Believe it or not, this used to be my nightmare and I became a sort of expert in something I knew very little of. I came back from Oxford with my young family in the mid Eighties and our first task was to find a flat to live in. Our personal effects were scattered in…
By now, everyone knows who got what Oscars last week. There are therefore no prizes for knowing that A Beautiful Mind got Best Picture and other awards, and that the leading actor Crowe portraying John Forbes Nash, Jr. didn’t get Best Actor. I like watching the Oscars, but this time, I missed all the TV…
It’s April Fools’ Day. Traditions dated two centuries had it that on this day, certain people regarded as intellectually challenged would be sent on fools’ errands from place to place with a letter in which it was written, “On the first day of April, hunt the gowk another mile.” A gowk is a cuckoo and…
It’s Easter again. For most of us, it means four days holidays, and if your schedule permits, you can take the three days off next week so that you would have close to a ten-day holiday, which is what I almost did. Around the middle of the week, Rosita decided to visit her father in…
John Major was in town over the Sevens weekend, but swore that he was not here because of that. He was addressing a rather huge gathering of Britons in a reputable hotel, and predictably, he began by saying how much he liked and loved Hong Kong, going back 40 years when he first landed here…
Experienced Rotarians in Hong Kong used to warn against the District organizing major events such as the District Conference on a weekend in March that would clash with the Sevens. The reasons are obvious. Over the years such advice has generally been well taken. One cannot expect however the practice to be extended beyond the…
My last letter drew some rather predictable comments, mainly from male readers on the last section, but some unusual ones too. These responses and for that matter any response usually would help last me a little longer, long enough to spark a dormant ambition that I should perhaps write on a more regular basis. I…
Spring or Vernal Equinox is the time when the equator is in the direct path of the sun, when day and night are of equal length, and the North and South Poles receiving equal light, hence the name equinox. Technically or scientifically, it is a fraction of a second, but since most of us are…
Today, Hong Kong hosted the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and the 8th Asian Marathon Championship; and I was there, filled with awe and anticipation at first, became rather anxious shortly after the start, and overcome with joy, excitement and contentment in the end. It all started some months back when Standard Chartered sent round…
Rosita and I decided to spend the Lunar New Year holidays away in some warmer place; everyone had been expecting a cold spell. We had thought of Bali, but very few travel agents were operating tours at the time and spending a week in one hotel with no programme was not exactly an exciting proposition,…
