Strike - Day 84

CUPE 391 and the employer have reached a tentative agreement.

We vote tomorrow Friday October 19. If we vote yes then the library board has to vote, and then BACK TO WORK!

We would probably return to work on Monday with the library opening to the public on Wednesday. This would give us a few days to get organized (HA!).

CUPE 391 post: Meeting And Vote Tomorrow

Canadian Press: Vancouver library workers reach deal with city to go back to work

CBC: Library staff, City of Vancouver reach tentative deal

I'm hoping to see all our patrons again next week. Although some may not believe it, we have missed you.

Blog Action Day

Welcome. Today is Blog Action Day. A day for bloggers all over the world to post on a single subject - The environment.

Here is the YouTube video that clued me in.



First lets start with an important message from President Al Gore (Well he should have been president!)



Of course President Bush is also very concerned with global warming. Please take this video as proof that he has deep, deep concerns about the state of the earth.



"And what" - you may ask "is the Canadian government doing?"

Why everything in their power of course.



Of course the media can be counted on to cover global warming issues in a fair and unbiased manner. Neutrality is their middle name after all.

Rick Mercer - Canada's answer to Jon Stewart - Talks to Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion about (among other things) the Kyoto Protocol.



How long have you been aware of global warming issues? Well it's not a new issue. Here is an excerpt from the 1958 Frank Capra film The Unchained Goddess explaining the dangers ahead.



If you still have any doubts about the long term effects of global warming. let this video be a warning:



Ok, ok. I know that this is a serious topic. But I can't write well enough to teach you anything without putting you to sleep. So I thought I'd post a bunch of (hopefully) humorous stuff and let the other bloggers out there show you the good stuff. What other bloggers? Here is a list of all the Blog Action Day participants and another list of some suggested resources

P.S. At press time there are 15,568 blogs signed up to participate with a combined rss reach of 12,507,731!

Buddhas, Battles and Birds

Easily the biggest surprise of my trip is the revelation of how beautiful is Hong Kong. I am not referring to the dazzling illumination of the skyscrapers on either side of the harbour, or the stunning modern architecture. A few miles from the airport a bus carries up into the hills en route to a Buddhist shrine with an enormous seated Buddha statue over 100 feet tall. The scenery on the way rivals anything you see in the Pyrenees or the Alps, albeit on a smaller scale and much more verdant with subtropical vegetation. The road is even scarier than alpine hairpin benders, though the drivers are very cautious and considerate to other road users - you never feel in any danger.

The shrine itself reminds you how early Catholic missionaries thought that Buddhism was a corrupt form of Catholicism left over from earlier, forgotten missionary efforts. The burning of incense sticks in large pots looked eerily similar to the burning of candles at Lourdes and similar shrines. The explanatory text at the shrine described the importance of such statues as a visible witness to the Buddhist message - Buddhism is a religion of "image", which stirs memories of Protestant accusations of "idolatory" levelled at Catholics, and the Orthodox emphasis on icons and the need to keep the depictions of Christ, Mary and the saints unchanged down the centuries. At the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, a shrine to the Merciful Mother (surrounded by numerous supplicants) again aroused memories of the cult of Mary.

Now that I'm in Singapore you would think this highly populated little island had no space for wildlife or the plants that support all life on earth. But natural beauty is all around here. Even in the crowded Little India district, I was delighted to see a totally unfamiliar bird on top of a shopfront. In Fort Canning Park, a short walk from the mega-malls of Orchard Road where I am typing this email, you are surrounded by beautiful, unfamiliar trees, birds, birdsong, butterflies.... I probably won't have time to see the thousands of birds at Jurong Bird Park, the 250 acre Zoological gardens, the Botanical Gardens, the Orchid farm, the wetlands sanctuary.....

I have been round the Singapore Historical Museum on the north-east side of Fort Canning Park. The Museum is a wonderful example of redesigning and reinterpreting a traditional mueum's functions in telling past stories. Elaborate audio-visual displays and an excellent audio guide make for a fascinating visit. Fort Canning's very name reminds you of its recent military history. I have wanted to visit Singapore for over 35 years, since I read "The Battle for Singapore", which described Britain's "worst ever military defeat" in 1942. At least that's how it has been described countless times, though you could make the case that some WW1 battles or earlier strategic reverses, such as losing all British possessions in France, were even more catastrophic. Still, February 15th, 1942 was plenty bad enough and the "Battle Box" exhibition in Fort Canning Park describes that day in blow-by-blow detail. The "Battle Box" is the underground bunker where British generals directed the losing battles for Malaya and Singapore. It has been expertly restored with WW2 equipment, furnishings, sound effects and Tussaud-quality effigies of General Percival, General Bennett and several other key players in the debacle.

The weather is tropical, as you might expect, though the evening breezes make it pleasant and the early morning weather is walkable. But come midday to 2pm and you are reminded of Noel Coward's song:

"In the mangrove swamps
Where the python romps
There's peace from twelve to two.
Even Cariboos
Lie around and snooze.
For there's nothing else to do.
In Bengal
To move at all
Is seldom, if ever, done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun"

Hong Kong: Which way is Mecca?

I'm writing this in the cafe at the top of the Peak on the East side of HK. A tram climbs The Peak at an amazing angle. It is one of the many interesting forms of transport I've used in the last week. The holiday started with Qatar Airlines flying to Bangkok via Dohar. I had never flown with an Arab airline before, so had never enjoyed airline food prepared in accordance with Islamic principles, as the menu assured me. The screen at the front of the cabin were not just for safety announcements and in-flight movies (the little individual screen for each passenger showed you Superman 3). The big screen showed the plane's position, distance from destination and (most important) orientation relative to Mecca. For a large part of the flight the arrow was set roughly at the 1 o'clock position relative to the axis of the fuselage. But as we approached Doha, Mecca drops away to the South-West and the arrow swung round to roughly five o'clock. As we landed the announcements reminded us of the Ramadan fasting regulations. You knew we were not in Kansas now, as was observed in the Wizard of Oz.

We flew Emirate Airlines to Hong Kong, and they were not so emphatic on Islamic observance Emirates have huge expansion plans and are by far the biggest customer for the A380 super-Jumbo. But the menu still claimed that meals were prepared in accordance with Hallal guidelines.

Bangkok offers the joys of Skytrain travel; quick, smooth, air-conditioned and dodges the city's horrendous traffic jams. Also, unlike other cities' metro systems, you get a wonderful view of the city. The tuk-tuk tricycle taxis are noisy, nimble and great fun if you ignore the fact that they offer as much crash protection as a wet paper bag. But they are very cheap and turn in incredibly tight spaces. The river buses are ridiculously cheap (13 to 18 baht, around 20 to 27 British pence or 40 to 55 US cents) and offer easy access to many of the main tourist spots along the river. There are over 30 numbered landing stages (jump on and off quickly, as with London buses!!) and numerous "routes" link these stages in very confusing combinations indicated by the coloured flags they fly. At least it was confusing to me, not the locals.

Hong Kong has the best metro system I have seen anywhere; immaculately clean, frequent, reliable, with the simplest, clearest route information you could wish for. To take one example: a large panel on the wall of each carriage shows the whole metro network. The route your train is on is indicated by having each of the stations on that route illuminated by a steady light. The next station to which the train is heading is indicated by a flashing light and a green arrow indicates the train's position and travel direction. As if this were not enough, announcements of "next station" and other information are in Chinese and English. Of course, if you're French, German, Russian, Brasilian etc - Learn English Or Die!!

The Hong Kong people love their double decker buses; there seem to be more here than in London. Nathan Road, the main artery in Kowloon, is packed with convoys of them. And what magnificent beasts: triple-axle monsters, much bigger than the puny British twin-axle double deckers. You see why they need three axles; depending on the exact model they carry up to 143 passengers (104 seats, 39 standing). Of course, between their huge diesel engines and industrial-strength air-condiotioning, they throw out terrific heat, which makes summer time even hotter on local roads.

Feed Me - In Hong Kong

Neville Shute in his novel "A Town like Alice" commented that "It is amazing how little difficulty an unknown language makes between a willing buyer and a willing seller". Thank God this is universally true, as otherwise I would probably have starved to death by now. My hotel in Hong Kong, unlike that in Bangkok, does not offer breakfast so I had to go looking in nearby streets. Despite Hong Kong being saturated with eating places of just about every nation on earth, there are very few open early in the morning, even in the seething hotbed of free enterprise called Kowloon. This place makes Wall Street look socialist, but few seem to see a profit in catering for early feeders like me.

I found one less than 100 yards from the hotel, but no one spoke English and the menu was entirely in Chinese. I pointed at Option A and received a fried egg, a steaming bowl of noodles and ham and a cup of coffee. Service was very quick, the cafe was very clean and it cost $HK20 - around $US2.60 or 1.30 sterling. You could hardly complain about value for money and I suppose I could have continued the week by working down the alphabet, but was reluctant to carry on playing Lucky Dip or Russian Roulette with my meals. So the next day I headed downtown to the Island, where the huge mall (is there a small mall in HK?) overlooking the Harbour has numerous eating places. Was there one open? "Pret A Manger", the English sandwich bar with the pretentious French name, was supposed to open at 730, but in the best British traditions of customer service it was still shut at 810. The only one open was McDonalds. Yes, I've seen "Supersize Me", but this was no time to think of healthy eating. McDonalds lacked the view of Victoria Harbour enjoyed by other restaurants, but it employed people who could be trusted to open on time.

I went to 1115 Mass at St Pauls on the east side of the Island city centre. It is a traditional French Baroque building surrounded by the convent, school and hospital run by the dwindling band of nuns. Not easy to find, but well worthwhile. The architecture has been adapted to cope with HK's steaming climate; doors down both walls opened to allow cross-flow of air, assisted by several electric fans. It is much cheaper and almost as effective as air conditioning. An elderly parishioner corrected me when I expressed admiration for his lovely "church" ; it is strictly a chapel, an outpost of St Margaret's up the hill in Happy Valley. I looked for a Sunday lunch venue and noticed an Italian restaurant offering authentic Italian dishes at Central London prices, so I ended up at a Thai restaurant where I was fed for $HK55 - around $US6.60 or 3.30 stirling. In that same street, crowded end to end with Chinese signs, there was a sign in a doorway advertising the British Riding School. Plainly the lessons could not be held anywhere nearby if horse or rider valued their lives, but it was yet another incongruous reminder of Empire days.

After Mass I spoke to one of the elderly nuns who expressed gratitude for everything the British did to develop Hong Kong. A Christian might express reservations at some of the rampant materialism on all sides in the present HK, but British rule plainly had advantages over the joys of Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward, mass executions, mass starvation, Cultural Revolution, concentration camps etc. Of course many current HK residents were so fond of Chairman Mao that they risked everything to swim to the colony - a much more dangerous business than scaling the Berlin Wall.

So far I have seen the Astronomy Museum, the Performing Arts Centre, some of the most amazing modern architecture in the world and a tailor to order a bargain suit - another HK tradition. On the evening of 1st October there is a huge
fireworks display over the harbour for National Day; fireworks is a Chinese speciality, so I look forward to that.