An early Season’s Greetings to all.
Time flies and it’s almost time to sing “Rudolph the red nose rain deer…” again. Somehow, whether due to age, bad memory, or illusion, or all three – analytically these 3 items may have some correlation i.e. getting old, forgetting things, and remembering wrongly appear to come together, time does seem to have increased in speed. There’s proof. First, scientists have said due to some volcanic actions etc, the Earth’s N-S poles had a slight tilt of angles and a few seconds are now lost per year because of these. Second, Einstein said time itself can vary and even warp i.e. not constant. Anyway, time flying past fast may also mean one is happy as the popular Cantonese saying “fi lok but gee tze yat kuok” goes.
As a follow up to my second babble on WWII, your humble president had recently toured the Rhine in Germany and indeed there were a few WWII battlefield sites. Without going into the (boring to most) details, I have just attached a photo or two of a battlefield tour which I had joined while there. And instead of flying or driving, I visited the various places via joining a 7-day river cruise which started from Amsterdam and finished at Basal. Scenic sights along the way, and no need to switch hotels during the 7 days. The river cruise boat is essentially a barge which just happens to be fitted like a floating hotel (motel?) with nice decor and good food. A photo of the boat is attached too. It is also quite safe because the Rhine is shallow and the boat is not only flat bottom but is also taller than the depth of the Rhine. Just go to the top deck and you will be fine in case the boat sinks.
Out of curiosity, I had also asked Germans about the house prices – wie sind die Immobilienpreise hier? Generally, they are much lower than Hong Kong’s but you need to watch out to whom you rent your units because a troublesome tenant will have the pro-tenant laws on his side = you will lose money and gain a lot of headache. A photo of a few low rise condos is attached.
Have fun, and yes, by the way, I am told that there are still seats left for the December 14 Roof Top BBQ event which is a great opportunity to gather your “say dong” friends and classmates for fun and food. Contact danielyf@hku.hk to sign up.
Best Christmas wishes,
Stephen Chung
Your time-warped President
