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A tour round my head
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You've seen plenty of Hong Kong pictures with the spectacular-harbour
and eye-catching techno-buildings. So on this page, there's just the one
above. (If you're disappointed, you can try some of the links at the end).
Despite the 'old Hong Kong' pictures that do appear later, in Hong Kong today you'll find much more in the way of modern buildings, shopping arcades and an up-to-date railway network than that precious duck shop from Jordan Road that appears later on this page. The treasures are there to be found though, for those who keep their eyes open and keep walking. Hint for would-be tourists: Don't ask where 'Chinatown' is, as does happen (the standard, but not helpful, reply is 'All around you'). No, ask for Western District on Hong Kong Island and go there by tram. Oh, and would you give the pictures below time to load? . . . naturally, I think you'll find the wait worthwhile (pause, pause, pause). |
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For years we lived with the date of June 30th, 1997.
The Handover. Been there, done that, we live in China now.
Can't say it feels much different. In the first nine months, the
changes we've seen are about as many as any other nine month period over
the 20 years that I've watched and enjoyed Hong Kong.
At midnight on the 30th the People’s Liberation Army rolled across the border at Sha Tau Kok standing upright in the backs of uncovered trucks with the rain coming down in sheets. Actually, some came over on early passes at 9 p.m. Ten thousand troops, China says, but for all the evidence we see in the streets you wouldn't know they were here. Their headquarters is still quaintly named the "Prince of Wales Building" - blazed across the base for all to see as they drive by. An unexpected degree of tolerance! The extraordinary experiment of "One country, two systems" has begun. The Union Jack was formally lowered . . . very formally. We British do the traditions well enough, though the final British Governor, Chris Patten, was too much of a politician with an eye to his future in Britain to allow newspapers to photograph him in white jacket and trousers, brass buttons and a nineteenth-century hat with white-feathered plumes. |
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There was a time, of course, when colonial Governors had to be preceded by a man waving a red flag. It kept them from frightening the horses and bumping into anyone hidden by those fluttering feathers and the hat brim. |
| "Not Chris Patten" |
| A few years ago, every social occasion amongst the upwardly
mobile (in other words, those who could find a job elsewhere), rapidly
turned to discussions about ‘what sort of passport have you got?’, ‘where
are you going to live and when will you leave?’. Most of those people have
gone overseas and come back.
But never did any society have so long to prepare for a change of government. In some democracies it can happen overnight! Not much chance of that here. |
| Hong Kong: Where the trams still run on time,  |
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. . . and wall-to-wall dried flat ducks are readily available. | ||||||
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Not in Hong Kong: My favourite midwife, daughter Andrya |
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The temple of Bacchus
IMHO, wine's the drink. And it's worth learning something about it. Australia makes some great ones . . . good value for money at the really low end is Leasingham's, especially the varieties with spicy Shiraz that grows so well in Australia. Chile is a bit eratic but can be very good as in Cousino Macul Antiguas Reserve, some years (if you see 1986, buy every case in sight and send me a bottle). France makes the greatest at the top end but the lower end is as bad as anywhere and worse than some because the sellers (in Hong Kong anyway) pretend it's something other than an ordinary plonk. Bordeaux, as for almost every wine-loving Englishman is the favourite, both as a wine class and a lovely area of France (see left). BTW, the 'almost every' is open to revision, depending on the e-mail I collect ;-) |
| Pottery
Building a kiln is fun. I recommend it. Firing one is even better. Gas-fired, seven feet high, six long and three feet from front to back. The first time of firing was the most exciting . . . like driving a formula one racer (perhaps, but how the hell would I know?). John Dan was the main influence and advisor that made my kiln work first time. Have a look at one of his pots here. It's about two feet six inches high and one of a group of seven that travelled to New York and was eventually sold at an exhibition in Essex, UK, near John's home village of Wyvenhoe. John was a master who died much too young. If you have any of the companion pots to the one on the right that I have . . . same size and form, but with flowing brush-stroked nudes round the top . . . do drop me an e-mail, I'd like to know where they went. The words around the top say "This group of pots was made to celebrate the wonderful festival of lovers to be held in these woods early next summer". John said "It never happened, but I kept hoping"! |
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| So what does a wine-loving potter from London, living in Hong Kong have to do with Information Technology? Well, I'm not a potter - I only ever reached amateur status and IT is my main occupation. As a management consultant (company home page here, if you're really interested) and IT practitioner since 1965. I just have out-of-line hobbies. For example . . . |
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For a few years I made copies of early musical
instruments . . .
"Early" meaning 16th and 17th century. After struggling to play them, mostly I built to order and sold them. If you haven't heard a rackett, you haven't lived! (Surprising how few people have lived really.) Controlled farting would be a fair description. ("Fart" is of course a fine Elizabethan word and even Queen Elizabeth the First of England is romoured to have said it in public: "My lord, we have quite forgot the fart" was the phrase, said to a peer returning after years in exile following an unfortunate incident in front of the Virgin Queen.) The rackett is the upper one on the left, with the unauthentic plastic reed and all the brass keys. Over the years, the design of the rackett changed, as it was stretched and became the bassoon. The other picture is of a quartet rebecs. The originals of these arrived in Europe from the Arab countries by way of Moorish Spain. Pretty thin sounding, but they go well with krummhorns, korhaults and other delightful oddities of the era. Early instruments can often be recognised because their names begin with a 'k'. |
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| The British Computer Society is for everyone concerned with Information Systems Engineering. I became a member when punched cards were still regarded as a pretty neat idea. It is the chartered body for Information Technology professionals in Britain. Formed in 1957, it has nearly 34,000 members and in 1990 became a Chartered Engineering Institution. It is a founding member of the Council for European Professional Informatics Societies and has responsibilities for education and training, for public awareness, and for standards, quality and professionalism. | ||
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Here's a link to
the BCS's pages if you want to know more.
Showing that romance, chivalry and medievalism are not dead, we have a coat of arms. Not the most direct way of conveying the nature of the Society but I like it. |
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Oh, yes, and there is always this alternative . . . |
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| And now for something completely different . . . A graphic artist of staggering talent: M.C.Escher. Almost everyone knows his stairs that climb and climb but never get any higher, his waterfalls that cascade round and round only to end up at their own source, and his patterns that tesselate angels and devils to make an unbroken surface (the background to this page, but I'm sure you had noticed). But not everyone knows of his earlier love of Italian towns and villages. Here's one (touch to link to 190K version) that evokes atmosphere while still leaving room for one of the graphical puns that he loved. |  |
| Here's another early work:
"Snow". The linked file is 88K. |
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| See plenty more of the great Escher here. Or better still, as the scans at that site are not too good, look for a book! The best one I've found is by J.L.Locher, 'Escher, The Complete Graphic Work', published by Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-27696-X. | |
| I'm into mind mapping nowadays. For small ones, I use Mind Manager, but as soon as they get larger, I import them into to Topicscape. This allows me to organize all my reference files just the way I want them, plan projects, and generally keep my life more or less in order (the part that's on my computer, anyway). |
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| If you're looking for those 'Spectacular Hong Kong' picture
links, promised at the beginning of this page, well, here they are: This
is from the Hong Kong
Tourist Association (well they would, wouldn't they?). Credit is due to them for the colourful 'Hong Kong'
graphic design just above, which you can push to go to their home page.
Worth the visit.
And finally, this is a really great site for Hong Kong watchers put together by enthusiasts, with pictures dating back even into the last century. Don't be too disappointed if you get a few '404 Not Found' messages. Someone's done a lot of work here and it's only a minor problem that a few links are now dead ends. Expect some very large GIFs if you explore beyond the thumbnail pics, but they are well worth downloading. The collection includes some of the finest scanned pictures of Hong Kong I've seen. |
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You can leave me a message at roygrubb(at)gandanet dot com dot hk (No spam. Please make the usual changes to give a proper email address). |
| Do come back to follow developments in Hong Kong (and the coming jokes page and more . . . probably). Roy Grubb |
