Odds and Sods....

Today is a public holiday in the Philippines...in honour of the birth date of Andres Bonifacio (actually it should be 30.11 but it was brought forward for some reason...possibly someone knew in advance that it would be a good day to smother the news of Garci's return). Bonifacio is one of the Philippine national heros, second only to Jose Rizal, Bonifacio differed from Rizal in two main ways...firstly, he did not want to reform Spanish rule as Rizal was aiming for but to throw off the Spanish shackles completely, secondly Rizal was a peaceful man who protested peacefully using his pen...Bonifacio led armed rebels against the Spanish..unfortunately for Bonifacio he was not a gifted military leader and he was eventually arrested, tried for treason and executed by firing squad.

Skipping through blogs and linking through to others (as one does) I found Titania..reading swiftly through the opening page I found thispost, in particular this ...about HKG....Almost everyone here takes pride in their dressing, and that is probably the reason why in almost every street and in every corner you turn, there is nothing else other than clothing shops......It seems as if dressing up is a way of life....it's so true...the other day on my day off I remembered I had to pay the delivery man for my furniture and didn't have enough money in the house so needed to pop out to the cash point...I had been cleaning the house wearing my flip flops (haven't had a pair of those for years, but have rediscovered them for the house!!) a T-shirt and a pair of old trousers...anyway, grabbed my purse, shot out the house, got in the elevator and then looked down at my feet...there was no way I was going to face the world dressed like that...even just to go a couple of hundred feet...so back up to the apartment, changed my trousers, changed my shoes, put on my sunglasses...picked up a handbag and then left again....you can take the girl out of Hong Kong, but you can't take Hong Kong out of the girl!!

I have a friend in town at the moment...just flew in from HKG last night...he came over to the office for lunch today and brought me my HKG care package...HK Magazine, BC Magazine, the Sunday Morning Post...and most importantly...Season Six of The West Wing....have promised to ration myself this time instead of the usual gluttony that goes on when I get a new Season on DVD!!!!

HK Magazine has on the cover..."113 ways to improve Hong Kong"...one of my local colleagues said.."If that were Manila it would be 1 million, one hundred and thirteen"...after he read the article he said to me ..."Hong Kong really can't be that bad a place if number 63 on the list is 'Put a mouth on Hello Kitty'" ... couldn't agree more!!

And finally, as I was going home last night I was casting my mind back a couple of years to one of my friends in Jordan...it always strikes me as odd that I can muddle along for months with lots of e-mail contact with him...and then everyso often I need to talk to him..for no other reason than to hear his voice...and then a final thought...how convenient - it's his birthday on Thursday!