Mitigation hearings begin in the HK47 case, with special media zones and inflatable tunnels, and Benny Tai’s lawyer arguing that he should get no more than a two-year prison sentence. (I guess quoting Lord Sumption would have been provocative.)
Chief Executive John Lee says the July 1 Handover Day holiday will be ‘filled with joy’…
“I strongly believe that the day will be filled with joy because we have many different measures to help people celebrate,” Lee said in Cantonese.
On a different subject…
so, like, legit question to the shoes-on-inside-the-house folks: does *mud* not exist where you live? or rain? or snow?
One reply suggests that in dry climates, wearing shoes should be less of an issue. But in those parts of (Saharan) North Africa I’ve visited, you always take your shoes off at the door. And in many damp parts of Europe, people wear shoes in the house. These places always have doormats, however. Perhaps by way of mitigation we could point out that doormats are serious things with stiff bristles, and woe betide anyone not using them.
Perhaps another climate-related issue would be that some places in Europe do not heat their homes much even when it’s cold. (Though the Japanese don’t, either.)
Another suggestion is that the mud in shoe-wearing places is ‘cleaner’. But a Tokyo street is surely less nasty than, say, a doggy-infested Parisian one. Perhaps in Japan – where shoe-removal is a major deal (even burglars comply) – people still remember less sanitary times. A century ago, in many parts of Asia (and still today, in some), the street outside was a mixture of mud and pig and duck droppings. So having separate indoor and outdoor shoes was essential.
I do not get the really anal Japanese thing where you have separate slippers for the bathroom – assuming the household washes the bathroom floor from time to time.
Speaking of which, the common areas in my block probably (OK, definitely) have the floors cleaned more often than inside my apartment. So, in theory, the management should be making me take my shoes off when I leave home and enter the corridor.
Shoes on a bed – as seen in some Western TV shows – is gross.
“Shoes on a bed – as seen in some Western TV shows – is gross.”
You better not visit IKEA then.
Scariest news I’ve read for a while was in yesterday’s SCMP (or maybe HKFP, or Standard). School children are being scolded for not singing the Nat Anthem loud enough.
Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t some (many?) Americans have different shoes for inside and outside? And isn’t the shoe wearing indoors on American sitcoms more related to product placement and the fact that American viewers would find it weird to see Charlie Sheen or Jerry Seinfeld walking around in their socks or putting on or taking off their shoes when going in and out of the flat (not to mention oversized shiny white sneakers is kind of a hallmark of Seinfeld’s character).
I remember a survey somewhere stating that less than 40% of Americans wear shoes in their houses and it was very regional. We personally never wore shoes indoors and I never remember any of my friends wearing shoes in their houses either.
@Young Winston
Saw that. Knowing the HK academic system, there will be an emotional arms race where schools will race each other to show the most emotional commitment as the flag is raised:
1. Looking resolute along with heartfelt praise
2. Moist eyes along with lusty singing
3. Tears along with trembling lips
4. Torrential weeping along with key lyrics inter spaced with sobs
5. Flailing on the floor with ecstatic visions of our Dear Leader
6. Unconsciousness along with moans of delight as pupils enter the Platonic realm and glimpse the form of the Good itself (aka The Party)
Now back to classes.
> Young Winston,
This place gets more North Korean by the day – those who can afford to or are clever enough to leave.
HKG will end up full of the elderly, incompetent and stupid.
I hope to leave before I’m elderly.
Young Winston – This was also reported by Bloomberg.
Talking about household cleanliness, I always sit when I pee. This avoids me blunderbussing the otherwise dry parts of the toilet, the floor, and the fronts of my legs.
Regarding Jerry Seinfeld (as mentioned by ‘the real Dr Adams’), in the TV show he would often rest on his sofa with his shoes on the cushions. However, the character (and likely real person) is a germophobe; there was one episode where he tossed his shoe laces because they came undone in a public toilet and they had trailed on the floor, which presumably had piss on it. For me, this pattern of conflicting behaviour is a bit of a problem.
@Load Toad – or broke. Not everyone with no money is elderly, incompetent or stupid.
@Load Toad: Yup. Nothing more than the very elderly, mentally unstable, physically handicapped and assorted triad & young toughs. All with about 5.8 popo/per citizen assigned (and their newly issued Poly Group Kalashnikovs).
That iron rice bowl might not be so tempting by the time those days roll around.
@Low Profile: I bet he thinks the only reason anyone is broke is because they are incompetent. As though all the people who cook food, teach small children, manage offices, care for the elderly, make art, bill insurance claims and do any of the countless professions in this society that will never be paid enough to buy a 400 square foot flat let alone migrate to a new country where they will have to start their lives all over again are in the situation they are in because they weren’t clever enough to be senior executives. Sometimes this comments section is incredibly up its own arse.
“Talking about household cleanliness, I always sit when I pee. This avoids me blunderbussing the otherwise dry parts of the toilet, the floor, and the fronts of my legs.”
The truth will out.
And for the rest of us, it ends up in the bowl.
Re; Mitigation. This is a farce, we know, they know, we know that they know that we know, etc that even Mother Teresa would not have a hope of making any impact on the already decreed sentences. Hopefully some of the victims will decline to take part in the charade.
Re: shoes in the home. What about those unfortunate, moi for example, who have to bear the sight and smell of neighbour’s footwear left in the corridor just in front of their homes? Particularly a piss off when the neighbours have extended the entrance to their abode over the common area but refuse to use the additional space to install a shoe cupboard?
Mary Melville –
Neighbours’ footwear left in the lobby – I had that problem some time ago. They ignored a polite notice from the management posted on the wall between the lifts.
I took one of their shoes and dropped it in the communal dustbin where, as I hoped, they soon found it.
They displayed an angry message outside their iron gate, saying something like: “Dear neighbour, why don’t you throw away a pair of shoes next time?” But it worked. They stopped leaving their shoes in the lobby.
Communal dustbin – another gripe. Despite the trauma of Covid, moist smelly loose food is thrown into the bin. Sometimes dislodges the large black bag so the residue seeps to the bottom of the bin, difficult to mop up as the bins are large and heavy.
Construction waste instead of being bagged and taken to refuse station is dumped in or around the bin, effectively blocking the escape route as the cleaning staff is paid to emply the bins only. No respect for safety, neighbours or the cleaners.
And one of the culprits has not paid management fees for many months ………………..
Our buildings are decaying not from age but from deliberate abuse and anti social mindsets.