose Paul Murray might fall into this category. But from what I've heard he's
hardly provocative.)
Being a bit of a right-wing death beast myself, I'm a supporter of the politically incorrect s...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Monday, December 10, 2012,
A former cop has written a book highly critical of the culture of the Western Australian police force. In it, he describes it as
sexist, racist and violent. It's called
The Crime Factory, and he's penned it under the pseudonym "Officer A".
It's common for disgruntled former employees to make such accusations. And quite often they exaggerate their experiences. Political correctness is fashionable these days, and people have become so attuned to the possibility of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Saturday, September 22, 2012,
Perth has long been known as a relaxed and friendly place that is "like a big country town". While things have certainly sped up a lot in recent years and that characterization is much less valid than it used to be, I think it still has a lot of truth to it.
There's so much space here and the weather is pleasant, so people tend to be generally less stressed than in bigger cities. Then there's the fact that while business is booming, there's not the same level of concentration and competition ...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Tuesday, April 10, 2012,
Having recently moved to Mosman Park, I've been walking down to Cottesloe Beach in the afternoons lately. While wandering down that way at about 4.30 PM yesterday, I saw a police paddy wagon zoom north, sirens blazing, along Marmion St. At the time I thought it was probably heading to a pub in Cottesloe, or maybe Claremont, to deal with a drunken brawl. But I think it may have been attending to this
criminal rampage.
Inspector Mal Anderson said the crime spree started about 4pm yesterday with ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Matt Hayden on Friday, March 9, 2012,
Having returned to Perth from Sydney close to two years ago, one thing I noticed was how many news reports of amazingly vicious and violent attacks there were in this city. There even seemed to be more than when I was last here in 2006-2007 (I was shocked at all the mayhem being reported at that time, too). But even that period was far worse than when I was growing up here in the 70s and 80s.
I wondered that perhaps this was a kind of illusion resulting from my greater interest in news and cur...
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Posted by Matt Hayden on Thursday, November 24, 2011,
One thing that I've always found amusing about living in Australia is the incongruity of celebrating Christmas here. As we all know the tradition comes from the northern hemisphere and is held in midwinter. So all the attendant imagery relates to that area and season: snow, reindeer, sleighs, etc.
But Down Under it's the hottest time of the year! And Perth in particular is famous for its summer heat -- as well as its beautiful clear blue skies. Of course, local Christmas-phobes find this even ...
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