MIDDLEBURGH

MIDDLEBURGH NOT NY

Travelling is such a hassle and it's just got worse....What's the maximum number of devices you NEED on a trip ?? (emphasis on NEED not WANT!!) Computer, tablet and/or smart phone ? Perhaps only the smartphone...(there was a time when travelers just took a camera with them.. not even a phone let alone a computer.. oh happy days).

Mustn't forget the plug/adaptor and charger...or two, You never know if your partner will misplace one (I speak from experience) and God forbid your device is not charged, working and on the grid..... I mean ..how would the "man" track you !!....

And is your phone camera resolution good enough or should you take a real camera capable of high resolution closeups for wild life shots or document copying? and what about spare (charged) batteries??

Should you take a radio , an ipod for eBooks/music and/or a real physical book ??... A multi-band SW/AM Radio...definitely .. even if you have devices that will connect to internet you can guarantee that it will either be prohibitively expensive,ridiculously slow, censored/restricted and/or usage monitored and the TV in your hotel room will be just as bad...it might only have CNN as the token English channel. I always find that listening to Zimbabwean radio for news about Bona and Knuckles helps me sleep in strange rooms.

Now in my case I need glasses, not Google glasses but real ones - to help me read menu's and books. Now if push come to shove you can always read a good book whilst your devices are charging up and you are waiting for the next plane out or if necessary you can use as a basis for a book cipher to encrypt your shopping list.

Passport ... backlog of 500K ?? not going to go there....(mine arrived on time)

The key is to focus on essentials ... just take your swimwear, googles, inflatable ball, sunblock and insect repellant - and have fun by the pool !!! (and you thought this was going to be profound and insightful ??? )

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH

Posted at 7/10/2014 10:35:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh - Bliss

"Blissful" is how my 5 year old son might have described yesterday. The previous evening we reviewed options for the weekend and concluded that pizza would be a mandatory component. I suggested we spent the morning in Stanley and had lunch at Pizza Express in Main Street. Thus negotiated, the day actually went as follows.

Breakfast with a Giraffe

We bussed to Aberdeen for breakfast. Jamie had refused to believe me when I had told him that earlier in the week I had lunch with a giraffe. (on one hand I am hurt that he doesn't believe his father , on the other, proud that he doesn't accept things he is told blindly) So we go to the ThaiOne Restaurant for a Thai breakfast. True, .... it's not a real giraffe ,... it's not even a whole giraffe ,only a neck and head ....and its plastic, but lets face it .you don't often see bits of a giraffe in a restaurant, not even on the menu, let alone in a Thai Restaurant (after all giraffes come from Africa and the last time I looked Thailand was in Asia)

For those who are interested in what a Thai breakfast looks like, it just like standard Hong Kong Western Style breakfast (Toast,Ham, egg, baked beans plus choice of Fish, steak or chicken fillet or bowl of noodles) ..with a beef satay stick

The Minibus

Breakfast under our belts (wishful thinking in my case) we went in search of the bus to Stanley. 2 "big"buses sailed past threatening a 30 minute wait in the blistering sun. Fortuitously a minibus appeared and we were the first to board . Did it worry us that the driver and dispatcher were anxiously poking at one of the tires (no ..we simply put it down to routine maintenance).. It's always an exciting journey to Stanley. The route is very scenic passing the beaches at Deep Water Bay, Repulse Bay, Middle Bay, and the luxury condos (above my pay grade) so favored by other expats. On "big" buses it's thrilling to sit up front on top deck with your rosary . Here you can savior the swaying from side to side which brings you perilously close to the rocks and the sea The overhanging branches thrash the sides as you listen for bangs which might indicate a collision with passing minibus

In a minibus the experience is totally different.. The swaying is a function of the drivers control over his vehicle or lack thereof and the speed at which he enters and exists bend emulating racing driver. Any bangs or strange noises are normally due to things dropping off minibus .. rarely collisions with "big" buses, It's like being in one of rides at Ocean Park .... really enjoyable if you are five years old

The ADASTRA

Now the thing about Deep Water and Repulse bays apart from the beach are the luxury yachts .. give the place a very Mediterranean feel. This week however we were fortunate to spy the Adastra which was built locally for Anto and Elaine Marden by John Shuttleworth. This spectacular super trimaran looks like something out of the 23 century and is nothing like anything I have seen before. It is just the sort of thing to wow rich kids (and 5 year olds - in fact anyone with a sense of imagination !!) : When we got home we had some serious role playing with an inverted toy jet figher upside down and sliding around and the floor (aka the sea) - it really did look more like the trimaran!!

Stanley Plaza

They hadn't finshed refurbishing this the last time we were here (2 years ago)- It's really cool . It even has a specialist US grocery shop to cater for locals (a civilian PX??) - We took the escalator down and Jamie promptly discovered and explored the kiddies play area (well lets face it .. he made it his own .. even if he had to share it with some other kids) It was all too hot for me so I went to visit the local temple and admire the tiger skin which belonged to the last tiger in HK (until shot by an Indian Policeman outside Stanley police station). We then sauntered down the prom to Pan beach where Jamie played in the sand and dodged the surf for a short while.Last time we were here there were Dragon Boat races to watch and Korean girls desirous of having their photograph taken with him. No such luck this time ... but his time will come again I am sure.

The Market

Heavy rain blew in from the sea just as we left the beach, so we ducked in the back entrance to Stanley market. (normally we leave market for tourists) On this occasion Jamie was privileged to get a new silk traditional Chinese outfit for Autumn Festival (apparently he has grown out of his current one and it was a lot cheaper than waiting to buy one later in town) He also got a traditional chinese fan suitable for poking peoples eyes out (are we indulgent parents or what !!) By the time we escaped the market the rain had stopped

Classified

We actually skipped Pizza Express going instead to our old favorite "Classified" for pizza (I had checked the visitor rating for Pizza Express in Tripadvisor before we left home !! ) We had an English Pizza ...well why not!!.... half of which we brought back in a doggie box (which I had for breakfast this morning) We therefore met our primary mission objective although I have to say Jamie wasn't that enthusiastic about pizza preferring thick crust over thin..... .still ......pizza is pizza.... and Classified has an extensive selection of cheeses which we inspected.(Named by Time magazine as one of the Top 5 Restaurants for Cheese Lovers)

FYI: The night before we had read "the treasure of Captain Claw "which features an environmentally conscious couple addicted to Triple-fudge sundaes who bury some stinky cheese on an island with te intention of returning to retrieve it in order to properly dispose of it rather than litter the environment. Admirable!! A wonderful learning lesson which can be expanded to cover the biology and chemistry of cheese making, food spoilage etc (not to mention discussions of socioeconomic and cultural implications of cheese and dairy products to Western Civilization and implications for NSA monitoring of American eating habits.

Labels: Giraffe, MIDDLEBURGH, Pizza, Stanley, Thai

Posted at 7/28/2013 11:42:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh Mobilises 1

The last few weekends have been good - No stress... I even had time to play with my smartphone,.do some cooking , some gardening and even get a cake for Mother's Day which Jamie and I both enjoyed !!

So here's the thing... my android phone came stuffed with all standard preloaded APPS you would expect, most of which I will shortly remove on the general principle that unnecessary software represents a potential security risk..

To me a phone is primarily a "phone" which means I value standard phone functions such as the ability to make calls, manage contacts (white lists), block marketeers (blacklists) etc , And although I see merit in receiving and sending emails, texts and instant messages in reality 99% of my inbound emails are work related or spam neither of which I want on my phone (in fact I would rather not have them on my PC in the office ) and the only people who message me are family who send SMS's because they live in different time zones. Having said that I do use the calendar, and task management functions , the camera, radio and voice recorder and the browser to read the news

So the question arose "What else could/should I be doing with my phone that would be would be of value to me??" (Ultimately a lifestyle question !).

• I consulted my colleagues at to what apps etc they use.
  
• I looked at the popularity of Android, Apple and windows Apps (particularly free ones) and
  
• I even peeked over strangers shoulder's on the bus to see what they are doing on their phones.
  

With the exception of the 2 bus drivers who between rides were checking out pictures of naked women selling recreational services most people were simply killing time (as one does when trapped on a bus) by playing games, watching videos/catchup TV, listening to music or messaging friends. I even saw a couple of people reading comics (anime), and a girl scrolling through fashion pictures presumably planning her next retail therapy session .

But the only user that I empathised with was someone at a bus stop apparently checking out when the next bus was due and I concluded that the only apps or webpages that would be of value to me would be ones which could answer questions related to where I was or was going and what I was doing or about to do. With that in mind I have decided to find and build a list such webpages and apps which might of use to me, and possibly other HK residents and visitors. And so a quest begins .... more to follow....

Labels: Gardening, Hong Kong, MIDDLEBURGH, Smartphones

Posted at 6/01/2013 09:04:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH RETIRES KIM JONG-UN

I hope he doesn't take this personally but I have decide to replace this blog's background image of Kim, who was pointing approvingly to my posts. He served me well and I appreciated his endorsement but his time is past.

In truth I am not sure whether or not I am a little bit disappointed with him. I can't make up my mind whether he is all mouth and no trousers and simply wimped out on celebrating the 101st anniversary of this grandfather's birthday by not test firing either a ballistic or short-range rocket (ie he didn't get it up) or whether he is an astute and savvy bugger following in the steps of Winston Churchill by practicing "Jaw Jaw" not "War War" . We shall see....

So there I was casting arround for an alternative and topical background. I followed up a news clip about Alice Eve transforming into a buxom blonde in a sexy black frock for the Startrek premier after party in London last week. My wife however exercised editorial control and vetoed using that and also the two alternatives I suggested, specifically a Chinese Girl with a cleavage and the adjacent Black Hoody which I thought was quite tasteful

Instead she suggested that I find another public figure whose stature was on par with that of KIM. Someone worthy to replace him. It was a no brainer really.

I did briefly consider Nigel Farage since he is a man of the moment but this is a serious blog and I really didn't want to devalue it by associating it with a moppet.(absurd idea!!) In fact I have a hard time conceiving why British voters would choose to vote for him or his party. It's as unfathomable as why US voters would chose Mitt the Git for President. (Mind you I do concede that the current troika of Dave, Nick and Ed leaves a lot to be desired)

Now I do understand that some will feel that I am being unfairly dismissive of Nigel, even that I am out of touch with the electorate etc so to show that I had given due consideration to him, I prepared a couple of video's (Big Nigel and Little Nigel by way of an "Homage"

FYI , every time I type Nigel the "type ahead" function in my browser auto corrects to Miguel.... Does it know something about Miguel the rest of of us should know about ?? )

Labels: Kim Jong-un, MIDDLEBURGH, nigel farage, UKIP

Posted at 5/05/2013 02:59:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH ENJOYS CNY 2013

I think #1 son's Julia is a treasure:She remembers to send geetings for Father's Day, Christmas, even Chinese New Year .... so this is for her.

Chinese New year is, like Christmas and Hannukah, a time for family. This year it started with #3 son's class party on Friday. I don't think he is a party animal yet.(I was also shy as a kid ...it passes) So I end up sitting on the floor in the corner quietly reading, albeit dramatically, a book to him .(Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth) As I finish I get a tap on the shoulder and this another kid insists that I read it again. "No" is simply not in his lexicon. So I start over and within seconds find myself surrounded with an audience of about 8 children all enthusiastically participating in the refrain "Shoo Fly!, Shoo Fly! Shoo! " and behind them a circle of really hot Chinese Mammas looking on approvingly. Now that's a buzz!!!

Anyway I took photos; posted them online and identified them as ships made in China belonging to the Thai Navy, It then occurred to me that perhaps they were back because of a product recall (something wrong with their lithium batteries?)or maybe some other fault covered under warranty.You can tell that I am not at my sharpest first thing in the morning - there are obviously here to secure ongoing access to Hong Kong baby milk powder .When the penny dropped I was out like a shot down to the supermarket. Like Christmas eve in UK there is a last minute run on the shops before they close. Unfortunately there were no turkeys left (they went in December) nor any bread (distressed foreigners milling about looking lost)

After lunch we took the star ferry across the harbour to Kowloon to visit the Art Museum The intent was to quietly kill a couple of hours before going back to visit Rebecca's brother for a traditional new year's eve family meal. Imagine my surprise when we discovered that the Museum was hosting an Andy Warhol exhibition (on loan from Pittsburg). This changed the game completely and put me under pressure The expectation was that as a westerner I would know all about Warhol and his subject matter and thus be qualified to explain it all to my 4.5 year old son..Fortunately in my youth I spend a lot of time at the Tate Modern (when it was at Millbank) and I did know a little. I explained about the technique of silk screen printing, (Jamie listened intently and announced he was going to try it at home), about Campbell's soup and the cultural significance of Pop Art (he wasn't so impressed with this - he draws everyday things all the time) and about celebrity culture and all the portraits Warhol painted. (here I struggled because I only recognised some of the subjects 's either by sight or name) The easy ones were the pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali , Jackie Kennedy and Chairman Mao. It turned into a history lesson about the key players and events that shaped America in the 60-80s. Jackie Kennedy was a challenge because it involved explaining about the shooting of her husband in Dallas and the democratic concept of electing new presidents every 4 (Jamie was very concerned about President Obama's well being). One of the best bits however was the section with paintings which Warhol did for children. This really engaged Jamie: his favorite was the ship (mine the rhino) and he insisted on doing an inventory, counting all the fishes. Overall an eminently successful afternoon.

So back to Wan Chai for a simple family supper to see out the Dragon year. In a couple of days we do the full family lunch to see in the Snake. And unlike Europe we will wait till Feb 2014 to see in the Year of the Horse.. maybe with Julia and Aaron.

Labels: Argentine, Findus, Gruffulo, horse, KIRCHNER, Malvinos, MIDDLEBURGH, Milk Powder, Thailand, Warhol

Posted at 2/11/2013 09:43:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh Asides

Time for healthy eating. Doctor says I have to loose weight. Wife says I'm shameless

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH, Salad, Virgins

Posted at 2/06/2013 10:03:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH COOKS MASH

Number 3 son who is half chinese is very partial to his mashed potatoes and its derivatives

Labels: Bubble, Farl, Mash, MIDDLEBURGH, Squeak

Posted at 2/05/2013 09:14:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh Calls It For Sampans

Do you know your Kaito from your Sampan? Are you sure ?

According to Wikipedia a "sampan" is an Asian skiff usually propelled by two oars, a definition borrowed from the Merriam Webster Dictionary) Personally I think this is a somewhat "narrow" and misleading definition which interestingly, is inconsistent with the article on sampans in Encyclopedia Britannica (a sister company of Merrian Webster) which shows supporting pictures of what I would consider to be Junks

The term "sampan", at least here in Hong Kong, is applied to small working vessels that chug around local harbours carrying passengers (and goods) which in wikipedia are referred to as kai-to's (Chinese: 街渡). Since the term "sampan" comes from the original Cantonese term for boats, 三板 (sam pan), I naturally sought linguist clarification from a local native Cantonese speaker - my wife. Apparently Kai-to (pronounced something like "Guy Doh" ) refers to the purpose of the vessel not to its construction whereas sampan is a term used generically used for wooden boats which follow the traditional chinese ("3 plank") design irrespective of whether they are propelled by oars or inboard diesel motors and therein lies my issue with the merriam-webster and wikipedia definitions.

Eight years ago the wikipedia article on Ap Lei Chau had a reference to the Kai-To's which linked to a picture of a Star Ferry which is an entirely different beastie. Fortunately the article has since been tidied up. It is worth noting that there are some brave souls who, if they have missed the last ferry to Lamma, will solicit a sampan late at night and risk crossing the sea lanes. I am not sure I would have the bottle for that, but catching the Kai-To to Ap lei Chau in the evening is much more fun than catching a bus , although the service stops at about 11:20pm.

Recently Southern District Council has set up formal pickup points arrount the harbour to facilitate Sampan Tours for Tourists. It used to be, that as you walked down the praya a wizened old crone would accost you (if you looked like a tourist) and offer for 20 HK$ a head, a five minute boat ride round the harbour

No doubt the Tour rates have gone up unlike the Kai-To fare between Aaberdeen and Ap Lei Chau which remains at 1.80HK$. Sadly only things have changed. When I first started using the ferry I realized that we passed a sampan on which there was an old lady living. You sometimes saw her in the morning moving about inside when the tarpaulin was partly open at the stern. Moreover as far as I could see it was the ONLY sampan on which anyone lived. The boat recognisable by its TV aerial is still in the harbour today but looking at it it seems that the woman has either died or moved on shore..

Labels: Kaito, MIDDLEBURGH, Sampans

Posted at 12/02/2012 02:17:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIRED IN CONSPIRACY

I am gutted that I missed this article in the Onion about the Kim Jong Un but I am pleased to see that The People's Daily was on the case. The accepted wisdom is that the editors took it at face value and didn't realise it was satirical, which is why they subsequently pulled the story. Not so ! Conspiracy theorists believe, that even though The Peoples Daily is the party's mouth piece, the editors fully understood , and were taking a calculated indirect swipe at party propagandists who push pieces which unreasonably laud domestic party bigwigs.

Similarly conspiracy theorists would have it, that a stooge at Wen Wei Po, a pro Beijing Hong Kong newspaper mischievously organised publishing an article based on a report to the recent 18th Communist Party Congress by Zhang Xiaoming, a deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in which he darkly .
refers to "unnamed" external powers interfering in Hong Kong affairs. The accepted wisdom is that the publication is the new Central Government laying down markers for Hong Kong's future. Others however have suggested that the government may have just lost the plot and is being dysfunctional . The conspiracy view is even simpler : Reactionary forces within China seek to manipulate and provoke a crisis in Hong Kong in order to gain future political advantage in Beijing. ie in the shadows a power struggle continues between the forces of good and evil. Is Zhang Xiaming a player ?

This brings me to another topical article published today in Canada concerning the death of Arafat and whether the Israelis were involved.

I quote" To this day, ....., the circumstances of Arafat’s death in a French hospital are so murky that conspiracy theorists of all stripes have been able to gain traction with even the most far-fetched notions — most of them starring scheming Israelis."

Are these are other similar articles part of a concerted effort to further muddy the waters?? ...... who knows...... I am off down the pub....

Labels: Arafat, Kim Jong Un, MIDDLEBURGH, Zhang Xiaoming

Posted at 11/28/2012 10:53:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH DEATH BY GRAVITY

8 years ago I posted a photo and comments about the Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Aberdeen harbour Specifically that

• it was overpriced (and by inference not value for money)
  
• the nearby bridge to Ap Lei Chau was very popular with jumpers, not unlike Brunnel’s bridge over the Avon Gorge.
  
• if you were a cheapskate, the shuttle boats which ferry people to the restaurant from Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hung offer a free alternative to the tourist sampan that tour the harbour (this is still the case)
  

It turns out that the second point was totally incorrect. The most popular form of suicide in Hong Kong is death by Carbon Monoxide. People buy bags of barbeque charcoal at the local supermarkets, take them home, tape up their windows and light up. The second most popular method is jumping from high rise windows or roofs. There is actually no need to take the trip down to the bridge.

As to the first point, (a personal opinion), it may no longer hold. Even though it is on my doorstep I haven't actually revisited it since my original post - why would I - there are loads of other excellent cheap restaurants nearby. Nevertheless since it opened in 1976, it has had over 30 million visitors,including Queen Elizabeth II, John Wayne, Tom Cruise, it can hold up to 2,300 guests at a go, and it is claimed to be the world's largest floating restaurant (Guinness Book of Records). From 2003 it has morphed into Jumbo Kingdom Complex a floating theme park, which includes some retail shops the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant.(originally established in 1952)

It has featured in many film including Contagion which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year in September staring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet) The plot was inspired by the 2003 SAR and 2009 H5N1 epidemics.

In October 1971, 34 workers were killed in a fire before the restaurant opened, which is only 2 less than the number that died in the recent accident of off Lama Island. This summer (2012) it was locally reported that a German woman had "over balanced" and fell to her death during a party on board. Drink was apparently a factor and if I remember correctly she sustained a head injury. I looked for an authoritative link to include but couldn't find one .

I did however discover the most amazing niche website Touristkilled.com which focuses on reporting deaths, injuries, scams, missing travelers, kidnaps, of tourists around the globe. When I searched it listed 203 other reports of Death by Falling (in the last year?) and 514 reports linked to Hong Kong/Hong Kongers including a recent one concerning a visitor from the Mainland dying as a result of necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating disease) caused by Vibrio vulnificus.

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH

Posted at 11/25/2012 09:20:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH BROWSES 46.12

Middleburgh is a state of mind .... Discuss....

At it's heart this is a question about reality. ie does Middleburgh) the place, truly exist and if so is it just a construct like the Matrix, Narnia or Disneyland. Does it exist in Google Search results only, or expanding on Descartes' proposition that "I think therefore I am" is the existence of Middleburgh dependent on of a "consciousness". We could pick at this, like Vroman's Nose.....

Instead lets talk
Lego!! . I have been considering taking my 4 and bit year old son to Legoland in Malaysia, instead of making the annual pilgrimage to the UK. It's a difficult choice, not much in in it (climate, beaches, food etc), until you factor in David Cameron's new Police Commissioners (Gaulieters) stalking the land looking for the person who voted for them.

Coincidentally I visited LEGO Australia which is celebrating 50 years since the iconic LEGO brick first arrived in the country. (Before the points system was introduced but after you needed a criminal record) This set me thinking.... if one concedes that Middleburgh the place could be real (I know it's a stretch)... then there could be an infinite number of Middleburgh's (real, virtually real or simply built in Lego) throughout the space/time continuum (if you except the former, then the latter inevitably must be true) ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING!

Stream Of Consciousness:
aka Trendsmap If you accept the proposition that the existence of Middleburgh is dependent upon a "consciousness" then the manifestation of that collective consciousness must be the Twitter stream about or coming out of Middleburgh. Trendsmap continuously tracks twitter trends by location. Centre on "Middleburgh" and decide for yourself if there is a Middleburgh consciousness ....... .

Alternatively if you believe that tweets are like voices in your head and a precurser to a psychotic event you may be more comfortable with images,and you should perhaps try WorldCam This tool leverages Instagram and allows you to search for up to the minute photos of a specific venue/location. You know.... if you can see it, pinch it , touch it (metaphorically) then it must exist . I had this need to check out Kearys Lexus in Kinsale Road, Cork.

By now you should have worked out that this week' I was browsing map mashups. RouteXL is a route planning tool which allows you to calculate the optimum route between a series of destinations, to save time, money and fuel, reducing your CO2 footprint.Useful for Environmentally responsible salesman who want to maximize client face time and minimize non productive travel time. Know many of them fdo you ?? well might be useful for the denizens of Middleburgh!!

According to the Scholaire Chamber of commerce the Port of Albany is nearest to Middleburgh although the nearest I can get with SeaRouteFinder is New Haven which is 11.5K Nautical Miles from HK, .It would take about 12 days via the Panama Canal and consume in excess of 1.2 K Tons of Fuel (assuming a small 4.5KTEU vessel traveling at 22 Knots). For comparison it is about 10K Nautical Miles to London, and would take about 10 days via Suez canal (assuming no wars) and would consume 1K Tons of fuel (Haven't you always wanted to know this !!)

MapsofAll is an really interesting mashup with one irritating feature. There is no way to hide the overlay which supports navigation drill down(eg North America>USA>New York>Schenectady>Middleburgh) and provides a narrative about locations and thing of nearby interest. Unfortunately it masks a significant amount of the underlying map.Pity ...still I did discover the footpath to Ap Lei Pai

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH

Posted at 11/17/2012 10:23:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH RECYCLES

In December 2004 my blog posts were frankly - absolute rubbish..and arguably continued so for a LONG time . To give context, I niavely followed the prevelent style of others on Blogger and Wordpress. Facebook (launched in February) was gaining traction; Bebo and Myspace were hot but neither attracted me, and Twitter was yet to be launched (July 2006). My initial (and experimental) posts were more suited to a Twitpic (launched in 2008 ) or (nstagram.(October 2010) and were by any standard ... spectaularly vacuous in content.

One of my first posts was about the Aberdeen Fishing Fleet. At that time a lot of boats are "laid up" due to high fuel costs rather than quota restrictions. I commented that during a typhoon or public holday such as Chinese New Year the harbour gets so crowded that you can almost walk across the boats decks from Ap Lei Chau to Aberdeen. That was it ..... apart from attaching a naff photo.

There was no mention of fact that I once lived and worked in Grimsby, UK which had been the largest fishing port in the world and which still has a substantial fish market. Nor that I still love living by a working harbour and I go down to watch the boats most weekends. More importantly, there was nothing of substance about the local Fishing Industry, an embarrassment which I really must address.

According to the
AFCD, last year (2011) Hong Kong produced 170,720 tonnes of fish product, worth HK$2, 358 million. There were 4,000 local fishing vessels manned by 8, 500 fishermen. The principle method of fishing was trawling followed by long-lining, gill-netting and purse-seining. However in order to protect local fish stocks and the ecosystem, from 31 December 2012, trawling (including pair, stern, shrimp and hang trawling) will be banned in Hong Kong waters. The Government is introducing a one-off assistance scheme of ex-gratia payments to affected trawler owners; buying out of affected inshore trawlers if voluntarily surrendered, one-off assistance to affected local deckhands and a special training programme to reskill affected trawler fishermen and local deckhands for other sustainable fishing operations such as mariculture and recreational fishing .

No doubt this will adversely impact the number of boats in my local harbour, On the upside is the local commitment to sustainable fishing, In September we hosted the 10th International Seafood Summit which was big on sustainability, and that iconic dish traditionally found at Chinese weddings ie Sharks Fin Soup, is not only off the menu but
Cathay Pacific refuse to ship Fins in their cargo.planes!! When asked a spokesman said "we don't wont na fin to do wiv 'em", (how Eco friendly!! ) Good news for local sharks seen frolicking off of Lamma this summer though!!

Just to make it clear - This post mentions

• Aberdeen
  
• Grimsby
  
• Ap lei Chau
  
• Lamma
  

but not MIDDLEBURGH, NY, 12122, U.S.A

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH

Posted at 11/14/2012 10:51:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH STARTS A BLOG

I started this blog 8 years ago wth the specific objective of opening a line of communication to my family in Europe. At that time, I infrequently traded emails and phone calls with my sons: grudging and monosyllabic ones with Patrick and ones with Aaron mostly late at night, about money, which by comparison were positively loquatious, witty and insightful. I was talking to my (now) ex-wife through solicitors about a divorce and I hadn't talked to my mother for about 5 years. I had last seen my daughter from my first marriage, Sarah, when she was 6 months old, Not a very satisfactory situation.

However not until I suggested to a friend, Denise Wong, who was thinking of keeping a trip journal for her upcoming South American vist , that she should start a blog did I consider doing so myself. I now talk regularly to my sons and even brave the cold to visit them and my mother. There was even a flurry of activity with my daughter although that regetably has fallen off recently ... but there is always tommorrow.

Denise bought me back a Peruvian Mug from her trip . I am pleased to say that I haven't broken it yet and that it's still in daily use . I doubt if she remembers "Kieth" and Eric", my finger meerkats, who at the time clearly made an impression on her but aparently the Alpaca's reminded her of them which is why she bought me the mug.

Things have come full circle ; Patrick, Aaron and Sarah now have another brother who plays with "Keith and Eric". He has visited London Zoo where he was specifcally introduced to the Meerkats and the Alpacas. Denise got married, had a son and presumably has settled down although she may still highlight her hair and shock her aunty in Vietnam.

Labels: MIDDLEBURGH

Posted at 11/11/2012 07:29:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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