There's district council elections this weekend in HK. No one is quite sure what district councils actually do but that's besides the point. They provide an entry in the slimy world of politics and attract the usual rag-bag of time servers, activists, idealists and those aspiring to higher things (such as bribery or a cushy civil service appointment).

The campaigning seems to consist of two main elements: plenty of posters of the candidate, strung along the roadside to make the visual pollution worse than usual; and the candidates themselves, handing out leaflets that are promptly dropped on the ground. This morning as the Disneyland bus made it's turn onto Queens Road we were accosted by 3 seperate candidates, all waving to us from the same traffic island. Certainly by the quality of the waving I'd be voting for the one with the yellow sash. One of the others looked extremely grumpy and I'm not voting for anyone who isn't a morning person. What if there's some minor decision that needs to be made and it's 9am and he hasn't had his coffee? Such things cannot be trusted to such men. The other was partially obstructed from view by the other two, but he's obviously angling for the votes of those going the other way. So yellow sash it is.

The problem is I can't vote in the election.