Thursday, February 1, 2018

QUEENSLAND'S NEW STUNNING TOURIST ATTRACTION : THREE COINS (AND A HYPODERMIC NEEDLE) IN A FOUNTAIN

Plus Bananas  in  Diseased  Panama  Pyjamas

In a brilliant move  which will undoubtedly attract   hordes of overseas tourists  to Townsville  and   inject  millions  of  bucks  into  the  economy , the city's   memorial  fountain marking  50 years after  Victory in the Pacific     has been  secretly  converted into a  copy of  Rome's  famous Trevi  Fountain . As  film buffs know, the  impressive  Italian fountain featured in the hit American romantic comedy, Three Coins in the Fountain .

The S(h)ipping Reporter ,  the only one north of  Sydney's  Luna Park River Caves, was  given exclusive access to  the  war  memorial  conversion   on  Thursday, February  1.  
 
For some unknown  reason ,  the  fountain , #1 on Townsville's Civic Pride Trail, was  not  founting  yet  again ;  revealed  in the top chamber were  three  coins of  the realm - five cent pieces . A  jab away  was  a  hypodermic  needle  with  other  stage  props such as an empty  glass bottle, twigs, leaves , a lump of chewing   gum ,  stones  of  various sizes  and   a  takeaway  sauce  sachet. 
 
They certainly know how to look after war memorials in this garrison town. Thankfully , the roadworks   witch's   hat   which had been bobbing about   for days   had   been  removed , probably worn as a sombrero by one of the many angry ratepayers who  want to dunk  the TCC  in  a  pond .  
The bottom chamber had a  conglomeration of gunk , above , including a metal  can which seemed to have been submerged for so long in there  that it  had started to corrode and break into  pieces, part of a  palm frond, stones,  a  length of white  tubing , a cardboard   drink  container  with eyeballs  which  had  been sighted  in the  pool  three  weeks' previously and probably scared the  daylights out of  drunks  at  night , if  the  floodlights  were  working . 

You would think that with both parts of  the  fountain about as  dry as a nun's nasty  and therefore no crocodiles  lurking within ,   the Townsville City Council would  have  sent in a team  to give  it a  good clean.  No .

But wait , there was  more  to  impress  visitors .  At the nearby grotty, graffiti covered   bus shelter, with no rubbish bin , under the seats   were  drink containers rolling  about on  the ground  and a mass of  mushy, rotten  bananas   with  black  skins , a repulsive  sight  which  might even  have been an  outbreak of the  dreaded Panama 4  disease ,  in which case  Bioscurity  should quarantine the entire city and  flog the Townsville City Council  for  failing to  clean up the main  national  shrines  and   other  important  venues  daily.