Merry Christmas! Bah Humbug!

Woe to Hong Kong, Christmas is drear
Should SARS return with fear?
Economy is on the boom
For joy there is no room
For joy there is no room
Perhaps if SARS return, people would care
(sing to the tune of Joy to the World)

The Law of Christmas Decorations - The magnificence of Christmas decorations in Hong Kong is inversely proportional to the state of the economy. i.e. The better the economy, the more inferior the Christmas decorations. Decorations were ho-hum last year. This year, it's not worth the effort to view them.

During the SARs crisis, a number of people died, including 2 doctors. This affected the economy detrimentally so was there an effort made to cheer people up with bright Christmas decorations. Sadly, now that rhe economy is booming, businesses are too busy raking in the shekels to care about a traditional Christmas with carol singing and decorations

I went to the Telford Centre in Kowloon Bay to check out its decorations as they usually are amongst the best. This year they were pathetic with only a garland stretched across the aisle between opposite shops. To paraphrase "Light of Other Days"- Thomas Moore (1780-1852)
- I felt like one who treads alone, Some banquet hall deserted,
- Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but me departed!

Disappointed, I went to Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong where in past years, they were also amongst the best. Theirs were no better than those at Kowloon Bay. So it was off down to the Cultural Centre to see what they were offering. They had only one concert of Christmas Carols to be performed by the HK Baptist University Christian Choir on 18 December at 6.pm for the whole of Advent and absolutely nothing for Christmas Eve, unlike in past years!.

Next was to see what Central had to offer. Almost zilch at Statue Square where there is usually a feast for the eyes. All they had were 3 cherubs on a naked conical frame representing a Christmas tree. Where's last year's Santa House?

Last stop was the IFC (International Finance Centre) where last year they had an interesting display. IFC was better than what I had just seen, but their decorations were repetitions of deers around some goblets, unlike last year where they had a variegated colourful display.

IFC’s Christmas program had Christmas Carols at 5 pm every day, so I stayed to listen. They started 40 min late. I thought it was partly because they had trouble controlling the little infant class children who were running around like the particles in Brownian motion. I thought they were going to sing but were only an embellishment for the adult choir who had yet to arrive.

The choir by a global financial services firm, who shall remain nameless, finally arrived. I wanted to cat-call out to them “I hope you pay your accounts on time!”. Then the leader of the choir went into a long spiel thanking Uncle Tom Cobbley and all before the choir launched into a lack-lustre performance. I felt like shouting “Can you whistle through your nose, cause you can’t sing!” It seemed that they had partaken liberally of the festive cheer before coming which would explain their lateness. I left after the second caro(ousa)l in disgust

“Merry Christmas! Bah Humbug! “

The best part of the day was when I was stopped by a security guard outside IFC because I had trespassed onto their property which was contiguous with the footpath. I was going to give the guard an earful that if IFC didn’t want people to walk inadvertently on their property they should put up a chain link barrier as I thought IFC’s boundary was along the line of their flag poles.

However, the security guard was very polite and pleasant which took the wind out of my sails. I have a lot of respect and admiration for the Gurkhas who were excellent soldiers and are now security guards since HK was handed back to China by the British. I hope IFC give their Gurkha security guards a decent Christmas bonus.

"Tis the season to be Jolly"

http://picasaweb.google.com/ethhuang/Christmas07

So much for Advent and the celebration of the birth of a baby. Yesterday a 14-year old girl threw her newborn baby out of a high rise apartment. The human race does not seem to have much regard for the sanctity of life, either human or animal. It was very sad. Why couldn't she have put it up for adoption?

Surely we've passed the stage of Dotheboy's Hall and the days of the " Homies", when the residents of the Boy's Home in Onehunga were beaten up by their "caretaker". It was bad enough that the "Home" was a jungle for the survival of the fittest. I always felt sorry for them in primary school and only years later that I realised that they weren't all orphans.