A mate of mine just returned from a holiday in Europe today. As a 747 Captain I'd say he's a fairly experienced traveller. The first thing he said was "we travelled 7200 km from Holland to Spain & we only spotted two policemen on the way". He added that they went to canal sluices, cable cars etc & they were astounded at the minimal signage everywhere. He said it was like travelling in Australia 40 years ago. No Don't do this or that signs & they could grab a drink to the park with no government moron hassling them about drinking in public area.
It really makes me wonder where Australia is heading.

"we travelled 7200 km from Holland to Spain"

Jeez... that makes Europe bigger than Oz!

I'd have thought about 2-3000 km would have covered the distance from Holland to Spain.

The Blue Cross,
Some tourists actually don't travel in a bee line, they actually move around as they take in the sights & sounds. It's somewhat different to driving dead straight across the Nullarbor. Not everyone has tunnel vision. Maybe too many australian bureaucrats gained their experience from visiting Perth ?

Do you recon it's acceptable to be drinking in the streets.

Do you recon it's acceptable to be drinking in the streets.
579,
now this is a typical twisting of words. No-one says "drinking" in the streets is acceptable. In many places one can take a drink to a park & enjoy the surrounds with a relaxing drink. One mustn't forget that many cultures do not indulge in getting blind drunk every time they have a drink. I recall not having any problems 30 or more years ago by having a drink around the campfire. It only started when we weren't allowed to discipline the rowdies & before long many of these moron regulations were forced on us by those moron bureaucrats who dreamed up the moron regulations to counter their own stupid rules. I fondly remember an Australia when we could spend a weekend on the beach or in the bush having a relaxing few drinks & no-one went ape$hit on drugs & alcohol.

I blame it on Len Beadell and his Gunbarrel Highway, individual.

All those public servants in their 4wds on their way to WA.

The distance from Holland to Spain is 1,574 km. Gee, he must have traveled around, and around and around and around and around.

individual,
I suppose the question is what is Australia. Your description does make things seem pretty easy going in Europe, but i know from friends in Germany and England that it is not quite as you make it sound.
Despite that the question is a good one. I can not talk of the seventies as i was really to young to notice rules but the early eighties were great. Relative freedom and no one looking over your shoulder all the time. No tax file number, minimal dole and incredible freedom of expression. This was a time when gay rights was highly motivated and women took control.

Since then it has felt like a continuous slide down hill. Every time something goes wrong we make a new law to stop it or dull it down. The fun police are certainly busy. Where the responsibility lies for this shift is another question to ask. We seem to have become a frightened community for some reason. When ever something bad happens we look for someone to blame or be responsible for our mistake. Insurance companies are running riot and the politically correct have taken over. Police behave as if they are above the community and our politicians have no vision.

In the end it's us and our attitude. If we could accept less and understand that life is a risk and not to be feared i am sure we could all have much more fun. Let's take responsibility for ourselves and understand that if something goes wrong it is not always someone else's fault

The Blue Cross,
Yeah ? what mutt put up a turn right sign & made them all go to Queensland ?

WA and Qld and Siamese twins. Each tries to outdo the other for crass stupidity.

They are both jealous of Tasmania though, who manages to excel without even trying.

Hence their official title, as Tasmaniacs.

Rudy,
you must be swiss. Did the digital revolution put you out of work winding watches ? :-)
TBC,
At our local water hole (Pub) you can look at 19 signs of don't do this & can't do that without leaving your seat. I bought a carton of beer over the bar to take home & I asked the barmaid for a stubby to drink at the bar before going home. She said I can't drink the stubby until I take the carton outside ??. You can't have a meal near the smokers but the dining area is downwind from the designated smoking area ??
I'm just so dismayed at the control freak kind of way Australia is caught up in. I mean the current affairs shows are full of the mindlessness of councils, rules, all sort of dumbar$ed regulations etc yet we seem to accept that nonsense being dished out. This is definitely not the easy going down to earth Australia that is portrayed in film & literature. I wouldn't at all be surprised to wake up one morning thinking I'm in 1936 Germany.

I understand entirely, individual.

A few years ago I used to drink in a Perth pub that kept polo-x horses.

The cellarman was a player in the game, and kept his horse near by.

One day, one Sunday, when dress rules were a little stricter, he rode his horse into the bar, as one does in Perth, to get a drink.

The landlord, a stickler for the rules, told him to leave!

Why so? you may well ask.

Indeed. It seems that although the horse had shoes on, it had no socks, and was in breach of the rules.

Really! I wouldn't be too shocked to hear that horses are no longer allowed in bars there at all.

Progress indeed!

It is, of course, possible that the proliferation of signs prohibiting this and that is a reflection of the Australian psyche after all.

When I was a kid, my mum made an interesting comment that, for some reason, has stuck with me (probably because I found it interesting).

She noted that, while growing up in Rhodesia, there were very few signs telling her what she couldn't do. It was simply accepted (a generalisation, I'm sure) that unless a sign said you COULD do something, you couldn't do it. Thus there was no need for signs saying "no entry" above doorways - unless the sign said "enter here", people stayed away. "Keep off the lawn", "consumption of alcohol strictly prohibited", "Do not touch" - all of these signs were unnecessary.

The interesting part was that she noticed a different mindset in Australia. Not necessarily better or worse - just different. Here, unless there was a sign saying "do not touch", touching was implicitly permitted. An open door without a sign saying "keep out" was an invitation to enter. Now, my mother's observations only apply to the post-1988 world. But they do suggest a certain freedom of spirit in Australia - one that isn't necessarily shared by the rest of the English-speaking world. Maybe Australia HAS changed, and Australians haven't?

Sorry to continue the irrelevant nitpicking, but I'm assuming your friend didn't pass through France on the journey to Spain. In Paris, in the Champagne region, in Provence and on the Cote d'Azur, I could barely take two steps without seeing a police officer.

the proliferation of signs prohibiting this and that is a reflection of the Australian psyche after all.
Otokonoko,
I think you've hit the nail on the head with this one. Sad but entirely true.

I tend to agree, Individual. We live in a proscriptive, bureaucratically controlled country these days. I suspect there are a few factora at play. Firstly, the short length of Parliamentary terms encourages simplistic solutions and the simplest possible solution to any problem is to prohibit the activity that may lead to it; second, the politicisation of the public service that was started under Fraser, continued under Hawke and completed under Howard, which means the once-independent, "without fear or favour" advice that was such a strong stabilising influence on the excesses of Govt is no more; third, the rise of women into positions of decision-making authority, with all the "mother-knows-best" authoritarianism that they so often demonstrate, as well as the feminist drive to dominate and control.

Add to that the influence of corporations which seek to make every interaction a commercial one and you have Australia today, where to be an Australian who expresses traditional Australian values and behaviours is to be vilified, while being a "dobber", once something contemptible in this nation, now has billboards devoted to it, proudly telling us that if we inform on someone "no one need ever know your name".

It's Mrs Grundy's country these days.

'This was a time when gay rights was highly motivated and women took control.

Since then it has felt like a continuous slide down hill. Every time something goes wrong we make a new law to stop it or dull it down.'

Interesting.

Picked it in one Nairbe.

We had better get used to a lot more signs in future. Every tree will have to have a sign saying "climbing trees can be dangerous" every building with steps "mind the step", etc. All to avoid getting sued by some smart alack, after an easy buck.

Oh, & ladies, you will have to get used to having a sign around your neck at work in future. It will read, "attempting to kiss this worker can be expensive". After all, that can be dangerous to your wealth. Some smart little ##** can make a lot of money out of it.

Hasbeen..welcome to Singapore :) (re your last post-signs)

The impression I got when going for a jog though the nearby UNI to the H/Q of an organization I formerly served with was:

sign 1 "Pedestrian crossing 1 km ahead"
sign 2 "Shared roadway ahead.. caution"
sign 3 "10km/hr on shared roadway"
sign 4 "did you pay attention to signs 1,2 and 3 ?"

Yes..exaggeration :) but it FELT like that.

As for good old Aus? yep..still just a 3rd world colony.
"Developing" malaysia has a fast train from their Airport.
We have.. 'tulla' and the EXORBITANT extortional car parking fees.

I suppose if your only Australian airport experience is Tullamarine, you would think that.

Sounds like a big whinge to me. Treat it as a learn to read signage.