Ordinary Gweilo

It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writing (mainly) about Hong Kong

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Month: Oct 2004

  • Weaselwatch: Don’t buy a Treo!

    Why is that so many gadgets are just too damn clever for their own good? I have a Treo 270. If it worked properly it would be a good smartphone (phone + PDA). If it worked properly, which sadly it does not. Charging its battery ought to be as simple as plugging in the power…

  • Dumb and dumber

    When footballers tell you how clever they have been, you just know it’s going to end in tears. Thus, when David Beckham’s response to criticism of his booking towards the end of the England vs. Wales international was to say: "I’m sure some people think that I have not got the brains to be that…

  • Old names, new names

    As a rule, I try to avoid mentioning so-called news stories that are actually just press releases, but this one struck a bit of a chord with me. I suppose it’s fairly obvious that names go in and out of fashion, but when a friend of mine pointed out several years ago that you could…

  • Running to keep up

    If you’re looking for comedy on the two local English language TV channels, you have to be fairly resourceful. With Friends having ended, I believe the only comedy show in prime time is “Living for Lydia”, which is produced in Singapore and stars Hong Kong’s very own Lydia Shum (“Fei Fei”). I’m sure it’s rib-ticklingly…

  • Helping the economy

    Simon recently highlighted an interesting report about Domestic Helpers in the Standard, trying to calculate their value to the local economy. The Asian Migrant Centre have attempted to calculate the economic benefits to Hong Kong of having a large number of foreign domestic helpers. They have arrived at a figure of HK$13bn (which sounds a…

  • Spam

    I’ve recently received a lot of very helpful emails. I have lost count of the number of emails I have received telling me that my SunTrust account is suspended. I don’t even know what a SunTrust account is! Dear SunTrust client, We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your Suntrust account may have been…

  • Mr Dumb or Mr Haughty?

    I watched part of the first Presidential debate on Friday morning. No surprises, really – Kerry is the better debater, whereas Bush has that folksy thing that you either love or hate. I doubt that it changed anyone’s mind about Bush, whereas Kerry probably convinced a few undecided voters that he would make a decent…

  • Minor Gaffe

    I have to confess that my Cantonese is still not good enough to really understand the news on TV. Worse than that, my simultaneous translation service is sometimes quite unreliable. So I sometimes find myself trying to imagine what might be happening. I recently watched the story about the old blokes who were organizing cricket…

  • Another waste of time!

    The BBC’s virtual reality coverage of Premiership goals is a great way of wasting some time. As well as seeing the goals from all the normal camera angles, you pick any player and either see the goal from their view or observe them from close up. Very clever stuff.

  • How things work – tax

    I have to confess that I have never taken the trouble to really understand the intricacies of the tax system, either here or in the UK. I understand the basics, and if things ever get complex then I employ an accountant to offer advice and fight things out with the authorities. It so happens that…