tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82909734590841314132012-02-03T05:05:52.312Zobservations on life, the world and everything in betweendennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.comBlogger1401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-69025747243970899382012-01-31T12:36:00.000Z2012-01-31T12:36:38.535Z

There are many ‘rules’ governing the ‘correct’ use of English that seem unnecessarily fussy and serve no useful purpose. The prohibition on splitting infinitives is a good example. In fact, this so-called ‘rule’ was the invention of nineteenth-century pedants, and there are no good grounds for its continued survival, especially now that it has been effectively torpedoed by the statement of the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-82651545350316835812012-01-24T10:56:00.000Z2012-01-24T10:56:01.867Z

If you’ve been following the news, you will be aware that, according to the Chinese calendar, yesterday marked the start of the ‘year of the dragon’. If you’ve been following this blog, you will also be aware that I do not believe that the year you are born, however it is calculated, has any bearing on personality. At least the Chinese system is not easily falsifiable; it is merely irrational,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-61700802017421893352012-01-17T08:38:00.001Z2012-01-21T11:47:10.896Z

In his landmark essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell argued that people who misuse metaphors rarely have a mental image of the thing they are attempting to describe, because if they did have such an image, they wouldn’t misuse the metaphor in the first place. Although the essay is concerned primarily with the use of worn-out metaphors and turns of phrase, he did point out that

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-65181578583287511772012-01-12T00:36:00.001Z2012-01-12T01:50:56.827Z

Do you shout at the television set? I certainly do. Almost the only programmes I watch nowadays are the news bulletins, so you might guess that I’m upset about the bias being shown. The BBC is frequently accused of bias, but this isn’t what annoys me. Bias, if it exists, is easily seen through. My gorge rises in response to sloppy, imprecise use of language, which is all but ubiquitous in the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-82933146827440386872012-01-06T12:27:00.000Z2012-01-06T12:27:27.846Z

Whenever I make a mistake, I always try to work out why I made the mistake and how I can avoid making the same mistake in future. This is especially important with those activities that require a measure of physical and mental skill, such as driving. It’s the only road to improvement, because constant practice is pointless if you’re not aware of any errors being made (and most errors are trivial,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-13121061170622613252012-01-02T13:47:00.005Z2012-01-06T20:37:59.139Z

a special piece of thought from paula Cycling has become a part of life in the past seven or eight years for my husband and me as we have found so much joy and challenges, despite how many times we do the same route. As Dennis described our favourite route, going to Sham Chung in previous blog post, we enjoyed every trip to the place as we enjoyed both the food and the chat with Tom. This

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-40578752258026917012011-12-26T15:03:00.001Z2011-12-26T15:05:58.105Z

If Ricky Nelson was the man, and Creedence Clearwater Revival was the band, who was the light, and what were they all doing?Please note that only comments with the wrong answer will be published. However, the name of each reader who posts the correct answer will be published. This is to allow everyone who wants to try this puzzle the opportunity to do so.

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-55822248008100816532011-12-11T12:12:00.002Z2011-12-14T06:04:44.573Z

Going, going.... I’ve seen quite a few eclipses of the Moon over the years, but last night the sky was completely clear, and for the first I was able to watch one from the comfort of my own home with a bottle of red wine for company. Mind you, ‘comfort’ may not be the most appropriate word to use, because as Paula and I sat on our balcony watching the Earth’s shadow creep slowly across the lunar

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-46508470350478931642011-11-25T15:17:00.000Z2011-11-25T15:17:48.506Z

In the late 1970s, I attended an interview for a post with the BBC’s Far East and Latin American Service, during which I raised the question of bias in broadcast news reporting. “Surely you don’t think that BBC News is biased?” I was asked. This is a paraphrase of my reply: “The BBC World Service provides a nine-minute news bulletin every hour. If we exclude the time allocated to opening and

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-953316559681404862011-11-23T16:13:00.003Z2011-12-05T08:58:55.629Z

Although I’ve enjoyed a lot of the music produced by bands and singers whose careers began after 1970, my tastes in popular music were moulded during the 1960s. Consequently, I thought that it might be a worthwhile exercise to write a brief history of that music framed around a list of what I regard as the ten most significant records of that era. You will notice immediately that there are no

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-70651371568121938612011-11-02T04:31:00.001Z2011-11-02T13:11:08.497Z

Most [tourists] come to view the picturesque scenery, but a complaint I’ve heard often concerns the rain. But what do people expect? The Lake District is the wettest part of England, and the weather is a direct result of the mountainous terrain. In fact, for locals like myself, the Lake District is at its most beautiful in the rain…. Cumbria and the Lake District.Although it is only a short drive

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-59012141856947223602011-10-26T08:54:00.001+01:002011-10-26T13:58:29.390+01:00

These fragments I have shored against my ruins. T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land.Rise and Fall chronicles the melancholy recent history of Sham Chung, which was the most populous village in the Sai Kung peninsula in 1970 but now has a population that can be reckoned on the fingers of one person’s hands. Nature has almost totally reclaimed what was once the village’s ‘main street’, and because the main

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-82123606870143418912011-10-24T15:16:00.000+01:002011-10-24T15:16:33.107+01:00

Michael is a 16-year-old Form 5 student in Hong Kong. His parents, neither of whom is a graduate, have high expectations, but he is already disadvantaged by not studying in a school where English is used as the medium for instruction. The number of such schools was drastically reduced after the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997, mainly as a result of pressure from academics who maintained

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-32024032463469407872011-10-19T08:21:00.002+01:002011-10-19T08:35:04.685+01:00

For the past two years, Paula has run a series of workshops for newly qualified teachers on behalf of the extramural department of one of Hong Kong’s leading universities (see above). In the first of these, she starts by showing three short video clips of teachers in action and asks her students which of the three deserves an award for good teaching. Professor Lock is an eminent German

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-31282670887876946812011-10-17T05:05:00.001+01:002011-10-17T05:14:32.044+01:00

The rain had been relentless all week, but by Friday afternoon the sky had begun to clear, and by evening it looked like conditions would be okay for us to visit our friend Tom in Sham Chung the following day. Unfortunately, it rained again overnight, and the wet conditions meant that cycling there wasn’t a viable option. The alternative was to drive to Yung Shue Au and walk the last two miles

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-27039012498843149672011-10-12T13:56:00.000+01:002011-10-12T13:56:14.410+01:00

The horror! The horror! Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.It isn’t often that I comment on a contemporary news item, but I’ve just read this report on the BBC News website. I was so horrified that my immediate reaction was to post the link on a blog discussion forum in order to elicit comments from fellow bloggers. Among the comments posted was a link to an article describing a similar and equally

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-91585322267260852762011-10-10T04:15:00.002+01:002011-10-10T12:47:04.417+01:00

Just as a scientist who discovers a new species of plant or animal has the right to name that species, so it is the prerogative of the first rock climber to lead a new climb to name that climb. Kipling Groove, on Gimmer Crag in Great Langdale, was climbed for the first time in 1948 by Yorkshireman Arthur Dolphin and is one of only three climbs in the Lake District to be widely known by its

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-89397866388882249672011-10-03T14:44:00.002+01:002011-10-05T03:40:45.510+01:00

There are some interesting aspects to the recent ruling by the High Court in Hong Kong that a Filipina domestic helper who has lived in the territory since 1986 has the right to apply for permanent residency status. However, the most significant point to note is the hostility of many local politicians to the idea, which probably reflects the inherent racism of many local voters. When large

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-69800444436885255582011-09-30T09:56:00.002+01:002011-10-01T09:42:52.310+01:00

Home, home again. I like to be here when I can. Pink Floyd, Breathe.I arrived back in Hong Kong yesterday after one of the most tedious journeys from the UK that I’ve ever experienced. Because of typhoon activity in Hong Kong, I had to endure an enforced six-hour delay in Doha, resulting in my MP3 player running out of power several hours before the end of the journey. Of course, I could have

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-49380918751372208882011-09-16T19:32:00.001+01:002011-09-17T00:19:44.740+01:00

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Daniel 5:25 (Authorized Version).Writing on walls and other public surfaces has a long history, and a part of that history is commemorated in the well-known phrase that I’ve used as the title of this post. Belshazzar’s feast is probably the only recorded example of graffiti by supernatural agent, so it is disappointing to note

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-69685429131338437002011-09-10T13:08:00.003+01:002011-11-24T23:46:29.637Z

When I was a student in Manchester in the mid-1960s, I spent quite a lot of time combing second-hand shops on the lookout for old 45s. This period coincided with the so-called ‘beat boom’ in the UK, when many bands were issuing cover versions of old rhythm and blues songs. I was looking for the original versions, but I also came across many songs and many artists of whom I’d never heard. In these

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-31345612888172170692011-08-31T20:06:00.000+01:002011-08-31T20:06:00.525+01:00

Here’s an interesting experiment that you might like to try: ask someone to choose a random number between one and six. Ask them again. And again, six times in all. This is not a scientifically verified statement, but it is very likely that your subject will select six different numbers. Now, it is possible for a random selection to give precisely this result, but it isn’t likely. There are

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-8865240811167188862011-08-08T21:03:00.002+01:002011-08-26T14:57:16.853+01:00

You get but one chance to do something for the first time. This may sound like a statement of the blindingly obvious, but the point I’m trying to make is that if something is exciting to do, that excitement is not as intense the second time around, because you now know what to expect. My friend Barry is a professional driver, yet until Saturday he’d never driven over any of the Lake District’s

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-59380491204540608092011-07-31T14:21:00.000+01:002011-07-31T14:21:09.207+01:00

It was a very hot day, typical of early summer in Hong Kong. I was sitting in a small store by the roadside, enjoying a cold beer and feeling grateful for the shade provided by the awning above my head. I was paying attention to nothing in particular—it was that kind of day. Consequently, I didn’t see the roadsweeper when he first appeared. It was the old lady who owned the store who drew my

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-10025055971806582232011-07-22T17:52:00.003+01:002011-10-04T17:45:15.383+01:00

Human beings have always looked for explanations, at least in recorded history. However, we can only speculate whether the earliest humans offered themselves any kind of explanation for a range of observable natural phenomena—a rainbow, thunder and lightning, rain and snow, floods, the wind, tides, day and night, the waxing and waning of the moon, seasons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions—but by

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-23444854576923542992011-07-15T15:57:00.000+01:002011-07-15T15:57:46.621+01:00

In the decades prior to their defeat by the British on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, the French ran a thriving colony in Quebec (‘New France’). However, administration from the centre was extremely casual: money arrived irregularly from the home country, and the colonial authorities were forced to improvise. The model that they chose to emulate was that of Massachusetts, which in 1690 had

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-53558230482084063862011-07-11T08:46:00.006+01:002011-09-10T13:38:54.385+01:00

This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress, built by Nature for herself Against infection, and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, William Shakespeare,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-35365992793142701122011-07-04T21:48:00.001+01:002011-10-03T07:41:37.359+01:00

When I wrote The Colour of Money earlier this year, I neglected to provide any information on the origin of the word, mainly to avoid going off at a tangent. It is derived from the Latin word moneta, which was, in Roman times, a place where coins were struck. The English word ‘mint’ comes from the same source. But how did a Roman mint come to be called a moneta? The explanation begins with the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-86596758125789531832011-06-30T10:43:00.000+01:002011-06-30T10:43:14.269+01:00

It is often said that primitive societies do not have any words for large numbers; their counting systems go something like this: ‘one, two, three, many’. Such a list clearly implies that such a society would neither have encountered nor devised a system of money, because in a society with money few people would have been happy with knowing only that they possessed ‘a lot’ of it; they would have

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-83720048648125876112011-06-21T18:51:00.000+01:002011-06-21T18:51:43.974+01:00

It is very common that people make judgements without having the information needed to make such a judgement. Their apparently rational appraisals are in fact no more than prejudice. If you have a tendency to jump to conclusions, you may want to consider the following Chinese folk tale, which relates the story of an old man who resolutely refuses to accept anything at face value: This is the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-85376847868127165542011-06-14T23:39:00.004+01:002011-10-26T03:49:30.480+01:00

In 1900, the material condition of the human race was unquestionably better than it had been a century earlier. In a country like England two hundred years ago, the poor lived in conditions that were worse than those endured by all but the poorest in the world today. Smallpox, cholera and typhoid were rife. Judicial punishments were often unbelievably harsh. Violence was part of the everyday

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-11812509876320013172011-06-11T20:34:00.000+01:002011-06-11T20:34:50.896+01:00

The English language has a number of informal words for members of specific social groups that are almost never used by such members to describe themselves, largely because these words have negative connotations and are used by people outside the group to disparage the group as a whole and by association any individual member of that group. A typical example is the word ‘toff’ to denote a member

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-50531662403531146982011-06-06T23:21:00.000+01:002011-06-06T23:21:37.026+01:00

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is now. Chinese proverb.If you mention Fanling to someone who is familiar with the place, they are most likely to comment about the trees. There are rather a lot of them, and they make the town more attractive than it otherwise would be, given the often horrendous traffic. In fact, they are what make Fanling such a pleasant

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-53787219452821112262011-06-04T18:42:00.000+01:002011-06-04T18:42:47.613+01:00

I live in a village about a mile from the eastern edge of Fanling. Although I have frequently described the intervening area as ‘fields’, it would be more accurate to designate it a wasteland. Admittedly, it is a fertile wasteland, because it is part of the floodplain of the local river, but it is a disturbed landscape. Crops have been grown here sporadically, and still are, but the population

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-85038818580308780992011-06-01T19:51:00.000+01:002011-06-01T19:51:17.038+01:00

I rarely use Americanisms in speech or writing, but when it comes to naming the seasons, I’m bound to say that I regard the American version as more descriptive than the British. I therefore have no hesitation in stating that my favourite season in Hong Kong is the fall, the time of year when the leaves fall from the trees. There are few genuinely evergreen trees in Hong Kong, but most of the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-50479318164342375832011-05-27T19:00:00.000+01:002011-05-27T19:00:43.361+01:00

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you will not have failed to notice that it has not been updated in almost three months. For this I offer an abject apology. During this period, I’ve written at least a dozen posts, some long, some much shorter, but I’ve found it impossible to round any of them off satisfactorily. I found myself thinking about things I didn’t want to write about and

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-11439108884952276602011-02-28T14:17:00.002Z2011-03-01T06:11:00.393Z

Nobody likes to be thought a fool, although this may be in part because the word has developed increasingly negative connotations over the past four centuries. I suspect a religious influence. In the Middle Ages, ‘fool’ was another name for the court jester, who was the mediaeval equivalent of a professional comedian, a man whose job it was to make his employer laugh. In fact, there were two

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-31550323188700387932011-02-08T15:22:00.000Z2011-02-08T15:22:51.237Z

When I compiled some of my musical memories last month, I deliberately left out Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother, from the 1970 album of the same name, which has been my favourite music track since I first heard it in 1971 (having spent 1970 in the Australian outback, where the opportunities for keeping up to date with the contemporary music scene were severely limited). It was the longest

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-21206358637145401132011-01-28T11:00:00.001Z2011-01-28T13:33:18.976Z

One of the delights of digital photography is that you’re freed from the tyranny of having to decide whether something you see is worth using a frame of film, which means that you can take photographs of anything. I wonder how many people do. Take photos of anything, that is. For me, the only criterion is whether I like the image. It doesn’t have to be an intimate snapshot of friends or family;

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-4786348114398003592011-01-23T06:51:00.001Z2011-01-24T13:45:24.893Z

How much reliance do you place on promises? Do you, for example, expect them to be kept? Before you answer, you might want to consider the following: The Hongkong and Shanghai Corporation Limited promises to pay the bearer on demand at its office here ONE HUNDRED HONG KONG DOLLARS. Inscription on HK$100 banknote.This statement is meaningless. Assuming that the bank isn’t going to exchange your

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-86450300531873106432011-01-19T15:36:00.002Z2011-01-20T16:08:11.421Z

It’s traditional for Chinese families to get together on New Year’s Eve, which this year falls on the second of February, for a dinner, sometimes at home but more often in one of the many big restaurants around town. Needless to say, trying to book a table at this time of year is very difficult, which is why our family dinner will be tomorrow night. Hong Kong’s restaurants are a bellwether for

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-16222134765702606472011-01-17T07:39:00.002Z2011-09-16T11:58:32.698+01:00

The Midland Railway was in 1923 the only railway company running into London that didn’t have its head office in the capital, and before Britain’s railways were consolidated into just four companies in that year, it was the third largest in the country. It connected London with the cities of the East Midlands and Yorkshire, finally terminating in the small border city of Carlisle. Although it

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-74517366481498928742011-01-13T09:08:00.001Z2011-01-14T09:56:02.423Z

I was a student in a traditional wing chun school in the 1980s, although in this case ‘traditional’ referred to the mental discipline and not to the surroundings, which were merely an empty apartment in a rundown block a few minutes walk from Temple Street, a thoroughfare that has long been famous for its market but is no longer of real interest, except perhaps to tourists. Three times a week, I

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-16284994151109899972011-01-04T05:54:00.001Z2011-12-05T09:05:10.791Z

A few days ago, I was listening to my ‘general playlist’ when a song started that can only be described as ‘weird’. “What’s this?” Paula asked. I explained that it triggered a very specific memory, and I began to wonder how many other tracks on that playlist would also set off such detailed recollections. Here are some of the highlights, ordered according to the date of the original memory:

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-44164283847886298462010-12-31T09:36:00.000Z2010-12-31T09:36:13.312Z

Looking back, a few of my posts during the past year left loose ends, which I will now endeavour to tie up. You can click on the title if you want to refer back to the original post. a puzzle I used to compile word puzzles because the ones appearing in newspapers were too easy to be worth bothering with. Some of these were posted in the early days, when I had few visitors, and I had no idea what

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-24257736372588411612010-12-28T13:34:00.000Z2010-12-28T13:34:26.645Z

The habit may not be universal, but large numbers of Hong Kong Chinese have adopted Western Christian names. Not a particularly noteworthy phenomenon in itself, but the choice of names does throw up some points of interest. The practice also seems to have become widespread among young Indian professionals, if my experiences with Indian call centres are anything to go by. First, a surprising

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-52959548067223133652010-12-24T14:48:00.000Z2010-12-24T14:48:31.244Z

This post is for those of you who find yourself with nothing to do on Christmas Day (i.e. none of you) and have somehow found your way here. Please accept my sincere apologies. There’s nothing happening here either. However, I have been informed by the management that since we have guests, it is incument on me to provide some entertainment. As you already know, I’m interested in all aspects of

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-57604379002226936232010-12-20T13:58:00.000Z2010-12-20T13:58:55.924Z

I don’t listen to rap music, apart from the occasional track by Eminem, Run DMC or the Beastie Boys, so fans of the genre will probably say that I can have nothing worthwhile to contribute on the subject. However, I note that rhyming is seen as a vital part of rapping, and that a rapper will boast of his or her ability to create the most unexpected rhymes and will challenge fellow performers on

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-32526720950762281382010-12-17T14:29:00.000Z2010-12-17T14:29:40.539Z

I don’t hate Christmas, but I don’t hold any particular affection for it either: all that posing and pretending, all that false bonhomie. Fortunately, living where I do in a relatively remote part of the northern New Territories, I can ignore it—most of the time. The painful exception is when I have to do the daily shopping. Promptly on the first of December each year, all the malls and

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-41230198492484300152010-12-12T14:05:00.000Z2010-12-12T14:05:29.577Z

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet; William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2.When I was growing up in the 1950s, we used to visit my grandmother regularly in Newcastle. Towards the end of the decade, I became aware that ‘darkies’ had moved into the top of the street. I didn’t think much about this term at the time: it was the word that

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-2747678015148268122010-12-05T09:08:00.001Z2011-07-27T09:33:11.372+01:00

Lost time is never found again. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac.It is impossible to say when humans first became aware of the concept of time, but the remorseless cycle of day and night must have provided an early clue, especially because it links intimately to the natural rhythm of sleep and waking. At the same time, they couldn’t have failed to notice the waxing and waning of the moon

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-24422293713264438202010-11-30T14:13:00.000Z2010-11-30T14:13:24.399Z

Imagine that you are driving sedately along a narrow country lane with hedges on each side. It is so narrow that, should you meet someone coming the other way, it will be necessary for both cars to stop and find some manoeuvre that allows each car to continue on its journey. Now imagine that you round a bend in the road. As you emerge into a long, straight section, you see in the distance another

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-54364348838379660512010-11-22T12:44:00.001Z2010-11-22T13:50:21.021Z

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West.If I could point to one thing that I’ve learned after so many years of living among Chinese people, it is that if there’s more than one way to look at a situation or to perform a simple task, the Chinese invariably opt for the alternative to what I’d previously been used to. Take the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-18742594111542409992010-11-18T06:55:00.001Z2010-12-30T03:35:34.190Z

Yesterday was an interesting day. In the morning, I visited the wet market in Luen Wo Hui to buy meat and vegetables. The old lady whose vegetable stall I patronize speaks no English, but that isn’t a problem. I was in the process of asking for a catty (about 20 ounces) of pak choi when a young Chinese girl in some kind of uniform came up and offered to help. “Gei chin [how much]?” I asked the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-161692233840494192010-11-13T13:37:00.000Z2010-11-13T13:37:09.162Z

Unlike the English, who had no qualms about the wholesale importation, where required, of words from a host of other languages, when the Chinese don’t have a word for something, they often combine existing characters to form a new word: for example, in Cantonese, a train is foh che (‘fire carriage’), leaving the way open, when motor cars first appeared, for these new monsters of the road to be

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-24403308272497588292010-11-10T15:31:00.003Z2010-11-19T12:37:47.413Z

Signs are everywhere. We take them for granted, yet they are interesting objects in their own right. They are designed to convey a short message as directly as is possible, using graphics and/or words. Some don’t work very well, but we never think that they could be improved because we think we know what the message is. I’m not convinced. When looking for a public toilet, especially in a hotel,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-39189786989319073902010-11-07T15:43:00.000Z2010-11-07T15:43:48.336Z

The village of Sham Chung is located in the Sai Kung West Country Park, one of the wildest parts of Hong Kong. I first passed through it in 1974, and even then I was struck by some unusual features. For a start, it had two schools, and there was only ever one other school in the entire Sai Kung peninsula. The other oddity was the distribution of houses: in every other village in the area, the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-65899862473643947492010-11-04T05:18:00.002Z2010-11-04T09:48:35.293Z

What value do you place on an object? Do you value it according to how much you paid for it? Or do you value it for the pleasure it gives you during your ownership of it? These twin questions are the reason I’ve chosen to discuss a narrow strip of batik that Paula bought for HK$1 in Stanley Market long before it became a ‘must visit’ tourist venue and no longer became worth visiting (and long

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-28048573889355342422010-10-30T15:13:00.003+01:002010-10-31T03:22:26.106Z

Ask almost any European about the history of their continent, and they will at the very least be able to tell you about some of the past rivalries between countries. The one between England and France has been ongoing for centuries. However, ask those same Europeans about rivalries, past and present, in Asia, and you are likely to draw a blank. The more knowledgeable will cite the rivalry, which

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-28237656116612678012010-10-28T17:03:00.009+01:002011-10-26T00:38:03.305+01:00

How big are your vocabularies? No, that’s not a misprint. Each of us has at least two vocabularies: one of words that we actually use (disregarding, for now, the possibility that some of the words being used are not understood by their users), and one of words we don’t use but know the meaning of if someone else does use them. I leave aside the specialist vocabularies, more properly called jargon

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-16680859834196751702010-10-25T11:11:00.005+01:002010-10-27T07:37:10.120+01:00

If, like me, you grew up in postwar Britain, you probably had at least one formidably severe, intimidating maiden aunt by whom you were occasionally invited to tea. I had several, all great aunts and all incredibly ancient (from the perspective of a five-year-old). And only too ready to administer a sharp slap across the side of the head if you were foolish enough, cocky enough, to transgress any

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-63058639256449701902010-10-21T05:01:00.006+01:002010-11-12T07:10:20.512Z

English is a mongrel language. Around an original framework of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse has accumulated a vast, higgledy-piggledy superstructure of words and phrases appropriated at various times from French, Italian, Latin and Greek, liberally sprinkled with odd words from at least twenty other languages, many of which would have been seen as quite exotic when first used. For example, coffee

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-45346449641776217472010-10-16T16:38:00.002+01:002011-07-02T10:08:31.570+01:00

It is now more than thirteen years since the British relinquished control of Hong Kong, but it was always a Chinese city in any case, so nothing has really changed. British influence was superficial, although Hong Kong wouldn’t have such a high proportion of its population speaking English as a second language fluently had the British never come here. Perhaps surprisingly, however, beyond the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-87263691510486204752010-10-14T07:10:00.007+01:002011-09-26T22:52:50.044+01:00

I recently set myself the task of selecting just one photograph from the thousands that I've taken over the years that would sum up Hong Kong for someone who has never been here. And here it is (the explanation follows): The first thing you will notice is that there is nothing in this picture that tells the viewer it was taken in Hong Kong. This is deliberate. Although it has one of the finest

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-85831818529446633382010-10-14T07:09:00.000+01:002010-10-14T07:09:02.489+01:00

For the past few years, I’ve returned to my home town in the UK to escape the summer heat in Hong Kong. However, this summer has been different, and for a very simple reason: I started a blog last year. I got rid of my television after the 9/11 attacks and don’t miss it. News coverage on the BBC’s Radio 4 is superior to that on the corporation’s television channels, and the pictures are better

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-57975466917705820202010-06-06T14:24:00.002+01:002011-10-11T03:22:31.419+01:00

I must apologize for the dearth of new material on this site recently. While I've been in the UK, I've not been able to arrange a regular internet connection, which I thought I'd be able to work around, but I was wrong. I have therefore decided to concentrate on longer (but inevitably less frequent) posts for the remainder of the summer and will switch back to shorter but more frequent posts when

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-80339960987062175612010-05-17T12:50:00.000+01:002010-05-17T12:50:27.256+01:00

Like many other British teenagers, I had my first driving lesson shortly after my seventeenth birthday. And, in 1963, there were few if any professional driving instructors around, so my father assumed the role of teacher, a role for which he showed little aptitude. Having learned to drive himself during the Second World War, he deemed it necessary for me to double declutch before changing to a

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-29575149230019925382010-05-15T12:32:00.001+01:002011-10-10T02:07:25.634+01:00

I have only one real talent. I believe that I’m reasonably good at a few things: I can cook well, although I don’t have a large repertoire; I can write clearly and understand what I’m writing; I take driving very seriously (and you need to in Hong Kong), although I do drive fast when the opportunity arises; and I used to be quite a good rock climber (more of that later). But I have but one talent

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-15348367565082713812010-05-07T17:20:00.001+01:002010-05-07T17:20:00.896+01:00

The Beijing Motor Show was being held while my wife and I were in Beijing. Of course, we didn’t attend, but I did come across an interesting news item on the subject. Apparently, the top-of-the-range models from Mercedes, Audi and BMW are made six inches longer for the China market than for all other markets. What use is made of this extra length? It turns out that it all goes to providing extra

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-77939667268577359122010-05-07T12:21:00.000+01:002010-05-07T12:21:20.232+01:00

When you approach the Great Wall of China at Badaling, near Beijing, you cannot fail to notice a number of very large plaques set into a retaining wall. One informs the visitor that the Great Wall is a UNESCO world heritage site, while another proclaims this spectacular piece of peripatetic architecture to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Few people can name all seven of the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-1377649613026838332010-05-01T17:14:00.003+01:002011-10-16T11:41:56.862+01:00

I am about to travel to my home town in England, where I will spend the summer. I shall continue to post regularly, although there is likely to be some change of emphasis and subject matter. In particular, look out for Comparative Advantage, an assessment of potential rivalry between India and China, and On Democracy, the subject of which should be obvious; both have been started and when

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-13016435287423812012010-04-30T17:23:00.002+01:002010-05-02T05:53:22.564+01:00

When I was young, I can remember my local park featuring several small signs bearing the legend “keep off the grass”, but when I went to a big city for the first time I found that open expanses of grass were somewhere to sit and bask in the sun, on the rare occasions when that busy old fool bothered to put in a reluctant appearance. In Beijing, things are rather different. In the small park that

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-1579209453428686042010-04-29T17:15:00.001+01:002010-04-29T17:15:00.367+01:00

On one level, I hate to be provided with incomplete information, but on another I view it as a challenge to come up with the missing data. An example will explain what I mean: a few years ago, I read that seven metals were known in antiquity, but the author neglected to enumerate what these metals were. Consequently, I set about working out the list for myself (using the internet is too easy and

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-43856536574668410322010-04-29T10:37:00.001+01:002010-04-30T17:26:14.648+01:00

As someone from a semi-rural background, I’m a big fan of urban parks. Some, like Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York, have an international reputation, but the really interesting ones are those that are unknown outside their immediate neighbourhood and are there simply as an amenity for the local population. We came across one such local park on our recent trip to Beijing, directly

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-43786641070737212002010-04-28T12:22:00.003+01:002011-09-16T12:04:05.771+01:00

Before I visit a place for the first time, I usually construct a mental map. This isn’t a conscious process, merely the synthesis of a series of impressions gained from books, magazines, newspapers, television—the usual sources—and information picked up as a result of visits to other places that I have deemed to be similar. I don’t know why I bother, because I’m invariably wrong. When I came to

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-82850161711452526562010-04-27T16:11:00.002+01:002010-04-30T17:26:14.649+01:00

This is not a discussion about collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps or other larcenous forms of financial legerdemain. In fact, ‘northern capital’ is the literal translation of Beijing, where my wife and I have spent the last five days, just as ‘southern capital’ is the literal translation of Nanjing, the Chinese capital during several important periods in Chinese history, most

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-44782402167502822592010-04-19T04:55:00.002+01:002011-10-02T12:12:47.998+01:00

I acquired almost all my knowledge of English grammar between 1956 and 1960. The first of these years was also my final year at junior school, and as learning environments go it was exceptionally brutal. My teacher was an old battleaxe called Miss Lewis who routinely caned boys in front of the rest of the class for what I only later deduced was the ‘crime’ of not being very smart (stupidity was

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-49439927343993773572010-04-16T12:24:00.000+01:002010-04-16T12:24:12.098+01:00

In the modern world, we tend to take technology for granted and are never aware of its social impact unless we have experience of the world before a new invention becomes widely used. This has been the case since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the development of the steam engine, which accelerated the trend away from the countryside into new industrial towns and cities and fuelled

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-9916254424749128692010-04-12T12:39:00.001+01:002010-05-12T18:48:39.176+01:00

If you were to ask the average elector in a modern liberal democracy to define the term ‘democracy’, it’s a fairly safe bet that you’d hear something along the lines of ‘one man, one vote’. Clearly, this commonly used phrase must date back to an era when women were denied a vote, but in the interests of accuracy I’m not going to modify it merely to pander to the dictates of so-called political

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-80961105257213402962010-04-08T14:17:00.001+01:002010-04-10T18:37:51.052+01:00

When I was growing up in the 1950s, the most difficult job that one could imagine was that of a brain surgeon. This gave rise to a popular expression of incredulity directed at someone’s inability to understand a relatively mundane concept: “It’s not brain surgery!” However, sometime during the 1970s, probably in response to what would have been seen as the marvel of space exploration, brain

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-38435377390272195902010-04-07T10:39:00.001+01:002010-04-29T15:54:17.073+01:00

People will believe anything, if the climate for propagation of that belief is favourable. For example, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which first appeared in Russia in 1903 and purports to outline a Jewish plan for world domination, is actually a hodge-podge of earlier political satire that was regurgitated by antisemitic groups in imperial Russia to justify pogroms against the Jews. The

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-74600760940034209472010-04-05T14:28:00.001+01:002010-04-05T14:30:30.045+01:00

When we say that something will probably happen, we may not be aware that this is a vague statement lacking in mathematical precision. In other words, how probable is ‘probable’? Clearly, the minimum standard required for this adjective to be applicable is that an event be more likely to happen than not to happen, and this may be the criterion that most people instinctively use, but a good case

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-31580647886635258172010-03-30T15:15:00.001+01:002010-04-09T23:55:24.409+01:00

It is said that we live in the information age. Unfortunately, we’re not vouchsafed any guarantees as to the veracity or accuracy of the information on offer. And, paraphrasing C. Northcote Parkinson, to make matters worse, information increases in volume to fill the means available for its transmission. It has always been so. All forms of primitive communication over distance, from the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-30653811025858906732010-03-27T16:05:00.005Z2010-03-28T12:46:36.549+01:00

People are strange. To illustrate my point, I’d like to describe a phenomenon that I first noticed about ten years ago in a small shopping mall adjoining Tsuen Wan station. The Luk Yiu Galleria is like any other out-of-town shopping precinct. No fancy atrium, no escalators spanning more empty space than you want to think too closely about, no glass-walled elevators. In short, no flash. Just two

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-40085178234722108092010-03-26T16:10:00.002Z2010-04-10T18:41:54.248+01:00

During my recent illness, my wife has steadfastly refused to allow me to drink coffee. “Coffee makes you cough,” she says, citing some arcane point of Chinese medicine. “In that case,” I suggest, “eating toffee should make me tough.” My wife laughs, but the result remains the same. No coffee.

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-73210295010315067542010-03-26T01:24:00.004Z2011-06-01T13:33:01.322+01:00

I bought an MP3 player a couple of years ago, because I listen to music all the time at home, and I thought it would be a good idea to be able to listen to music while on the move. I hardly ever use it. For obvious reasons, I wouldn’t consider using it while cycling, but even when I’m merely out walking I’d rather listen to the birds. In fact, I’ve heard it argued, plausibly, that birdsong was

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-90460551073048631242010-03-24T09:42:00.000Z2010-03-24T09:42:23.131Z

The English language contains a lot of words and phrases that include the name of an animal and are, as such, intended as metaphors for specific types of human behaviour. Most of these hinge on a key aspect of the perceived character of the animal in question. Thus, to fox is to outwit through guile or cunning and clearly derives from the long-held belief, reinforced in children’s literature,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-74418242927301859052010-03-21T14:49:00.000Z2010-03-24T12:59:02.361Z

One of the things I like most about Hong Kong, especially in springtime, is the sheer number of ornamental trees. Blue jacarandas (a native of South America) and royal poincianas (a native of Madagascar and frequently described as ‘flame trees’—you will understand why if you see one in full bloom) are quite common, but both of these flower in late spring. However, there is one native species that

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-2957890356312432622010-03-19T11:39:00.004Z2010-10-22T03:43:10.252+01:00

One of the more interesting minor news items of the past few days—so interesting that I felt it necessary to ignore my own illness in order to comment—concerns a French TV documentary, Game of Death, which was aired recently on a major terrestrial channel in France. The program used eighty participants, each of whom thought they were taking part in a pilot for a new game show. It was filmed in

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-3418461818560220942010-03-18T12:18:00.002Z2010-03-21T10:24:25.602Z

I think I was being much too optimistic in my last post. After two weeks, I feel worse than I did when I first fell ill. I don't normally seek medical advice for something as trivial as an upper respiratory tract infection, but the worst symptom has been generalized muscle weakness/tiredness and a total inability to concentrate on anything, so I'll be paying a visit to my local doctor tomorrow.

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-51633001221920853852010-03-15T14:37:00.000Z2010-03-15T14:37:26.080Z

Regular visitors to this site will have noted that not many posts have been made this month. There is an explanation: I've been ill for almost two weeks and have been unable to focus on writing. I've not yet fully recovered, but I'm optimistic that normal service will be resumed quite soon. Thank you all for your patience. The following post will probably be expanded once I'm feeling better. I

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-20148345100755196692010-03-11T15:06:00.002Z2010-03-11T16:21:19.708Z

The history of kung fu is littered with stories, probably apocryphal but with some credibility, of old masters, on their deathbeds, lamenting that they hadn’t passed on all they knew to at least one of their disciples. Not all teachers were like that of course: I studied wing chun for five years in the 1980s with a teacher who said he would consider himself a failure if he didn’t have at least

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-24798866620074627712010-03-05T09:37:00.002Z2011-10-30T02:01:34.737Z

Depressed? Feeling run down? Life is crap, right? Fate threw you a raw deal? I feel like that sometimes, but then I remember: I don’t live in a war zone. Those who do rarely have any other choice. I’ve never had the experience of going without food for days and still not know when I will eat again. I don’t live in a country where the chance of being blown up by a suicide bomber is a

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-8643280807424860802010-03-03T15:16:00.002Z2010-03-03T15:29:51.981Z

An old Chinese story tells of a wise and virtuous man who was granted a wish before dying: that he be able to visit both heaven and hell and judge for himself the difference between the two places. When he arrived in heaven, he found it to be a massive banqueting hall with long rows of narrow tables that were laden with dishes and pots of the most mouth-watering delicacies that could possibly be

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-9412697416638954762010-03-01T13:56:00.002Z2011-06-07T16:15:57.909+01:00

To use a biological analogy, there are four species of cyclist in Hong Kong. By far the most numerous in the northern New Territories are regular cyclists, the people for whom a bike is the principal mode of transport, at least over short distances. They are very common around Fanling, partly because there is an extensive network of dedicated cycle tracks here, although not all sections are

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-2912442881038358542010-02-26T08:51:00.001Z2010-03-02T01:37:54.503Z

Even though the date of Chinese New Year wanders up and down the Gregorian calendar over a range of about four weeks, it always seems to be cold in Hong Kong over the new year period, and this year has been no exception. However, instead of the usual two or three days of cold weather, this year it was cold and miserable throughout the first week, threatening to dampen any enthusiasm for the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-90261594082174280162010-02-19T12:15:00.000Z2010-02-27T13:07:13.123Z

You can probably guess, based on my previous post, that I like fireworks, but this wasn’t always the case. My earliest memory of this kind of thing was as a four-year-old on Bonfire Night (5th November) in 1950. My father had bought a box of fireworks, but I was too scared to go into the garden to see them being set off at close range and merely watched through the living room window. However,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-3220962426070827202010-02-16T04:59:00.001Z2010-02-16T06:51:55.247Z

I often say that the best time to be in Hong Kong is Chinese New Year—if you’re a resident. If you’re a visitor, it’s the worst time—everywhere (apart from the big hotels) is closed. The Hong Kong Tourist Board did initiate a New Year’s Day parade through the main entertainment district in Kowloon a few years ago, but this is Chinese New Year for tourists, and we don’t bother to attend. However,

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-39919611650278329432010-02-14T16:01:00.000Z2010-03-02T01:37:54.504Z

Firecrackers had been going off sporadically all morning, and the local lion-dance troupe, which is always kept very busy on the first day of the new year, is running behind schedule. It is due to arrive at midday, but it is past 1pm before their truck finally pulls up outside the village. The first order of business is for the lion to pay its respects at the village shrine, accompanied by the

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8290973459084131413.post-41904213170074182302010-02-13T16:06:00.001Z2010-02-14T03:17:37.875Z

Since the time of Emperor Wu Ti of the Han Dynasty (141–87 BC), acknowledged as one of the greatest of Chinese emperors, the Chinese New Year has fallen on the second new moon following the winter solstice, which means that in 2010 it will be on 14th February. And the usual signs of its impending arrival have been gathering for the past fortnight, starting with a gradual increase in the price of

dennis hodgsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.com1