Everything is getting slower in Hong Kong at the moment. Tomorrow is National Day (to prove HK is Chinese), and all of China has the week off. I've done my Cantonese homework (Ngoh hiah Ngoujauyahn). I've checked out all the blogs on my links. I'm close to the bottom.

Every day I get the Disneyland bus to work. It trails down the mountainside on a two lane road, hurtling past other busses coming the other way. When we drive this road it can be a true test of courage, but as a passenger the feeling is one of fatalism - if I'm destined to make it I will. Plus they drive on the left here, so going down in the morning gives us an extra lane before the 50 metre fall into Happy Valley below. The view of the cemetery above the Aberdeen Tunnel probably inspires these morbid thoughts. The bus then turns left; a right hand turn takes you to the Happy Valley race course. Every Wednesday night this is where everyone in HK is heading to and the traffic is chaos. Usually the bus drivers on Wednesday evenings find alternative routes, that tend to involve detours via such places as Vietnam to get home. We then follow Queens Road through the back of Wan Chai. This is not the seedy bar side, or the hot night spot side. It is the local side. There is the fruit and vegie market, the side streets filled with stalls and local shops. There are school kids heading to there 6 hours of forced learning, the suits heading for their ivory towers, housewives heading from one place to the next and the helpers with the shopping lists. I view all this mayhem from the air conditioned bliss of the bus, with my headphones blasting Macy Gray or Crowded House. The shops are all closed at this time of the morning. Nothing starts much before 10am. But already there is the teeming chaos that is Hong Kong.

Next the bus hits Queensway, an 8 lane highway through town. The cross-town tram runs serenely along side us as we pull up next to Pacific Place, the most expensive shopping centre in the world. Across the street are the heart of bureaucrats in Hong Kong, with various Government office towers. Half the Disneyland inmates alight here to make there way to those office towers at this end of town. This includes such monoliths as the Bank of China building, with its two antennae facing China across the mountains in a giant hand gesture. Not a flattering one either. Hong Kong's buildings are all that is good and bad about the place - they mix all sorts of styles in no discernible plan other than the worship of Mammon. Some work, some don't, but they are certainly not clones like many city skylines.

The bus pushes further on, zipping along Des Veux Road, the old harbourfront. Nowadays it is 3 blocks from the harbour, as the reclamation process continues until Kowloon and Hong Kong Island meet and Victoria Harbour is no more. We pass the old Governor's Mansion, no longer really in use for some symbolic reason. Yet it and the old Bank of China building represent the last of the colonial style buildings in Central and not using them seems a waste of history. But that's another thing about Hong Kong (and perhaps China), it's all about symbols. We glide past between various shopping centres housing some of the exclusive boutiques that make Hong Kong the number 1 luxury shopping centre in Asia. The streets are different here. Narrower again, chaotic as taxis and busses jostle to move a little closer to the next traffic jam. More suits now, fewer wives and shoppers, but now its streetsweepers and garbage collectors fighting for space. There are more gweilos (whites) now, but seeing each one reminds me I am in a city where I am very much the minority. I sometimes wonder what the average local thinks of the presence of such gweilos, until I realise there is no such thing as an average local. Hong Kong is a trading centre and a mixture and people such as me make up a small part of the mix.

Finally the Disneyland bus turns onto Connaught Rd for a brief drive past the Mandarin Oriental hotel, scene earlier this year of the most famous exponent of another Hong Kong pasttime: suicide. A quick turn left into the Star Ferry terminal where another mix of suits and workers heading every which way greets me. I leave the confines of the bus that has kept me in air conditioned comfort for the 15 minute journey and hit the wall of heat and humidity that is Hong Kong's climate this time of year. I make my way by foot across the forecourt of Jardine House, with its porthole like windows and slate paving. The escalator takes me up to the level of the covered walkway. I walk past a plasma TV with Bloomberg blaring out the latest gyrations in world markets, but I figure that can wait another 5 minutes until I get to the office. I keep Macy going. On the walkway there are hundreds of people heading this way and that. Again there are more gweilos but again we are significantly in the minority. Any racist should walk in a city like this and know what it is like to stand out. Past the fountain at the centre of Exchange Square, home of the HK Stock Exchange and perhaps the centre of the whole city. Finally I enter the lobby of the office tower and suddenly I could be in any office tower in the world. But the journey has just reminded me that I am definitely in Hong Kong.

Heading Home

My journey home is dominated by the bus timetable. Traffic or not, the bus is always on time. It always waits until precisely the right minute, the doors shut and off it goes. If I am running late and a little lucky it might be stuck at a traffic light and I can still make it. Otherwise it's ten more minutes looking out from the Star Ferry terminal across at the bright lights of TST and Kowloon. The traffic at nights is always appalling. Each bus driver has his (it's always his) preferred routes. They involve either cutting across 6 lanes of peak hour traffic or climbing up and across a mountain. If it is the first then we crawl along a boulevard of neon and advertisements. There are more cars here and again the mix is telling. Plenty of Mercedes and BMWs, often a people mover, and more often than I expect a Ferrari or Porsche. Rarely do I see a 4 wheel drive/SUV. I don't know why that is. This way takes us up to Causeway Bay before ducking around the race course and heading back up the hill. The journey up the hill is slow but interesting as the lights of a thousand apartments shine out with people going about their nightly business. The alternative route is far less interesting, cutting across the back of various Mid-Level apartment blocks before arriving at the bottom of the hill to home. Finally we crawl back to the confines of Disneyland, at the top of the steepest gradient in Hong Kong. In springtime it is usually covered in fog, dense enough you can see your reflection in the window and nothing else. But in summer it is clear and the entrance of the Tai Tam National Park removes you from the densely populated metropolis below. I get off the bus and walk up to my tower, one of eighteen. Each evening I greet the guard, enter the elevator and head up to our eyrie. I push open the door and I am greeted by the best sounds of the day. JC, PB and Misti all look to the open door and smile and exclaim (well Misti tends to jump up and down instead, but that's the canine equivalent). I give Mrs M a kiss and know that I'm home.

It turns out Phil Collins isn't just a washed out-singer. He also hears voices. If only one would ask him to stop making music.

Likewise I'd like to find myself in this situation. If Mrs M wants me to stay out of the housework, there won't be any need to call the cops.

Now if JC or PB start giving us any more trouble then I could trade them in for a plasma TV. I wonder if I could get a Playstation in the bargain?

Finally in the news round up young Prince Harry, visiting Australia like thousands of his countrymen, eager to escape the dreariness that is the UK, has discovered the meaning of whinging Pom.

The in-laws arrived last night, bringing what all visitors to Disneyland are required. Wine and meat from the promised land of Oz. PB and JC were appropriately happy and excited.

Finally a solution to the chronic underfunding of schools:

A ban on allowing school classrooms to be used as brothels and strip bars has been ordered by education officials in Ukraine.

Instead of banning such as this, why not use them as a further educational aid? Imagine how much better health education classes would be if there were practical demonstrations in the basement? And why stop there? Maths could be revolutionised. How many parts vermouth make a martini? The biology scores would top the country.

The biggest shock is when the students realise there's more money in this than teaching.

Larry King: We are very lucky today to have Simon from that relatively unknown blog Simon World to answer a few questions. Simon, welcome.
Simon: Thanks, Larry. You use a lot of grease in that comb-over of yours.
LK: Can you give the viewers a little background to how you got here?
S: Sure. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia. Spent most of my time kicking around the Bondi area. Got a younger brother who's birthday is one day before mine, which has lead to all sorts of neuroses. We had a cat for a while. She died.
LK: This is fascinating. Please go on.
S: Larry, you're a suck.
LK: I know.
S: So I went to uni, realised I didn't want to be what I was studying. I was planning to take a year off when I fluked a job in the financial markets trading. A little later a friend of mine introduced me to a woman wearing patchwork green overalls at Bondi Beach one night. She's now my wife.
LK: Really?
S: Shut up, Larry, I'm hitting my groove. We fell in love, got married, bought a house. We got a cute little puppy called Misti, an English Cocker Spaniel. Soon Mrs M was preggers and two days before her 30th birthday JC entered the world. Cute little thing.
LK: If I could just...
S: Larry, don't make me gag you. Soon we had outgrown our little patch of earth, so we moved a couple of blocks away to a huge mortgage and a slightly bigger house. Actually it took 9 months of looking, but it is great. Then Mrs M was preggers again and soon PB popped out to join her sister. Two little girls; Mrs M was thrilled. All I could think of was a couple of monster weddings in 25 years time.
LK: We've got a caller.
S: Go ahead, Peabody of Pittsburgh.
LK: That's my line.
S: Why don't you go have a lie down, Larry?
Peabody: How did you end up in Hong Kong?
S: We had finally settled into the new house, getting used to having two kids, when work offered the move. The job's better, the work more interesting. And Hong Kong tax is 15%, where Australia is 48%. You do the maths.
LK: We've another called. This is Elizabeth from Buckingham, London.
Elizabeth: How has Hong Kong been? Has it changed much?
S: We arrived weeks before the SARS crisis started. Nevertheless it has been great. Please see my post in the Favourite Posts for more.
LK: And why a blog?
S: It's a good way of keeping in touch with the folks back home, plus it lets me vent a little when things slow down a little.
LK: How would you categorise the blog?
S: At last, Larry, a decent question. It's a mix of personal news and views. Really just whatever takes my fancy. It's my time, it's my blog. I'm not really writing it for anyone other than myself. I've noticed that a lot of blogs are either politics and news, or personal diaries of singles living the singles life. I thought I'd show that having a family doesn't completely mark one as brain dead. In fact parents can also be people with thoughts. It's just they're tired a lot of the time. Very tired.
LK: What's with the links.
S: I link to websites and blogs that I look at daily or are interesting to me. The blog is evolving and the links will change from time to time.
LK: Well that's about all the time we have today.
S: Thanks Larry, I thought I nailed it. You looked a fool.
LK: I know. These suspenders are killing me. Fancy some Pret?
S: Right, that's it. You know about me and Pret. This interview is over.

This story has everything. Greed, love and a terrible pun.

A former Hooters waitress has sued the restaurant where she worked, saying she was promised a new Toyota for winning a beer sales contest.

Instead, she said, she won a new toy Yoda — the little green guy from the "Star Wars" movies.

There's even a photo of her prize. And she's NOT happy.

Friday night was the start of Rosh HaShannah (Jewish New Year). Made my way up that uniquely Hong Kong institution, the escalator. It rises from Central up the mid levels; it goes down in the morning for the workers heading into town, then about 10am switches upwards for the rest of the day. Entered the shule, built around 1902 and a Serphadi style building, although not particularly large. There were maybe 150 people there on Friday night. At one stage the rabbi announced the following prayer was to plead with God for a good income for the year ahead, and that on hearing this prayer God decides how much one will earn the following year. My boss happened to be sitting 10 metres away. I belted that little prayer out as loudly as I could.

After that went to fellow Disneyland inmates for dinner. 5 couples and assorted kids made for a boisterous night, although things came to a halt when the guard came up to ask us to keep it down. To be honest most of us were happy to go home and get to bed - all this celebrating can get too much after a while.

Saturday morning went swimming with JC while PB went off with Mrs M to a birthday party. I left JC for her afternoon nap and headed to a friends place to watch the AFL Grand Final. They live in the same building as Tung Che-Waa, HK's Chief Executive. Needless to say security was pretty good. The footy was good if one sided, but the best part was the real Aussie meat pies they had for lunch. For a little while it almost felt like a bit of Australia in HK.

Saturday night Mrs M and I headed down to Pacific Place, the most expensive shopping mall in HK and perhaps the world. We shopped. Then headed to a Thai restaurant for some dinner where we sat a table across from two Singaporeans whinging at the top of their voices on how expensive everything is in HK. Didn't see them skipping the Thai and heading to the McDonald's though. Got a text message from my brother, happy that his beloved Roosters won their game are in their Grand Final. Will probably watch it this weekend.

Sunday morning we again went swimming as HK is starting to get colder and we need to enjoy it while it lasts. When I say colder, it was only 30 degrees on Sunday. PB again only had one sleep, after which we had a picnic in the playground at Disneyland. The playground is going to be renovated in a couple of weeks, which is much needed as most of the equipment is old and rotting. It just means two or three weeks of torture with the girls.

Starting Wednesday is a week of holidays for China, meaning a likely slow couple of weeks at work. This means I can work on my Cantonese - my co-workers are going to be sick of being asked their name in a few days. The in-laws arrive tonight for a week of bonding.

Mrs M thinks I am not good in the kitchen. This will show her:

BAKED STUFFED CHICKEN

2-2.5 Kg. chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing
1 cup uncooked popcorn
salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200C degrees.

Brush chicken well with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven. Listen for the popping sounds. When the chicken's ass blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room, it is done.

Brisbane are deserving winners of today's Grand Final. The massive windfall from my bets with one-eyed Collingwood supporters should easily see me through the next visit to the supermarket. Brisbane dominated from the start and if there was any doubt, they are now the best team in the "modern" era (which is a euphasmism for in the last 20 years).

No team would have been the Lions today. The Pies can console themselves with that.

You won't see these at Tim Blair's site. To those non-Australians, there are two types of people in Oz, those who support Collingwood and the rest of the country. It is hard to describe the hatred the rest of the country has for this team. To give you an idea, try finding a Collingwood supporter and talk to them. Collingwood is run by Eddie McGuire who also commentates on the games and hosts shows about footy. This is called a conflict of interest, except by Collingwood supporters who think it is OK.

You know you're a Collingwood supporter when:

1. A Halloween pumpkin has more teeth than your wife does.
2. You let your twelve-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.
3. You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws.
4. Jack Daniel's makes your list of "most admired people."
5. You wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.
6. Someone in your family once died right after saying: "Hey, watch this."
7. You think Dom Perignon is a Mafia leader.
8. A ceiling fan once ruined your wife's hairdo.
9. You think the last words of Advance Australia Fair are: "Carn the Pies."
10. You lit a match in the bathroom and your house exploded, right off its wheels.
11. The market value of your car goes up and down, depending on how much petrol is in it.
12. You have to go outside to get something from the fridge.
13. One of your kids was born on a pool table.
14. You can't get married to your sweetheart because there's a law against it.
15. You think "loaded dishwasher" means your wife is drunk.
16. Your toilet paper has page numbers on it.
17. Your front verandah collapses and kills more than five dogs.

Tonight is Rosh HaShannah, the Jewish New Year. The traditional greeting is Shana Tova (have a good year). This is a festival of celebration, of giving thanks for the year that was and anticipating the year that will be. It also involves plenty of food, and especially this year with the Grand Final tomorrow. I've got A$50 on Brisbane.

The idea is to spend the week and a half from tonight until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) to reflect and to make resolutions for the year ahead. The original idea was these resolutions should be things like "I'm going to spend more time reading religious books" and "I'm going to do good deeds." At the end of the 10 days God makes his decision of who will be inscribed in the Book of Life and Death. The title says it all, hence these 10 days are called the 10 days of repentence. Truth is though there is not a lot of rhyme or reason as to who goes into the book. That doesn't mean one shouldn't try and do good things. Just that the decision is out of your hands.

I do enjoy the various services at this time of year but this is my first year that I won't be in Sydney for the holidays. We'll see how Hong Kong goes about it - we're off to the synagogue in the Mid-Levels tonight (a beautiful 19th Century Serphardi style building surrounded by high rises).

Personally I like to use this time as a measuring stick, adding the good and subtracting the bad and seeing what the difference is. It's been a big year, again. We've watched PB go from baby to infant and watched JC go from infant to toddler. That said last night about midnight JC started calling out and making a ruckus over nothing much and proceeded to do so for the next hour, so if she's lucky she might just make it out of toddler status before Mrs M and I gag her. We moved out of our house and life in Sydney and came to Hong Kong. We packed the house, sent half to storage and half to HK. We moved the girls, endured SARS, found an apartment, moved in, unpacked the boxes, found a helper, had Misti the wonder dog shipped over, found a school for JC, met plenty of people and started our new life. You could say its been busy. And that's not mentioning the travelling for work and pleasure, the return to Oz for a month and celebrating my 30th.

What about the year ahead? Usually I find you start out thinking about all the things I will do in the year ahead, how I will be a better person and blah blah. The truth is it's a never-ending task, not a once a year thing. The one lesson I have finally learnt though is this: each year is more unpredictable than the last, and each brings its share of surprises, good and bad. Luckily the good tends to be better and more frequent than the bad. At the end of the day that's all I can ask for.

In some ways I feel sorry for our helper Jacquie. She's a lovely Filapina lady, attends church weekly and loves the kids. Unluckily for her Mrs M and I are parents who like being actively involved with the kids. We want to bring them up, and we take the good (eg kisses) with the bad (too numerous to mention). We make sure we get them up each morning and put them to bed each night. It is great having someone to do many of the menial jobs around the house so we have even more time to spend with the girls. She helps when we ask her to and is great with them. But there is a line we draw, somewhere, to seperate parenting from helping.

What prompted this rant? On Saturday afternoon I was looking after little PB. We went to the playground at Disneyland, which has a good spread of equipment. PB plonked into the swing and spent the best part of an hour in it. This gave me plenty of time to think. Looking around there were at least 12 other kids in the playground. Yet I was the only parent. The rest were helpers. There are plenty of reasons for this. Often parents are away, or have functions, or simply want to get the kids out of the house for a while. But it certainly struck me as unusual to not see any other parents at all.

What really struck me was one little 5 year old boy. He was sitting on a bench, playing with his helper's hair. Every 5 minutes or so he would start kissing her and cuddling. Not just a one off little peck on the cheek. He was clambering for more and more kisses and clinging to her desperately. She felt uncomfortable with this and kept fighting him off once he got too boisterous each time. Another 5 minutes and he would start again. Plainly this little boy was pleading for affection. Clearly he wasn't getting this from home and the helper must be the only adult figure he knows who shows him such affection. This is what leads to the emotionally retarded kids playing in that playground on Saturday.

Many parents here see helpers as a way to outsource parenting. They can live their lives as if the kids didn't exist. Long weekends away, shopping, night clubs, whatever tickles their fancy. We also sometimes take advantage of this - we'll sometimes leave the kids with Jacquie and go shopping on Saturday afternoon. We are even thinking about leaving the girls for a day with her to go to Macau. It is part of the luxury of life here. But we make sure we are the kids parents' and the kids (and Jacquie) know that. Many parents are surprised to find the kids aren't that interested or close to them. It's not too surprising given the kids hardly know these people. Yet when these parents decide they want to dip into the game for a while they are shocked the kids would rather spend time with the helper and shun them.

I don't know quite why this all bothers me so much. I think it might be seeing a 5 year old boy casting around for a parent, surrogate or real. Hong Kong enjoys and encourages the worship of material goods. But there's a lot of emotional damage done in the process.

This may shock many, especially Americans.

(Chirac) and Bush apparently failed to narrow their differences in private talks after their speeches, but France has said it would not veto the resolution.

However, several leaders said the gap between the United States and France was not as wide as it seemed. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, a strong critic of the war, said all sides now shared the same goal of transferring power to the Iraqi people as soon as possible, while being realistic.

The whole article is here. It also points out the UN itself is starting to look at itself post-Iraq and how it can improve itself. The fact that Bush chose to address it and that the US is pushing hard for this new resolution again shows how much store even George W. puts in the UN and the legitimacy it confers. France (and many others) still disagree with the US position but are prepared to work towards a better post-war Iraq. Co-operation. Amazingly the Western world can still get along.

Courtesy of Reuters:

COPENHAGEN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Danish Crown Prince Frederik will marry Australian-born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, the royal palace announced on Wednesday.
Denmark's Queen Margrethe will officially approve the marriage between her 35-year-old heir and his law graduate girlfriend on October 8, the palace said in a statement. The couple will officially announce their engagement then.

Most guys are worried about asking her father for the hand in marriage. In this case the bride-to-be has to ask the mother of the guy. What a place.

"I can't give a firm date for the marriage yet, but it will take place next year," the crown prince's private secratary Per Thornit told Reuters.
Donaldson is a 31-year old former real estate agent from the island state of Tasmania. Her mother died young and her father, a university mathematician, later remarried author Susan Moody. She met Frederik during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

And you thought the Sydney Olympics was a sporting event. It is part of Australia's plot to colonise the world. Buwhahahaha.

Having been living in HK for 6 months makes me incredibly underqualified to comment on living in HK. But I'm going to do it anyway. I've been fortunate to travel to many places around the world and many of them feel the same. Same shops, same shopping malls, same products, same news, same same same. HK has elements of this, such as the ubiquitous presence of Starbucks and McDonald's. No problem with that - if that's what people want and these places can make a buck then great darts.

However HK feels different. It's fusion of Asian and Western is probably a guide to where many Chinese cities are heading. The skyline is magnificent - laissez faire architecture means some buildings are stunning, other horrible. But combined they make an incredible view. Every building is a high rise, whether it's an office tower or residential. The harbour is a working one - there are plenty of container ships and cranes to remind you trade works. There are a wide variety of faces on the street, especially downtown.

It is a city with a buzz. It lost it a little due to SARS, and the economy hasn't been too flash. In the last couple of months though you can feel a return to normal. There's more tourists, there's more visitors coming through at work, there's more to do. Sure there's been 5 years of deflation but there is even talk of property prices bottoming out. The people have realised they have a political voice (the July 1st march surprised everyone) and even more excitingly there was a reaction from the Government.

It is an easy city to live in. When we first moved here plenty of people of told us it would take a year to settle in. Not true. It took 3 months, and this was including the SARS period. JC is settled at kindy, we've found an apartment and helper, PB is doing baby things, Mrs M is getting into tennis and bridge. We've met some great people and work is going well with enough interesting personalities to keep each day interesting. The work itself is interesting and varied too. Most people speak enough English to make yourself understood, and if they don't they can gesticulate in the universal sign language that all people seem to understand.

Hong Kong is larger than you think, more cosmopolitan than you imagine and an ecletic mix of culture and people. It's a great place.

I've just sign up for The Alliance.

What's it all about? There's a very famous blogger called Glenn Reynolds, who runs InstaPundit.Com, the biggest blog on the net (he gets about 70,000 visits a day). There's a group of decent people trying to overturn this tyranny, called the Alliance. It has been rumoured this Glenn Reynolds doubles as the French President at times - no one has ever seen them in the same room together. That's how evil he is.

So the idea is to get everyone else's blogs a little more sunshine. Join the battle by looking through the Alliance link at some of the other blogs, and marvel at how much time some people have.

PB is still sick - she had a pretty unsettled night until 11pm. I know you a parent's love knows no bounds etc., but when they are throwing up on you you certainly can see the edge of the boundary. Mrs M is also not well, down with a tummy bug. JC is OK and I'm doing great.

Something to make them feel better is the dirty Anthony Rocca from the dirty Collingwood Football Club is out of the Grand Final. They'll appeal, they'll cry about how hard it is on the player etc. The truth is he hit Lade with an elbow to the jaw. He did it himself, pressure or not. He does the crime, he does the time. It will be harder when he watches his team lose due to their ineffective forwards.

Other news is a survey on bedroom habits.

Lovers in Hong Kong are the most likely to be honest in bed - only 15 per cent say their passion is a pretence. But many Australians have no such scruples - 47 per cent say they have faked orgasms.

I'm an Australian in Hong Kong. If we combine the results for Australia (and if half the survey are women, almost every woman has faked it as I can't see how a man can fake it) and Hong Kong then....

From my Da, some actual funny jokes:

MORE NUDITY
A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's
locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, "What's the matter haven't you ever seen a little boy before?"

DRESS-UP
A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, "Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit."
"And why not, darling?" "You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning."

TELLING OFF
After putting her children to bed, a mother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. At last she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard her three-year-old say, with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

There seems to be a problem with my blog host so that I cannot access it at all at the moment. Once it is sorted I will try posting properly again.

That said I'm exhausted as I was playing Playstation until 1am last night. I may have caught the bug again...

Despite the weekend loss to Brisbane, Adam Goodes deservedly shared in the Brownlow medal last night with some exalted company. It helps ease the pain a little.

Today is my day to be controversial.

It is trendy, almost conventional wisdom, amongst many Americans (courtesy of The Gweilo Diaries) at least, that France is the real enemy now Iraq is over. Interesting idea and in some ways correct. France is one of several nations who find the idea of a sole world superpower daunting and a blow to their historical self-image. It must be hard to go from world player to another middle sized power in a century. Yet for historical reasons France has some trappings of punching above its weight, especially as they have nukes and they have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

It is usually forgotten that the UN Security Council in 2002 unanimous approved moves against Iraq late last year (resolution 1441). However by early 2003, due to a multitude of factors, there was a real divergence of opinion on what to do with Iraq. Personally I think invading Iraq was the right move - Sadaam had plenty of years to comply and finally his bluff was called. I imagine few Iraqis are pining for a return to those days.

What is important in this discussion is that many did not think it the right thing to do. This included large percentages in many nations in Europe. France then decided to represent the views of its population. They disagreed with the American position. This is called democracy. Within countries there are disagreements on every issue but there is a common underlying set of beliefs that drive the whole country forward and allow for such differences to be tolerated. Likewise nations of the West have a similar theme, being largely democratic and free market based economies all aiming for a peaceful and prosperous world. Often these countries pull together for a common good. A current example is Iran's nuclear situation. Many others exist from the worlds of economics (everyone managed to sit together at the G7 last weekend), politics, diplomacy, sport, culture, business and so on.

France is merely one of many nations that has disagreed with US policy in Iraq. Germany and Russia are two prominent examples that seemed to slip under the radar. Not many Americans boycotting Oktoberfest or vodka.

I think many Americans took the French disagreement with them over Iraq to heart for a few reasons. America's engagement with the world changed after Sep 11; suddenly the ills of the world became a domestic problem as well as an "overseas" one. The world reverted to being us and them, much like the Cold War. This is easier to comprehend than the shades of gray that coloured the world during the immediate post-Cold War period. George W. himself said if you're not with us you are against us.

While much of the world agrees with the ends many disagree with the means. France's problem is it has been seen as the leader of the opposition to America's ends, when the reality is it disagrees with the means. There were mistakes made both by the French and the Americans during the diplomatic negotiations prior to the Iraq invasion. Patriotism demands Americans back their own side. Both sides overplayed their hands but this disagreement was this: France wanted Iraq more time to comply, America felt they had missed their last chance. The two positions were not so different they could not be bridged. But sometimes politicians (and this is a shock) play to their domestic audiences first and worry about the ramifications later. In this case there was too much feeling built up too quickly on both sides and it became a battle of wills rather than ideas.

Don't get me wrong, the French can be arrogant and over-important. It is just there is more in common than is usually acknowledged. It's always fun to pick on the French because they get defensive and lash back. The truth is though we're on the same side. The real test of this is now, with the US acknowledging the need for some kind of blessing from the UN (even if it is post-hoc) and France, Germany and Russia searching for a face saving way of getting back into the main game. There is a very good chance the lessons of earlier this year have been learnt by both sides and some kind of agreement will be reached. Again the disagreement is one of nuance. America wants to remain the civil power in Iraq for some time; France & co. want a quick handover to the new Governing Council. Again not an unbridgeable gap, just a matter of discussion and negotiation to reach an acceptable compromise. Even France accepts the US military will and should remain in Iraq for some time, and probably accept the need to support that effort once the path to a return to Iraqi sovereignty is mapped out. This is what the UN is designed for - making compromises on such international problems.

Much like the self-defeating behaviour of the G-21 developing countries at the WTO last week, France, Germany and Russia need to UN to stay relevant to world affairs. Even Russia is now a middle power at best. The UN gives these countries an undue influence on world affairs. Making it irrelevant to those affairs leaves these countries on the periphery. And it turns out the US needs the UN too (much to many conservatives' chagrin). It's tough being the sole superpower and often time the work need not be done alone. That's what the UN is for - to help legitimately share the burdens of keeping peace in the world.

The end result is let's stop kidding ourselves with Freedom Fries and refusing to drink Evian. Americans don't shop at Republican or Democrat only shops, regardless of their views. The French aren't perfect, but nor is any other country on Earth.

Bill Gates tends to be hated by many on the net for reasons I'm not quite sure make sense. Like any other company Microsoft have and seek to use the advantages they have to dominate their industry and make mega-profits. That tends to be how capitalism works. It is up to Governments via their anti-trust/competition regulators to identify any market failures or abuses of power.

All that aside you have to respect Bill Gates as a person. Firstly he had the vision and luck to create a massive company that provides software the world uses. If it the software wasn't any good people wouldn't use it. So he's done something right on that front.

However it is his philanthropy that is most impressive. The guy is worth US$40 billion plus. Sure he's using some for himself and his family, with the huge house and I'm sure he's got a plasma TV in the bedroom. But he's given billions to his charity. He has committed to giving away 95% of his wealth. On one hand to have your own foundation with your name on the doorplate is a trifle over the top, but when you've given billions of dollars in current and future donations you want to make sure it is run properly and going where you want it to go. It doesn't stop there. He then gets the foundation to give to causes that are not just worthy, but areas that others (and this includes governments) neglect. His latest is $168 million for malaria research. He's given to the UN's global fund on AIDS, TB and Malaria, education and so on. He actively participates in his charity, at a cost to himself.

I find it hard to believe that most of his critics, if they were in the same situation, would dedicate so much of their personal wealth to charity. Bill Gates is doing something constructive and good in this world to make it a better place. Not many can say that.

Big weekend. Friday night about with friends in town for the jewellery fair. Went to Spices down at Repulse Bay. We have never had a bad meal there and Friday was no exception. Saturday headed down to AMC with the Rosmarins and saw the Hendels too. All the kids had fun swimming before we headed for some lunch at the poolside cafe. As usual our angels were extremely well behaved, and PB was the last to finish (again). She also walks everywhere now, so she's only getting hungrier. Also finally found a fellow footy fanatic, so we've got an invitation to watch the Grand Final (Rosh Hashannah not withstanding) and an open offer for a kick with the Sherrin. We got back home about 2pm, the girls had their nap, Mrs M baked and I relaxed. Mrs M and JC had a party at a fellow Disneyland inmate's place so I took PB and Misti down to the playground. PB sat in the swing for 55 minutes and loved every minute of it. She's easy to entertain. Stayed home Saturday night but once I couldn't resist looking at the score and entered depression.

It's funny but my heart has been broken five times in my life. Twice by love, once by the Balmain Tigers in 1989, and by the Swans in 1996 (although the previous week's game was the best I have ever been to) and for some reason this year. The club has not won a premiership since the 1930s - I think any time they get close we dare to hope this might be the one.

Sunday was much quieter. Both girls woke up with colds and it was raining so most of the day was videos, indoor playgrounds and more videos. A few trips to the supermarket (also within the environs of Disneyland) thrown in, and the girls were in bad by 7pm. We watched SWAT on DVD - it's not bad with the usual quota of explosions and violence.

Hopefully tonight will be my first experience of Playstation on Dean's plasma TV. I think this might just be able to cure my post-footy blues.

Try as they might the lads were'nt able to do it. In reflection they did better than anyone ever thought they would blah blah blah. To come so close to another GF only to falter may auger well for the future, but right now it just hurts.

From the Crikey site an article on the music industry luddites and their ham-fisted attempts at dealing with technology. Like the article points out, VCRs ended up being a boon to Hollywood rather than the dire threat they though it was. It just takes some thinking about how to adapt to what (heaven forbid) consumers want.

More proof wine is good for you. If it wasn't 3 times the price of wine in Australia we'd be giving the glass a day idea a test too.

Sometimes out of terrible events some good can be found. It can be easy to sometimes forget how lucky you can be and it is a shame that often it takes something like this to remind you of that luck.

JC and PB will be getting some extra kisses and hugs this weekend. Probably when we're trying to stop them from doing serious damage to each other/the dog/the video/the table/the floor etc. Maybe one or two if JC doesn't ask for Nemo for 5 minutes.

I don't know if YTN TV are South Korea's answer to Fox, but regardless it is time to panic.

Two South Korean Fighter Aircraft Are Missing, YTN TV Reports

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Two South Korean fighter planes are
missing in the southern part of the country while on training, YTN
TV reported, without citing anyone.
The television station didn't give any other details.

Courtesy of Bloomberg (and Ken)

My Cantonese lesson was cancelled. The teacher has a fever. In HK this can be a euphamism for SARS, so all concerned thought it best if we put it off to next week. We hit a record early lunch today; we started at 11:30am. Today was mixed rice and noodles. It's hard when you've finished lunch by noon. That's a long stretch to dinner, which in our house is after the dynamic duo are bathed and in bed. I hope my stores of fat are able to keep me going.

It's going to be an interesting weekend.

Jacquie our helper is taking Saturday off to register for the Phillipines election. Exercising her democratic rights means for the first time we have a complete weekend with JC and PB on our own, something we love. We can be ourselves without being conscious of this other person, not quite a stranger but not a family member either, in the flat. It is great to have her around to help but it will be good to being a family on our own, even if for a weekend. Plenty of plans to keep us going too. Off to AMC in the morn with some fellow Disneyland inmates, an afternoon birthday party, Saturday night in (no Jacquie means no babysitting). Most importantly is the 10pm start for the Swans game. The children will be asleep and the dog will be wearing a red and white scarf. No doubt the umpires are in for a bollocking due their atrocious decisions.

Sunday is too far away to even contemplate. No doubt swimming will creep in somewhere. I might even be able to persuade Mrs. M to a spot of tennis or a quick revision of bridge. Otherwise it may be time to take up Dean's offer of Playstation on the plasma.

Most disastrously, should the Swans make the Grand Final it will be telecast next Saturday. That's super, but it also happens to be Jewish New Year, one of the two most important days in the calendar. We're not super-religious, but we do try and do the big ones. Does God forgive those that watch their team trying to win their first flag since the 1930s? Is it a sin or a mitzvah?

Indubitably I will be embiggened with the cromulent answer.

Yes it's crony capitalism, with the PM's ex-chief beaurocrat a big winner from these changes. But this is a win for the battler. Twice the grog and ciggies duty free. Thaat's 2 bottles of Jim Beam thanks.

It is actually a strange set-up in Sydney Airport. I once came off the plane from a business trip and walked towards the passport control. The layout is such that you have to walk through the duty free shop to get there. This time there were signs advertising "2 bottles duty free". Yes there was fine print, which said the rules (as they were) allowed for two bottles of spirits. I picked a bourbon (for me) and a gin (for Mrs M) and paid. Made my way through passport control, got my bag and thought I was doing well as the whole thing had taken only 20 minutes.

Then the customs man waved me over to the red lane. This is not so rare, especially if you are carrying a duty free bag. I knew something was up as soon as he asked if I had filled my customs form myself. This wasn't the time for my humour (eg "No, I got the drug smuggler next to me to fill it in"). He then pointed out the limit on grog was 1.25 Litres (or whatever), whereas my two 800mL bottles came to a little more than that. There was a second where I contemplated the inside of an Australian prison with a guy named Bubba as a cellmate. I pointed out it was strange the duty free shop was advertising it as legal when it turns out it isn't (or wasn't at that stage). With a sigh the customs man proceeded to tell me how they are having all sorts of problems with the duty free people, but the privatised Sydney Airport is more interested in the $ than the law. He smiled and told me to be careful next time, and I was free to go. He said they had so many people caught out by this they were waving the excess duty because they couldn't process the paperwork.

I didn't argue. I left. Now I don't need to worry as the limit is going up.

Today I've introduced a poll. Please take a second to vote. The results will be collated and sent direct to Pret management.

Maintain the rage. Together we can make a difference. Or at least get them to put sushi back on the menu.

Mrs M was out last night at a Bee Gees cover band. I got a call around 10:30pm to listen to the festivities and to be told she'll soon be home. 2am. That's all I'm saying. She enjoyed her tennis lesson yesterday, hitting the ball really well. The coach has told her she just needs a new racquet, which luckily he can provide at a good price. Today is her first day in the competition, and given she can hardly move a muscle following yesterday's lesson it will be a triumph of will if she can make it to the court.

The hunk of junk that is our car has had two things go wrong in the past five days. Used cars are cheap in HK, but it is because the repairs cost so much. Fookie the mechanic has been contacted - he's good, he'll send one of his boys to pick the car up, and he's expensive because he caters to the expat market. Here in HK we joke about the "Gweilo tax" (ie on expats). It's not standard or universal, but for the most part there's one price for locals and a higher one for expats. It's just part of life here.

The TV drama continues - we need a new VCR as the one we brought from Australia is set for the wrong standard. At least electronics are cheap here, and I can see an outing to Fortress over the weekend.

PB has taken to walking all the time. There's no stopping her, and she now prefers to walk rather than shuffle. JC is getting much better at sharing her toys with her younger sister. And JC has taken to cooking - this morning she had prepared "dinner" for her daddy. Sure it's plastic, but the presentation is sensational and the mix of flavours is exotic.

An interesting package arrived last night at work. It contains 4 tape cassettes and a book, titled Everyday Cantonese. Today is my first lesson in the language of Hong Kong. I'm not good at languages but I'm determined to at least get the basics covered. The book starts well.

Learning Cantonese isn't easy. Many non-Cantonese speakers have started on the road to learning, stumbled, fallen flat on their faces and given up in frustration.

I'm keen to get to Lesson 23, Sports. I'm going to ask how to say "Sydney Swans will win the Premiership" in Cantonese. I could well be booking my flight to Melbourne come Monday.

This one is great. The possibilities are endless...for example, "Sorry I was speeding officer, but I'm actually Prince Charles."

The best part is how the police managed to pick this guy wasn't the Pope.

The officers said they could tell immediately he was not the Pontiff as the inebriated man was in his 50s.

And although the 83-year-old Pope speaks Dutch, he is known to do so with a strong Polish accent.

While I have been a fan of some of the genre, it is inevitably a race to the bottom. I think we have almost reached it.

The new guestbook on this page is pretty cool. I came across it atSnooze Button Dreams.

A funny description of the changes from single man to father.

Courtesy of AB: "I've been busier than a rattlesnake at a nudist beach."

I'm not 100% sure I know what it means either.

You will be pleased to know that Giles has joined my Pret boycott. We went to Mix instead, who sell the same overpriced sandwiches and wraps, but never pretended to offer sushi. Slowly we are winning the war.

A British sleep professor has identified personality types from which position you sleep in. Not with, which I would have thought says a lot more.

I'm a "freefaller", which is bad news as

They tend to have "a brash and gregarious exterior", although this confident front hides a nervous personality who responds badly to personal criticism.

But

its users can comfort themselves with the fact that the position is good for digestion.

It's all suspiciously like astrology.

I have a great TV. It's German, it's big and it has great picture. It's not plasma but it has all sorts of digital features that sound important and no doubt enhance the viewer experience. But there's a small problem - if we try and record the Cable TV via the VCR we get perfect picture but buzzing sound. HK TV is rarely good so it is important to be able to capture the few odd shows worth watching.

The man from Cable TV came to fix the problem. It turns out the problem is with the TV. I spent the obligatory male 15 minutes trying to work it out last night, but hit a dead end. So first thing this morning I ring the local distributor to try and get to the bottom of it. But in HK nothing starts before 10am. Or maybe 11am. So here I am venting on the blog instead. To make matters worse this is the second time I've written this as the first was disappeared when Explorer crashed. Not happy.

Last night went to Water Margin at Times Square for dinner. Went with a couple of friends in town for a big jewellery exhibition. This exhibition is huge - they estimate there is billions of (US) dollars worth of diamonds and jewellery there. Every year a few dealers have suitcases stolen with a few million worth in it, this year being no exception. The food was good northern Chinese style, which means spicy. The place was busy and it seems that HK is back to normal and starting to recover from the economic doldrums.

Mrs M has a busy day with a tennis lesson before tomorrow's Disneyland tennis competition, some bonding with the girls and then a Bee Gees cover band at AMC tonight. Misti had a haircut so she can better cope with the heat. She mostly copes by sleeping or hovering near JC and PB while they eat. She has a great life.

So I've managed to now kill enough time to get to 10am. I'm going to try ringing the TV people again. Wish me luck.

A typical HK experience today. I need to have a couple of links taken out of my "Panerai watch. Went to an alley next to Shanghai Tang where for HK$15 a man took out the links in about 5 minutes.

Wandering back I passed a watch shop as I am looking for one as a 30th birthday present. A particularly nice watch. Only HK$115,000. But they can do a special price for me. Aren't I lucky? I think a trip to Mongkok with Mrs M for a replica is in order.

Use this nifty game to test your skills with chopsticks.

All the senior economic policy makers know there's a property bubble. They can't do anything about it, but there's going to be one hell of a mess to clean up when it's all over.

With fans like this there is no way the Swans can lose.

My Pret Boycott is continuing to enjoy success after success. This morning as I was walking to work through the IFC mall I had to pass the dreaded house of evil. Some poor misguided and exploited employee was standing outside handing out flyers. I always ignore them anyway, but it was how I ignored her today. I made a point of continuing to walk at a normal pace, controlling the welling rage within me. I looked into her eyes. She knew I knew. She feebly offered the flyer. With a cold, steely look I continue to stare at her as I kept pace with the hundreds of other office drones on their way to work. She withdrew the proferred flyer. She knew she was defeated. A wry smile came across my face as I walked away. Chalk up another victory for the forces of good.

There are hundreds of shocking facts about Pret that you should know. They are owned by McDonalds. I like McDonalds, I admire any organisation that can mass produce food at a reasonable quality at a low cost (with decent profit margins). There are few places that provide as much food for as little money. However Pret pretends to be a sandwich shop which makes healthy, fresh food. The reality is they are overpriced fancy fakes. I have not heard of anyone coming out of there with a chicken and lettuce, or peanut butter sandwich.

Is this boycott a waste of time? McDonalds are in all sort of profit trouble, like this from BBC news. All I'm asking is for them to re-instate sushi on their menu. I will prevail.

Please feel free to join the boycott. It's simple. Just stop buying from Pret. They have the sandwiches but we have the power.

From the unlinkable Bloomberg...Wal-Mart alone imported US$12 billion of Chinese goods in 2002 out of a US deficit of US$70bn. Wal-Mart sells to middle America. The customers obviously like the stuff to buy that much of it. That's globalisation in action.

This is completely inexplicable. There is so much that is not right about this story.

Many of the 'blogosphere' can be described as pleonastic. Not me of course.

This would be her first purchase. Thanks Paul.

Riding in to work on the Disneyland bus this morning I noticed the plethora of satellite dishes on the rooftops of HK, all pointing the sky eager for whatever may be in the air. My first thought was how ugly they were. Then I realised in fact they are a true symbol of the times; a sign of technology, democracy (in the form of free speech) and progress. It got me thinking...

The collapse of the WTO talks in Mexico is being trumpted as a triumph of the developing world and China in particular. For example the (unlinkable) South China Morning Post headline is China has success at failed WTO talks.

The reality is this was Pyrrhic victory. Bully for these developed countries for finally recognising they have more clout if they fight together as a common bloc. However there is little point if the end result is simply no agreement with nothing gained. As much as the "anti globalisation" brigade (wearing their Levi's and Nikes) go on about the WTO being the oppressor of the poor and such claptrap, the reality is free trade is the single most effective way to enrichen broader populations. Don't believe me? Germany and Japan since WW2, Asia since the late 50s and China since the early 80s are just a few examples.

If a developing nation is serious about improving the lives of its poor (who tend to be rural workers and farmers) then reducing the massive subsidies the rich world (US, EU and Japan) subsidise their farmers is a good point to work on. Politically these countries will require a quid pro quo, in this case the "Singapore issues". The rich countries can afford to be nonchalant on trade. They benefit from free trade and a 5% increase in incomes is nice but not earth shattering. However for a developing nation that same increase can be the start of a cycle of great wealth and a lift out of poverty for much of the population. Most of these nations are efficient and cheap producers of primary goods. Freer trade benefits them disprortionately.

The rich world is not above blame either. The US, for example, has increased tariffs on steel and farm good in the past 2 years under a "free trade" President. They spend US$4 billion to support a US$3 billion cotton industry. Europe and Japan are even worse. Reducing trade barriers in agriculture results in cheaper food and improves a government's budget position. In rich nations though farmers are politically well organised and many voters have a nostalgic feeling it is important to keep the man on the land. This is absurd; if starting today the EU said they will suddenly subsidise all computer makers in Europe there would be an outcry. But cuts in support have a small benefit for the whole population but a large cost for a small part of the population. It takes unusual political courage to take this on.

Deep down I think many of the Governments invovled in the trade talks know this too. The pendulum swings between doing what is right in the long term and pandering to short term domestic interests. It is swinging the wrong way at the moment but there is too much evidence that free trade works for this to last long. If it comes about via bilateral and regional trade agreements instead of via the WTO that is not ideal, but the momentum is inevitable. Starting a new political grouping only to shoot itself in the foot on its first outing is not a smart tactic.

Those satellite dishes are a sign of the future. The world is becoming more connected and interlocked (this is what globalisation is) and avoiding this benefits no one. The reality is people want free trade, even if they do not call it that. Everone likes having access to Coca-cola, Swiss cheese, Aussie meat or Japanese gadgets at their nearest shop. That's globalisation.

I've made some small changes to the format of the site. Comments has been relabelled "Speak to Simon", you now need to post both a name and an email in the comments and the problem with seeing the whole site has been fixed. As always intelligent feedback on the site is appreciated.

Free advice for those who run record lables. It seems like a much better idea than suing 12 year olds.

I cannot link to The Economist article on house prices. They predict Australian housing prices are due to fall 20-30%. Here's the quoted bit: In Australia, where the house-price boom has been driven by the buy-to-let market, investors now account for 45% of all new mortgage lending...As first-time buyers are squeezed out of the market, it cannot be long before house prices start to wobble.

The ratio of prices to rent (implied and real) is more than 30% over the 25 year average. Much like the share price bubble it is hard to see what can pop it while it is happening, but once it does it all seems so obvious that it was a bubble all along.

Of course if prices rose 18% so far in 2003 (again from The Economist) then a 30% correction just puts everyone back to where they were in early 2002. I suspect the enduring fascination with property and the bias in the Australian tax system will keep this asset class "overvalued" for a long time to come.

I watched Finding Nemo 6 times this weekend. It's good, but not that good. But when JC gets hooked on something it's hard to say no. Especially when it was raining and windier than during the typhoon, as it was yesterday.

Watched the movie The In-Laws on Friday night, which was pretty funny in a stupid kind of way, except the sound cut out right at the end. It seemed to improve after that. Saturday was spent swimming. Got a little sunburnt, which is pretty funny because JC poured half the sun tan lotion over me. PB is enjoying swimming and JC is now bubble free and swimming on her own. Saturday night went to ToTTs restaurant at the Excelsior Hotel. An eclectic collection of red and chrome furniture greeted us, before we were shown to our private room with a view over Victoria Harbour. The menu is a hotch potch of flavours and styles but it somehow works.

Sunday morning was brunch with bacon, eggs, bagels and Mrs M's banana bread with some friends. Visited the indoor playroom in Disneyland with JC, where she insists on getting a drink from the water fountain, regardless if she is thirsty or not. The afternoon we ventured outside with some other friends, only to confront gale force winds and rain. We let the girls ride around in their cars and bikes until windburn threatened to kick in. I had an exciting evening planned of some Playstation on a plasma TV, but this got pushed back to Wednesday. The anticipation is almost too much. Sunday night was a worse storm than the typhoon of two weeks ago. It is the tail of the typhoon hitting Japan and Korea, but it kept me up half the night as the wind rattled the windows of Disneyland.

Took JC to school this morning with Barbie doll and umbrella. I don't know what Mattel do but they have found the way to take over a 2 year old's brain. If only they could use this power for good rather than marketing.

So the Swans are going to have to face Brisbane after their win. I think the Swans would have preferred the Crows but with home town advantage and the week break the odds should be in the Swans favour. If only the hype machine would realise they've got a tough game against a formidable team first. The Sydney media seem convinced they are in the Grand Final already.

Check out Friday, September 12th links on tonypierce.com + busblog.

Only a couple of weeks old and on the biggest blog in the world. I will try not to let the fame get to me.

Not talking about Paul here.

This guy is still at it.

Even Egypt must have some statute of limitations.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht
frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

This is why English universities are in such trouble.

Today is a holiday in HK for the Mid-Autumn festival. I'm not quite sure how mid autumn is in September, especially as its 33 dgrees with 95% humidity. Last night our apartment complex, affectionately known as Disneyland, was awash with children up way too late swinging fluro bands and laterns at each other. It looked like great fun and next year JC is a sure starter. It is a festival of the full moon, mooncakes, laterns and family dinners. And it's a long weekend.

Last night I had another pleasant customer service experience. I had been warned that dealing with any customer service rep on a telephone can be a frustrating experience. There is little language barrier as almost everyone can speak some English. Making the nature of a complaint/request understood can be another matter. Yet in the short time I've been here I have had only one bad experience. Last night was a good experience. The Cable TV lady rang back in response to an email, listened couteously to my problem, asked the stock questions, realised it could be a techincal fault and apologised profusely that someone would not be able to contact me until Monday. Then there's our experience of technicians and home handymen, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Most of these have been unmitigated disasters.

This morning was a party at the Aberdeen Marina Club for one of JC's classmates. HK is interesting with its clubs. They are fully enclosed entertainment worlds - and I am jealously not a member of one. Yet. The way deflation has gripped the club rental market, combined with the net outflow of expats, I soon expect the clubs to be begging me for my patronage. I also soon expect George Bush will tap me as his successor.

Central is flooded as usual with helpers who have a day off with nowhere to go. Every time I walk past I find it fascinating. I imagine that friends get together and gossip about the latest goings-on both here and at home. I also imagine they keep commenting on how handsome I am as I walk past.

There is only one news story today that really matters. PB, the cutest (and cheekiest) 1 yr old girl in HK, has finally given up her morning sleep and is on one sleep a day. Suddenly we can reclaim the mornings and actually venture out at a liesurely pace. This replaces the previous mad scramble to get out for 2 hours once she woke around 11am. Mrs M is not happy at this turn of events as she had a firm roster of plans each weekday morning while PB slept.

The funny thing about kids is once you get them worked out, they go and change on you. The flip side is that at least for a few years they think you are the smartest, funniest and all round best couple of people in the whole wide world. This is called childhood innocence. It's when they start to realise you're only an ordinary person who can make mistakes, have emotions and sometimes prefer to NOT watch Barbie the 40th time that everything changes. They can start to relate to you as people, and then it becomes a balance between being parent/child and person/person. This is the famous cliched "letting go" thing. Given the current number of child related expenses, the letting go thing is not going to be as difficult as it sounds.

This and this from the world of science.

Charles just reminded me of my boycott of Pret A Manger.

They used to have a delightful sushi pack for a reasonable HK$35 or so. I often would enjoy a little salomon and tuna of a lunchtime. So imagine my chagrin when I entered one lunchtime to not find any sushi gracing the shelves. None. Had they sold out? No. They decided to stop offering it due to "quality control issues." Will they be offering it again soon? No. An irate email to Pret HQ was met with a standard PR reply that my business was important to them, thanks for the feedback blah, blah.

That very day the boycott began. Until sushi returns to Pret's shelves, I will not so much as even look at the place.

Feel free to join this pointless bit of consumer activism.

Just back from giving a squash lesson down at the desserted Wan Chai Sports Centre. I couldn't serve and my backhand was abysmal; I think Giles may have had a chance.

On the way back it struck me that there is a Starbucks within 1km of every person in HK. Or a Pacific Coffee but they hardly count as a coffee place. And I don't even drink the stuff.

In the meantime I missed out on sharing in 7 pizzas at work. That hurts. Though judging by my colleagues bloated expressions and bellies, it is probably for the best.

I'm thinking of banning the first person from my blog. My brother.

The Golden Mile of North Bondi. They're asking $1.79 million. Really.

This guy is scum. He makes low offers on shares, preying on those who think he is offering them a good price. He exploits a loophole in the law that should be easy enough to fix, by simply saying that all off-market share trades should be within 10% of the market price. This is the kind of white collar crime that comes across as "harmless" but is simply theft.

They say pets can look like their owners.

Being Sep 11 there is going to be plenty of rememberance and commemoration. It is great to see someone trying to go forward and generate some good from the mess.

Bit of a dilemma tonight. Playing tennis with the bosses. Being Australian sledging is second nature, but the nature of it certainly has to change if the guy you sledge can hire and fire you. If the response to one of my particularly witty put downs is "don't bother coming in tomorrow" I will not only lose my job but probably the tennis game too.

In other thoughts: one of the things about HK is everything starts late and finishes late. This tends to mean that during the week I am lucky if I get to see PB at all, and usually just manage 10 minutes for a story with JC. On the flipside I do get to see them for half an hour each morning. One of the great things about this is I am the one who delivers each of my girls their morning milk, plus some toys and books in their bed/cot. That smile first thing in the morning puts me in a good mood regardless of what the rest of the world has in store for me that day.

Mrs. M has got the jump on me - she's been to gym a few times this week, did a kickboxing class today and went to a bridge class yesterday. It just re-inforces that she is stronger and smarter than me. Yes, better looking too. PB had gymbaroo which she loves and she's walking well now. She still does her bum-shuffle if she's in a hurry but full time walking is only a few days away. JC is loving school again. She's discovered Finding Nemo as her favourite movie, thankfully replacing Monsters Inc. Fish and sharks are her new animals of the week. It all seems miles away from the Sept 11 melancholy that will hit tomorrow.

A reasonable analysis of why footy is in a golden period and Rugby League in Australia is struggling. While I don'y fully agree with everything this guy writes the general tone is accurate. AFL is now the one national code, despite the Melbourne establishment. It may be socialist but the AFL keeps the competition interesting and close, so the Swans can go from wooden spoon favourites to preliminary finalists (and dare I hope more) in a season.

The current finals line-up is a marketing dream come true while the NRL keeps shooting itself in the foot. The NRL need to realise the game is not players vs administrators, or clubs vs News Ltd. They need to recover from some of the massive damage Super League did to the game. NRL can still offer some great games, not just State of Origins, but people take a long time to come back once they lose interest.

Every extra game the Swans win now is actually just a bonus. Going all the way is still very unlikely, but the whole season has been a tale of unlikely wins. Thank God I can watch it on ABC TV here in HK. Here's hoping there's enough left in the coffers for the ABC to keep offering this for years to come. For that matter let's hope the Swans can convert this into a platform for sustainable finances so they can get off the AFL subsidy once and for all.

Admittedly not the best source in the world. But if even the Poms are thinking of dumping the Queen, surely Australia can have a go at becoming a grown up country with our own head of state?

We didn't win the HK$60mm Mark 6. That's bad. But no one else did either, and that's good. So we get another shot on Friday at HK$70mm this time. With that much, even split 3 ways, I could buy this and this (well, even HK$70mm might not get me this) and this for JC, this for Mrs. M, and lots of this for PB and even this for Misti. I'd even organise this for Charlie Lam. Of course Charlie is one of the three in the group so he can pay for his own.

It's nice to dream.

Courtesy of my brother. If JC ever went to Saudi Arabia (and that's a huge if, not much demand for Jewish 2yr old girls in that country), she'd be in real trouble.

If they can do this to Barbie, where will it end?

The news direct from Singapore's Ministry of Health:

A new probable SARS case

The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has picked up a new
probable SARS case. It appears to be a single, isolated case. The
patient is currently isolated at the Communicable Disease Centre.
Investigations are on-going to establish the source of infection.
His contacts have largely been followed up and all of them are
well. As a precautionary measure, MOH has served HQOs on his
close contacts.

Chronology of event

2 The patient is a 27-year-old Chinese Singaporean post-
doctoral student working on West Nile virus at a microbiology
laboratory in the National University of Singapore (NUS). He also
does some work at the Environment Health Institute (EHI)
laboratory of the National Environment Agency. He last visited
the EHI laboratory on 23 August 03. He has no history of travel
to previously SARS-affected areas and no known contact with SARS
patients.

3 On 26 Aug 03, he went to work at the NUS lab and was well
but he developed fever around midnight. On 27 Aug 03, he
consulted a general practitioner and was given a course of
antibiotics. The fever persisted and he sought treatment at the
SGH A&E on 29 Aug 03. His chest X-ray was normal. He was
diagnosed to have a viral fever and discharged from the A&E. As
he did not feel better, he consulted a Chinese physician on 1 Sep
03. Two days later, on 3 Sep 03, he sought treatment again at the
SGH A&E and was admitted.

4 From the time he became unwell on midnight of 26 Aug 03
till his admission to SGH on 3 Sep 03, he remained at home apart
from his two visits to SGH A&E, the GP and Chinese physician.

5 When he was admitted to the SGH, he complained of fever,
muscle aches and joint pains, but did not have any significant
respiratory symptoms. He developed a dry cough after admission.
Three serial chest X-rays at SGH were all normal. However, on 8
Sep 03, when his PCR and serology test results were returned
positive, the patient was transferred to the CDC for further
management. He remains well.

Diagnosis

6 A repeat of his PCR tests was done in NUH lab today and
was confirmed positive. In view of his positive PCR and serology
results, MOH is treating him as a probable SARS case. Source of
infection

7 Investigations are underway to identify the patient's
source of infection.

Precautionary measures at the laboratories

8 Pending investigation, the two laboratories have suspended
all their research activities. Meanwhile, the staff members of
the laboratories have also been asked to stay at home until the
all-clear is given. No staff member has fever or feels unwell.

Precautionary measures at the SGH

9 Although the patient was isolated throughout his stay in
the SGH and the staff who had contact with him were in protective
gear, the SGH is not taking any chances and has ramped up its
precautionary measures to Orange Alert Level. These include
restrictions to visitation of the affected wards and more
intensive temperature surveillance of staff.

10 Home Quarantine Order

Group Number
Family members of case 8
TCM Sinseh 2
SGH A&E outpatients 8
Visitors 3
Discharged patients 4
Total 25

Conclusion

11 MOH has notified the WHO of the incident and the details
of the case. WHO has informed us that the case does not fulfil
the case definition for SARS as per the new WHO guideline in the
post outbreak period.

12 MOH's assessment is that this case was a low public
health risk as the patient was picked up and isolated early.

Who says Australia isn't a global superpower, able to bring together two of the world's most powerful leaders. Honest John will love this one. Great photo op and he gets to stand in the middle.

This is a great idea.

Singapore got it first this time.: "'We're not calling it a Sars case. It's not even probable Sars, it's suspected Sars,' WHO regional spokesman Peter Cordingley said." There's a difference?

Frontline was the best comedy and current affairs satire ever. This interview proves it.

Remind me again why the USA still has the death penalty when things like this happen.

Chelsea's new owner keeps on splashing out as much as he can as quickly as he can. It's like Brewsters Millions.

The boss goes for Chelsea so I suppose it's a good thing.

Courtesy of the Blogcritics.org site. It seems Record companies have had enough of going after the sites and are now going after the downloaders instead.

Of course record companies aren't quite sure what to do; I suspect that while there are some that use downloads to avoid paying for overpriced CDs (and let's face it, a music CD costing more than a DVD seems a bit off) many, including myself, use it to try before we buy. Perhaps also CD sales are down because current music is complete cr@p. Perhaps.

Mrs. M just back from Shenzen shopping spree. After all the stories it turns out to be true - you can buy plenty of everything cheap. Sounds like the shops are less obvious in showing off copies but the almighty dollar (Hong Kong or otherwise) will always overrule obligations to the Americans and the WTO to clamp down on copies. The reality is copies serve a market - if a brand is too expensive a copy is an expression of asperation and even desperation for the real thing. Even good copies are only that and on close inspection they are revealed for what they are. Besides, in a town like this one it's all about what you paid for it and where rather than what it is.

JC has gone to sleep tonight with the following for company: Barbie, Snoopy, Teddy (HK version), Dolly, Jemima and a sheep with no name. And it's not a big bed.

Time for some TV HK style, or maybe one of the 41 new DVDs.

I don't drink coffee so this really doesn't matter to me. But if you're already paying US$3 for a cup of hot liquid with 10 cents worth of beans, what's another 10 cents? Quite a lot apparently.

A good article on the Swans victory on the weekend and the state of footy at the moment.

They've upgraded the system to IE6 and suddenly the whole Blog thing isn't working. Things might be a little slow until I can get this sorted out...I keep getting C++ errors if I use the BlogThis button in my Google toolbar. If anyone knows what that means or how to fix it please let me know.

Why not solve two problems at once and send Arnie into Iraq? Arnie's losing friends in California...

A mostly wet and windy weekend in HK. Saturday morning we spent at home, watachign Monsters Inc for the 400th time. A quick trip to the indoor playroom with the girls before the beautiful Mrs. M and I headed to Pacific Place for some shopping and a movie. PP is a typically over the top shopping mall where having a shop in the mall indicates it must be overpriced. Funnily enough we managed to buy some clothes.

Quick bite at Dan Ryan's, an American style cholesteral factory. We watched "The Italian Job", an advertisement for Minis masquerading as a movie. It was appropriately action paced and plotless - I never saw the original but I am sure it was better. They always are. Afterwards bumped into some friends so invited ourselves to join their dinner/coffee.

Sunday morning went for a walk around the Peak. Stunning views, a flat trail that wasn't too busy. One hundred metres below us was one of the most urbanised environments in the world, but looking down on it we felt like we were in a rainforest. In the afternoon we attend a one-year old birthday party in Stanley. A great combination of noise and cake; only one person was brave enough to go swimming in the pool - the gorgeous JC. She was copmletely nude and having a great time, despite the rain and the stares. The joys of 2 year olds. Mrs. M didn't think it a good idea that I follow JC's example and jump in too.

Mrs. M is off the Shenzhen today for the first time. This is the exploratory trip before we go in for a full blooded attempt to buy everything we can as cheaply as possible. The 10 year old German hunk of junk that is our car again needs repais - this time the driver's side wind screen wiper. Amazing how the car knows what could be the most inconvenient thing and then make it stop.

Glorious weekend sports wise: The Swans get a week off to replenish the batteries during their march towards the Grand Final. I am starting to dream of glory which means it will all end in tears. This should give you an idea of the hype that will start from here.

This is one for the true believers. I will be going to Melbourne in the last weekend of September if they make it to the big one at the G. Swans take on the world - smh.com.au

So what's the purpose of this blog? Just to give some random thoughts on life and work in Hong Kong, reflections on politics and finance, plus plucking some funny or interesting morsels from the net as I come across them. As I get better at this I will try and post photos of the family too. I'm not one of those idealogues who will constantly rabbit on about vast right or left wing conspiracies. Instead I'll just call it how see it.

So what's today's thoughts? I've been working here in HK for 6 months and it has turned out to be quite a different place to what I imagined. Physically it is larger than I expected. Certainly the vast number of high rises was not a surprise. And suprisingly it is beautiful in parts, with a generous amount of space devoted to parks and nature. It is more family friendly than I expected, although it certainly seems more of a town suited to the kid-less with plenty of night life. The expat community is large enough to not be claustraphobic but small enough to remain a community. Most (but not all) are outgoing, friendly and hospitible, no doubt repaying the favours shown when they first moved here. There are enough like minded and similarly positioned people that we don't feel like we're Robinson Curusoe.

Economically the place feels like it has had the stuffing knocked out of it for years. It might just be finally reaching a bottom as the place managed to rebound from SARS in spite of the Government.

This brings me to the most interesting part of HK. Like people everywhere most of the population just want to get on with their lives. They may be clawing their way out of negative equity on their apartment, or looking for the fast buck, or just plugging away doing whatever they need to to get by. But most don't give a flying f*ck about politics as long as they achieve whatever it is they are trying to achieve. Mostly it seems to be able to buy the latest and greatest irrespective of their ability to pay. I've seen more Ferraris in the carpark of my apartment complex than I did in 30 years in Australia. So when 500,000 people protest as they did in July, they're mighty angry about something. The reality is article 23 is only one part of why most got off their backsides and went for a walk that day. A big part of it was to protest about the state of the economy, the inept government and the one thousand and one other complaints that people have about life in general. But the scary thing is it worked. Article 23 shelved. The CCP must be wondering what they've got into in taking on HK. You can be sure the mainland papers won't be running articles on HK politics. And the Government in HK will be scratching their heads in wonder.

Despite all the propoganda of HK being a laissez-faire free market economy, the reality is the government and media act paternalistically. It could be a Confucian/Chinese thing - I don't know enough about the culture to judge. I think it wasn't arrogance on the Government's part that saw them driving this legislation when it was obviously doomed. I think they genuinely saw it as the right thing to do and expected the populace to fall into line. The implicit contract is the Government does what it likes and the people obey, and in return they get ever increasing wealth via a rigged property market. But now the property market has crashed and the Government cannot unrig it enough to even make things stabilise. That's because markets have a way of correcting until the right level is reached. Fiddling too much tends to be counter-productive, although sometimes markets themselves get things wrong and then intervention may be necessary. That's for another time.

So the Government got a kick up the pants when they realised that the populace have ripped up this social contract. It is scary in that now they have to start listening instead of telling Hong Kongers what to do. It is the start of a form of democracy. The politicians HK does have are pretty woeful to say the least, but people power has been tried and tested and worked. I imagine most HKers don't care about many of the day-to-day issues of Government and politics, but what they do care about should become the focus of the Government if they want to retain any shred of credibility. It could well lead to the start of proper debates on real issues affecting HK.

For real debate to happen though more has to change. In particular the newspapers here, in particular the lamentable South China Morning Post (SCMP). They surely see themselves as the paper of record for HK, which is a horrific thought. Rarely does an article involve more than superificial reporting and even the editorial pages estimate the reading audience to have a low IQ and a mental age in the teens. If real debate and politics is to start in this place their needs to be the media to do it. Television is even worse. The answer is the SCMP needs to start treating the population and its readers like people who can think rather than people who need telling what to do, muh like the Government is discovering. I doubt it will happen because HK is a set of duopolies and vested interests mascarading as a free market.

The conclusion to this rant is the simple observation that despite the Government's best efforts HK is managing to recover. It feels vibrant and it feels like a place with a future. It didn't 6 months ago. The people here are amazing in their ability to get on with things despite the obstacles official-dom put in their way. I guess that's the legacy the British left.

Wealth, fame, a string of albums ranging from great to average and various charity works all lead to this: Sting's long-distance love - smh.com.au

Could people power actually work in China?Hong Kong shelves anti-subversion law - smh.com.au

Is this funny or scary? Inquiry reopens over airport security blunder - National - smh.com.au

Big weekend of finals footy for my beloved Sydney Swans. Sydney Swans Everyone says they have no chance but despite their injuries this could be the start of something beautiful. If they make the GF then I'm flying to Melbourne for the weekend and paying whatever the scalpers ask!

Shows the Indonesians might have a problem putting away the head of JI but jaywalkers are a whole new ball game. Jakarta's ministry of silly walks - smh.com.au