What a difference a day makes!

So, yesterday was absolutely dismal - today is much much better. clear all the way to the mountains. here is a photo I took about two minutes ago - it is from exactly the same viewpoint as the one I posted yesterday and the difference is stark.

We are going to Lamma island today to see some friends for a barbeque - it is about 20 minutes on the ferry from here and it is quite funny to see the toy-town (golf cart) fire engines and police cars since there are no cars allowed on the island - I'll try to take a couple of piccies if we can see them.

Only concern is that the India v Pakistan third test is about to start so I'll be sacrificing the first day to go see our friends.

take care all...

Views from Hong Kong

As mentioned, today is a dismal day in HK - mist rain and no visibility. Here is a picture from our living room - it actually overlooks the harbour and usually you can see all the mountains in the distance. Not much of a view now is it?

Bow Wow - Kong Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! (Kong hei fat choi is Canto for happy new year) Hong Kong is going to be empty for the next few days and in fact it has already started. Chinese New Year is like Christmas and New Year rolled into one and most people are going away cos Monday and Tuesday are public holidays.

We decided not to go away this year because we've never had a CNY in Hong Kong and also because when you go anywhere you generally go along with the rest of Hong Kong, China and Korea.

So it will be good to see the celebrations here. Hong Kong loves fireworks and we have got reservations at a restaurant on the 28th floor across the harbour so that we can watch them . I'll try to take some pictures and post later.

Unfortunately, it is extremely gray here and I can hardly see across the harbour from our flat. Hopefully the weather will get better over the next couple of days.

Anyway we are about to usher in the year of the Dog. Apparently, people who are born in the year of the dog possess the best traits in human nature - they care little for wealth but always seem to have money.

Tradition here is that you have to give money to various people in red envelopes- called Lai See packets. It is not enough togive money - the notes have to be brand new so the banks all print a load of new notest for Chinese new year. Apparently each note costs 50 cents (Hong Kong) (approx. 3 pence) to print and it actually costs about HK$24 billion (or some such) to print all the additional new notes needed for lai see.

I have to give Lai See to my secretary, all the secretaries on my floor, the receptionists at work, the doorman, our cleaner, all the people who work in our apartment block and basically anyone else who I come into contact with during the day (possibly even the ladies who make my coffee in the morning at Pacific Coffee - HK's version of starbucks). The thing is, I went to the bank yesterday to get these new notes and, I think in the space of a month, the bank isn't there! it's been converted into yet another designer clothes store... so I didn't get the new notes and the banks are shut for the next couple of days. Of course, it is much more offensive to give old notes than to give nothing at all so I am just going to have to give the Lai See later than normal.

The good thing is that the last test match between India and Pakistan starts tomorrow and I've got Monday and Tuesday off so that I can watch the whole day's play. Hopefully won't be as boring as the previous two tests about which I'll post separately.

Anyway take care all and best wishes for year of the Dog

I bet that you look good on the dance floor

The Arctic Monkeys are everywhere!! For those of us not living in England, where they have had two number ones in a row, no-one has really heard of the Arctic Monkeys. I downloaded their first song, I bet you look good on the dance floor, from i-tunes about a month ago, but it hadn't come up on my shuffle until about two weeks ago. I have been listening to it almost constantly ever since - absolutely superb. The music is excellent, sort of like the Clash, but a bit mellower - very raw instruments but it's the lead singer's voice and lyrics which stand out. Very English and "witty", comparable to Jarvis Cocker and Morrissey at their best. The album has been very well received and it has sold more in the past day or two than the rest of the top 20 albums in UK combined. It hasn't been released in Hong Kong yet and I can't wait...

What seems to be amazing is that they have become so popular through word of mouth and downloads. I know I am probably way behind the times when I say that I downloaded the song a month ago, since it has been doing the rounds (apparently) for ages.

I tell you, it makes me feel old 'cos I remember very vividly how Duran Duran achieved enormous success in the US on the back of their inventive videos at the time when MTV had just started off - must be more than 20 years ago now - now everyone and everywhere has MTV and a whole host of other music channels so the cool thing to do is to exchange music ideas on myspace. Soon, it will all be done by telepathy

anyway if you haven't heard any Arctic Monkeys (mainly aimed at those outside UK, I guess), go and buy their album (CD) and enjoy!!

also, check out Interpol and the Go-Team! who both released great albums in 2005 (plus the latest one from Elbow is fab!)

Just to stay ahead (or barely keep up with) the times, I downloaded the album by "Clap your hands say yeah" who are supposed to be next big thing - no doubt it will be six months after they have ruled the charts the world over before their songs turn up on my ipod shuffle.

A whale in the Thames

This is amazing... a whale has been seen in the Thames miles away from where it should be. It has beached itself twice, and this is a photo of some assistance being given to it. Looks like a pretty small rescue boat. Apparently, there are fears that it won't be able to find its way back to open sea and has already injured itself. One piece I read said that the Thames was clouded with blood.

Nobody has any idea why this happened and no-one is yet blaming global warming. Apparently it's just one of those strange things that happens.

Of Oil, Weapons and bad interpreters

Iran has been in the news a lot recently for breaking the seals at its nuclear ( or "nucular" if you're from Texas) plants and also for its mad president. Of course, the president isn't really the major playa in Iran since everything has to be cleared with the Ayatollah. But, the debate has certainly been interesting and, in some cases absolutely hysterical. Take this story, for example about CNN being banned from Iran because of a faulty translation. The Mad President said that Iran has a right to nuclear energy, but this was incorrectly translated and broadcast on CNN as "Iran has the right to nuclear weapons" - oops! Maybe we now have the secret of the American "intelligence" mistakes re Iraq et al. Imagine in Feb/March 2002 a CIA operativein the White House: "Sir, I just overheard an Iraqi taxi driver who rolled down the window and asked someone about the weapons of mass destruction!", except later it transpires that the guy merely said in a thick Iraqi accent "We must ask for diretions" - and so it goes on. Similarly with sale of yellow Uranium Cake in Niger, which was clearly really an attempted sale of black market urinal cakes...

The thing about AhMADinejad is that some of what he says is really quite compelling. Of course, objectively speaking, Iran should be able to develop nuclear energy. I'd even go so far as to say that they should not be hampered in their development of nuclear weapons, if only because it seems so hypocritical to deny them. In the depths of the cold war, US and Russia had a MAD policy - Mutually assured destruction, which ensured that neither one would use a nuclear weapon on the other. It works for India and Pakistan today. I also seem to remember Reagan talking about the Soviets as an "evil empire" which just goes to show that the US President's speech writers haven't really got better over the past 25 years. If they could pursue this MAD policy with Russia, why shouldn't it work with Iran? Plus, Iran is surrounded by or very near to Pakistan (Nuclear), Israel (nuclear), India (nuclear), Iraq (occupied by US (nuclear) and UK (nuclear) and Turkey (bird flu). Alright, I'm not entirely sure how nuclear energy/weapons would innoculate Iranians from bird flu, but that threat is there, especially given how much chicken Iranians eat - being married to one, I should know...

Laughing in Court

The Guardian has a good piece about judicial humour this morning, with news that someone in the US has reviewed all recent proceedings in the Supreme Court to see which Judges provoked the most laughter. He noted down every time the Court reporter recorded "(laughter)" in the official transcript.

Scalia apparently has 77 instances of laughter (I wonder whether this happens when he "interprets" the Constitution...) and Thomas none...Judging by this number Thomas surely must be the most boring judge of all time. In my (admittedly limited) experience in Court, whenever a judge makes a joke or an obvious witticism everyone in the Court laughs, whether the joke is funny or not (usually not). The harder thing would be to list the times where advocates have made judges laugh. This is a rare occurrence since judges, in general, pride themselves on being stoic recipients and digesters of information and argument.

An example: last Friday I had a Court hearing which I had only been told about on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, two thick lever arch documents arrived on my desk and I had to prepare emergency evidence and a brief written argument. On Friday morning, I pretty much thought I was ready but still tried to get some agreement with the other side at the Court door. Completely rebuffed by the obviously prepared lawyer on the other side I figured I'd take my chances in the hearing. Then something happened which I hadn't really seen before. The judge entered (a very hard and pissed off female judge) and said (to my opponent) "I've read the papers and I'm going to find for [my client]". I didn't have to say a word!! The other side came up with some lame arguments but couldn't convince the Judge to change her mind. Then we argued about costs, which was when, my confidence a little too high, I got to my feet and made a very bad joke - there was a debate about whether a letter which I had drafted in January raised any new points from a previous letter in December (which I had not drafted). I got up and said something like "Your ladyship will have seen the letter in December which sets out pretty much the same thing as the letter in January - I accept that the January letter is clearer, but that's because I drafted that one and had nothing to do with the December letter..." - it was supposed to be a joke and it sounded funny in my head (with the Seinfeld bass guitar soundtrack...) but, of course, the whole Court went quiet and the Judge didn't react at all. So maybe won't try that again in a hurry... anyway I won so maybe it did register in some way.

View from Space

Have you guys discovered Google Earth- it is amazing and you can while away many hours looking for where you live. This is a screen grab of our apartment block in Hong Kong - the red arrow is where we are...

How to piss off an ally

The US bombed a village in Pakistan yesterday trying to kill a senior Al-Q member...err...all they managed to do was kill 18 Pakistani villagers.. I can just see George Bush doing a Homer Simpson "Doh!" in the Oval Office...

alternative wedding speech

those of you who were in NY for the wedding may know that I wanted to do a short slide show of pictures from Manu's childhood but that the hotel did not have the facilities to show it. So, without wasting the work done on the photos I am posting them here and I think they speak for themselves. I especially like the 'bumfluff' photo - bumfluff is that sort of mustache you get as an Indian boy at around 12-13 years before your dad lets you shave for the first time.

anyway here are the some of the photos...

Father Ralph's Web-Page

guys and girls, Father Ralph, the priest who married Manu and Christina gave me a load of cards with this web address to pass around on New Year's Eve being the page where he has posted some photos from the Church and from the reception. Of course, I forgot to hand them out, but I am posting it here in the hope that the word will spread (deliberate Bible pun). The photos are really good so please visit.

Tennis Season

The Australian Open starts today and there is this lovely article in the Observer about Roger Federer. I like the fact that the author talks about Ramesh Krishnan and touch players and I think that anyone who has ever played or watched the game will appreciate this comment about Roger:

"Even on his comparatively uninspired days, he is still an incomparable artist, usually in moments of crisis when he has to recharge himself. He has that rarest of gifts - the ability to produce a winner that is also beautiful to watch; and the capacity to enchant the crowd, even when the outcome seems a foregone conclusion, as in last year's Wimbledon final against Roddick, which he won so easily."

Federer has made tennis a great sport to watch again, after the boring power serves and shots of the past few years.

Back in HK

So, we are back in HK after a fantastic, hectic and emotional few days in NY where my brother Manu got married. Bachelor party on 27th, Sangeet on 29th, Indian wedding on 30th and (main event) the Catholic wedding on new year's eve. To say that it was tiring is an understatement. It was also an absolute blast. I can't remember when I laughed or enjoyed myself that much. The only person missing was my Dad, who would have been the life of the party had he been there. I have a feeling that he was watching with a bottle of Veuve...

We also spent a lovely Christmas with Shadi's folks in New Jersey so you can believe that I ate too much as well... Her mum's cooking is awesome and plentiful. There's nothing like a quick "you need to lose some weight....here have 10 plates of food" to remind you that you are at home...

as day follows night, so resolutions follow new year... what are mine? I haven't decided yet, but losing some pounds sure is going to be on the list. Trying not to drink for the month of January - 5 days so far!! - to give my liver some rest...otherwise, the usual platitudes of trying to slow down and enjoy life, write 10 pages a week of my novel and to form the best rock n' roll band in the world. Some resolutions are meant to be broken, no?

Here are a couple of pictures of the wedding and of the beautiful couple for you viewing pleasure