In Reply to: Shorts stolen posted by Maisy on Friday, 24. June 2005 at 11:28 Bali Time:
wherever we are in the world, this kind of thing can happen.
I'm old enough to remember how, as a small child in England, we could spend the whole day just wandering through the countryside, without giving our mothers heart attacks.
I came to Perth just on 43 years ago. Many people left their doors and cars unlocked. Less than 30 years ago, we could still park in dark streets in Perth, Northbridge and Fremantle and walk back to them in the middle of the night without worrying.
In the 1970s I worked as an insurance agent in the WA Wheatbelt, going from farm to farm. I would often see guns, binoculars, power tools and other valuable easily carried items through open doors, with no sign of the occupants.
Times have changed. We don't really like to admit it, particularly not about Bali.
I suppose it pays to be careful, wherever we are. But I still think that, despite the poverty, petty theft is less likely in Bali than in Australia. And if ever I did lose something, then unless it was totally out of the question, I would consider the possibility that it may have been taken by another guest.
But just because it has never happened to me, I would not regard that as proof that it could not happen to someone else.