Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Deduction Game


Here is a photo in which Elly was ready to go to school.

On this day of each week, she does not need to wear school uniform. As a matter of fact, school and P.E. uniforms are worn alternately in 4 consecutive days. On the day the photo was taken, Elly wore something differently and some tiny stickers were stuck on her T-shirt. Elly knew that on the same day someone she meets every day twice would be invited by school to attend a birthday party.

Question 1: On which week day was it?
Options: A. Monday   B. Wednesday   C. Friday

Question 2: What weather was the day?
Options: A. sunny    B. cloudy  C. rainy

Question 3: What subject did the stickers convey?
Options: A. road safety   B. school bus   C. road signs

Suomi stamps of Moomins

Suomi (Finland) issued these stamps of Moomins in 2007, which was five years or so ago. I know very little of the stories behind nor the characters until yesterday. Then I played the game of matching myself with those six characters on the stamps. I dug them out from Wikipedia and found that I could distinguish who they were.

Here I extract all the characters for your matching if you are interested:


Moominpappa: Father of the family, but boyish and adventurous. He likes to be present when something unusual happens. He is philosophical at times and likes writing his memoirs.

Moominmamma: The calm mother, who takes care that Moominhouse is a safe place to be. She wants everyone to be happy, appreciates individuality, but settles things when someone is wronged. She always brings good food as well as whatever else may be necessary on a journey in her handbag.

Moomintroll (Moomin in the English translation): The little boy of the family, interested in and excited about everything he sees and finds, always trying to be good, but sometimes getting into trouble while doing so, he is very brave and always finds a way to make his friends happy.

The Hemulens: Creatures that believe in order and like to boss other people around, but find it difficult to listen to anyone and lack a sense of humor. Many hemulens like collecting stuff, and have little time to think about much else.

Sniff: A small rodent-like creature, who lives in the Moomin house. He likes to take part in everything, but is afraid to do anything dangerous. Sniff appreciates all valuables and makes many plans to get rich, but does not succeed.

Snork Maiden: Moomin’s best friend. She is happy and energetic, but often suddenly changes her mind on things. She loves nice clothes and jewelry, is a little flirtatious, and dreams about finding her prince charming.

The Snork: Snorkmaiden’s brother. He is an introvert by nature and is always inventing things. The residents of Moominvalley often ask Snork for help solving tricky problems and building machines. Snorks are like moomintrolls, but change colour according to their mood.

Snufkin: The lonesome philosophical traveller, who likes to play the harmonica and wanders around the world with only a few things, so as not to make his life complicated. He always comes and goes as he pleases, is carefree and has lots of admirers in Moominvalley. He is also shown to be quite fearless and calm in even the most dire situations, which has proven to be a great help to Moomintroll and the others when in danger.

Little My: A mischevious tomboyish little girl, who lives in the Moomin house and has a brave, spunky personality. She likes adventure, but loves catastrophes, and often does mean things on purpose. She finds messiness and untidiness exciting and is very down to earth, when others aren’t.

The younger Mymble, also referred to as "the Mymble's Daughter": Little My’s amiable and helpful big sister, and half-sister of Snufkin. She often has romantic daydreams about the love of her life, particularly policemen.

Too-Ticky: A wise woman, and good friend of the family. She has a boyish look, with a blue hat and a red-striped shirt. She dives straight into action to solve dilemmas in a practical way. Too Ticky is the one of the people in Moominvalley, who does not hibernate, instead spending the winter in the cozy sauna building of the Moominhouse.

Mrs Fillyjonk: A female rodent-like being who believes order and principle are vital to life, and she does not want her three children to learn bad habits. She easily loses her temper and even the slightest misfortune depresses her. She is often seen cleaning the house.

The Hattifatteners Mushroom-like silent creatures, that wander around the world eternally, often in large groups, wanting to reach the horizon. They travel by boat and get attracted by lightning, when they become electric and quite dangerous.

Thingumy and Bob: Inseparable twins, with their own funny language, which a Hemulen deciphers, consisting largely of spoonerisms and similar inversions of words and syllables.
 Moomin eventually gets the hang of it, while Sniff thinks they are speaking a foreign language. They like to hide in small places, but to others it is not always clear what they are up to. They do not know what is theirs and steal Moominmama’s handbag to live in, which they soon return when they realise how much she needs it. The ruby they stole is, however not returned to the groke at all. They swap the ruby for another ruby with the Hobgoblin (Finn Family Moomintroll).

The Groke: A creature that scares everyone, she says nothing and the ground freezes below her. The other characters are afraid of her, but she is very lonely.

Stinky: A small furry creature that always plays jokes on the family in the house, where he sometimes lives. He likes pinching things, is proud of his reputation as a crook, but always gets found out. He is simple and only thinks of himself.

The Muddler: Living in a coffee tin, this anxious collector stores away all the buttons he finds, but his carelessness with the collection makes him lose and forget things. The Fuzzy is the Muddler’s wife, whom he met on an adventure with Moominpappa. Sniff is their child, but he lives with the Moomins.

 To confirm your answers, please visit Oy Moomin Characters Ltd.

Gifts from Finland

Recently my son-in-law bought home these sweets, biscuits and stamps as gifts to his family during the escort of his students in a study tour to Finland. This had greatly cheered everyone at home especially the young girls, Abby and Elly.


Besides the fruit-flavoured sweets and lollipops, there are adorable milk and wine chocolates. The biscuits are made into shapes of cartoon Moomin characters while the six linked-up Moomin stamps are a special gift to me since my son-in-law knows that I like to collect stamps.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Kanyakumari

The southernmost tip of mainland Africa is Cape of Good Hope whereas that of mainland India is Cape Comorin (now called Kanyakumari). Cape of Good Hope borders the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, while Cape Comorin Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Both Capes are popular tourist destinations. People at Kanyakumari like to dip their bodies in sea water instead of that on River Ganges.


Kanyakumari is a town in Kanyakumari District in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The closest major cities are Nagercoil, the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District, (22 km away) and Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala (88 km).

On two rocky islets just off the shore, southeast of the Kumari Amman temple, are the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, built in 1970 by Eknath Ranade, and the 133 feet (41 m) tall statue of Tamil saint–poet Thiruvalluvar, one of the biggest statues in Asia, completed in 2000 by sculptor V. Ganapati Sthapati.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Junior MasterChef Australia


Junior MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show. It is a spin-off of MasterChef Australia, itself an adaptation of the British show MasterChef, and features contestants aged 8 to 12. The first season of the show began production in July 2010 and included 50 contestants. Over 5,000 children from around the nation auditioned for the series.

It was a happy moment yesterday afternoon for me watching young children of age between 8 and 12 taking part in cooking contests. It was a game in Series 2 picking up the last six contestants into the top 20. The children showed their talent in making cakes and Italian pasta. Jack, Aya, Zac and Hannah were among the six children who awarded the white aprons to continue their competition for the title of Junior MasterChef in Australia in 2011. One particular thing to mention here is that the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, attended the contest as a guest and she tasted 15 bits of cakes from the children. The Prime Minister showed much of her kindness and support to the younger generations.


Junior MasterChef was officially renewed on 15 November 2010 due to strong ratings, to return for a second season in 2011. Filming started on 28 July 2011, with the season premiering in October 2011. 11-year-old Greta Yaxley from Western Australia won the Junior MasterChef title for 2011.

Monday, April 22, 2013

紮辮子

女兒頭髮長,慈母手握梳。
意恐髮披面,臨行匆匆紮。
雖言緊捉髮,愛意盡滿溢!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Chocolate from Europe

I am greatly impressed when I see this box of chocolate just because each piece of chocolate is wrapped up in a paper with the flags of the producing country. This reflects to me that the makers of these candies promote patriotism to the nation of the country. Anyone eating this kind of chocolate will definitely enjoy the taste and think of the “country”.

Which country makes such chocolate? Can you guess?

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Colours on maps


Taking these photos of flowers one day when I passed by City One suddenly made me think of the coloured maps in an atlas.

The number of colours used to show various countries in a map can be limited to four only (see the four-coloured world map here). How interesting it is to read maps of different countries, states, provinces, counties or regions!

A Fruit lover

Of the two sisters in the photos, who is the fruit lover? Obviously it is Elly who finishes eating her dish of fruit in a short span of time.


Whenever slices of orange, apple or pear are ready, Elly is always the first one to reach for her plate. She loves using a fork with a heavy dark handle to pick up fruit to eat. Cara Cara oranges, U.S.A. pears, pomelos, apples, dragon fruits and mandarins are her favourites. Her satisfaction comes from the sweetness, juiciness and tenderness of the fruits. On the other hand, hard rocky fruits, bitter fruits such as grapefruit and hairy fruits such as kiwifruit do not suit this little girl of three.

Elly’s sister, Abby, are not keen at eating fruits. She prefers eating soft fruits like ripe pears and dragon fruits. In her fruit list, mandarins or oranges rank after pomelos. It is strange that she does not like apples very much.

Jelly Beans

This Wednesday, when meeting the branch-manager of a BEA Bank, we were given two red packets of gifts for our two grandchildren. The manager said that the bank wanted to produce a “new” image to the customers and this time it gave out jelly beans to younger generations of the customers.

Each paper packet when opened, we find a small packet of colourful jelly beans made in Thailand. They appear like oblong beads, having each a hard sweet shell on the outside, but jelly in the centre. The taste is not bad and our grandchildren ask for more when they have finished their shares.

Unlike those bank-note issuing banks, BEA really makes their customers feel at home because from time to time it cheers them up with gifts. For us, we have so far received cinema tickets, umbrellas during wet seasons, adaptors for electric appliances (especially good for travels), ball-pens and passport /card holders.


We hope that the bank keeps on giving us new surprises when we visit it.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Pontoon Bridge at Curacao

Curacao is the largest of the Dutch Antilles "ABC" islands, within the Caribbean (less than 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela).  (ABC stands for Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.)  The main city on Curacao is Willemstad.

Willemstad has a river running through the middle of two areas named Punda and Otrobanda.  Punda and Otrobanda are connected by a movable bridge called the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge.  The bridge opens and closes to allow boat traffic to move in and out of port.

The photos show the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge. It is an interesting sight in seeing such kind of a movable bridge

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Conservatory in the Gardens by the Bay

The conservatory complex in the Gardens by the Bay won the World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival 2012. Inside we can study different plant species from around the world such as cacti (仙人掌), nepenthes(豬籠草), baobabs (very large trees native to Africa) and date palms.

There are totem poles, beautiful flowering plants, strange trees in deserts, small waterfalls and ponds around. The conservatory is just like a museum of plants,

Friday, April 05, 2013

Electronic trees

Gardens By the Bay, a real life technological masterpiece modelled after the movie Avatar, were built and officially opened on July 29th, 2012 at Marina Bay, Singapore.

Visitors to the gardens may amaze at the giant electronic trees which light up the sky at night time in colours of pink, green, yellow, blue, white or more.

These super-trees also generate solar power, act as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, collect rainwater, absorb and disperse heat, and, of course, generate shade. One of them will even have a treetop bistro perched on it before long.


Thursday, April 04, 2013

掃上眼影的啡鳥

難得昨天在家附近公園草坪上偶遇一隻劃上眼影的小鳥。當時牠正在模仿澳洲袋鼠在一大幅草地原上蹦蹦跳。牠的羽毛顏色殊不鮮艷,但肯定會為牠在樹林中帶來保護色。嘴巴呈尖銳而彎,相信是一位啄食專家,在這裡的小蟲和螞蟻一定成為牠的午餐。眼影部分是灰白小色,並不像我們女仕們經常用的藍色或綠色,但已經很有吸引力。

這隻小鳥絕不怕人,主動跳向人群,相信牠已經一早適應了城市生活。大概牠相信除了自己覓食之外,愈接近人類,就愈容易得到餵食,何樂而不為呢?

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Soap bubbles are Adorable

To Elly, soap bubbles are adorable. This morning, she found a boy blowing bubbles with a plastic "gun" at a children’s playground.

Elly always loves looking at light soap bubbles flying in mid-air. Carrying a smiling face this time, she waved her short little arms like a conductor in order to catch or hit any of the bubbles that floated in her way. The bubbles flew away in an unpredictable manner because of different currents of air around, so most of the time she missed them, not even touched them. It seemed to me that she never give up her hope of catching some with her hands.

To raise the chance in catching these bubbles, Elly walked close to or even followed the boy who was holding the bubble gun. That was a good tactic! It was unfortunate that most soap bubbles soon burst and went out of sight, but they had won the heart of our little Elly.

A Yaumati Ferry

The photos show a model of the type of ferry which ran between Yaumati to Wanchai in the 60’s. On my way to school every morning, I boarded the ferry at Wanchai Ferry Pier which was just two streets away from where I used to live.

HYF (printed at the funnel) represents Hong Kong Yaumati Ferry Company Limited. In the past, the company provided the people of Hong Kong ferry services between various parts of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

This ferry was a double-decker which narrowed down at its two ends like a leaf. On the upper deck, the central portion was a closed cabin, which provided a shelter for passengers from wind and rain. On each side was a wooden white door which could be lowered through ropes by a sailor as a gangway. The two sharper ends were wide open with railings at sitting levels. Canvases are lowered when there were winds and rain. The seats were long wooden benches with movable backs. At the centre of the ferry was the big funnel which came from the engine room through two decks and out of the top of the ferry, so it was warm when one was standing near the funnel.

The lower deck was not so comfortable as the upper because it was noisier (closer to the engine) and very often strong ropes were laid at the aisles which made walking over them difficult. Moreover, one may get wet when sea water splashed overboard at times of huge waves and strong winds. The large wooden rafts hanging at the sides of the ferry usually blocked parts of the beautiful scenery around. After all, the only advantage of sitting on this deck was the cheaper fare.

The ferry could move forward and backward easily because it had two propellers, one at the front and the other at the back. The pilots could navigate the ferry at either bridge at the roof-top. Each time when the ferry embarked at a pier, we could see the pilots walk to the other bridge to steel the wheel for the next journey.

In speed comparison, this type of ferry ran a little faster than a giant vehicular ferry because it was much lighter. In terms of time, the ferry journey between Yaumati and Wanchai took about twenty minutes.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Cripps Pink (Pink Lady Apples)

So far, in my heart, Pink Lady Apples are the best. Not only they are sweet, but long-lasting.

Wikipedia describes the Cripps Pink like this:

Cripps Pink is a variety of apple, from which apples meeting quality standards can be sold under the trade mark name Pink Lady. The Cripps Pink variety was originally bred by John Cripps at the (then named) Western Australia Department of Agriculture by crossing the Australian apple Lady Williams with a Golden Delicious in order to combine the best features of both apples. The apple is tart and crisp.

The Cripps Pink variety is owned and licensed by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), which has plant breeders’ rights in multiple countries. The peak industry body for Australian apple and pear growers — Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) — owns and manages globally the intellectual property in the Pink Lady family of trade marks, which is registered in more than 70 countries.

Registration of the Pink Lady trade marks in Australia has been a challenging process. This is primarily due to the apple being widely known by the industry and public by the trade mark name, Pink Lady, rather than the variety name, Cripps Pink.

The apple shape is ellipsoid. It has a distinctive blush red mixed with a green "background," and taste is tart. The Cripps Pink variety requires a long, 200-day growth period and a hot climate, making them difficult to grow in more temperate latitudes or climates subjected to early winter freezes.

They are principally grown in Australia, but are also grown in New Zealand, Chile, Canada, Argentina, South Africa, Uruguay, Brazil, Japan, Italy, Spain, France and in the United States since the late 1990s.

In the United Kingdom, the Pink Lady brand has increased in popularity in the 20 years since the first shipment of apples from Australia. In 2012, for the first time, Pink Lady brand apples replaced Granny Smith apples from the number three spot by value in the United Kingdom.

Pink Lady brand apples must meet certain trade mark quality specifications. Criteria for the specifications include sugar content, firmness, blemishes and colour. Inspections are regularly performed to ensure both the quality and traceability of the apple from the orchard to the shop.

Cripps Pink apples are the earliest to blossom (late March/early April in the Northern Hemisphere and late September/early October in the Southern Hemisphere), and some of the last to be harvested (end of October/early November in the Northern Hemisphere and late April/early May for the Southern Hemisphere). It is the significant change in temperature between night and day in the autumn that gives the apples their colouring. However, they must also be well exposed. Therefore, the trees must be carefully pruned and their fruit production well managed.

We are sure to buy and eat these lovely apples whenever we see them on the racks of supermarkets.

Monday, April 01, 2013

Flowers and Climate

These beautiful flowers bloom quietly but feverishly in a garden in San Francisco Bay area. They all adapt to the Mediterranean Climate in California. It is funny, isn't it? San Francisco is never in the Mediterranean!
Besides looking at the flowers, let us study the climate of San Francisco.

San Francisco has mild summers owing to the upwelling of cold subsurface waters along the coast producing regular summer fog that does not reach far inland.

In fact, coastal California experiences “Cool-summer Mediterranean climate”. This subtype of the Mediterranean climate is the less common form of the Mediterranean climate. Regions with this subtype of the Mediterranean climate faces warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 22.0 °C during its warmest month and an average in the coldest month between 18 to −3 °C . Also, at least four months must average above 10 °C. Winters are rainy and can be mild to chilly. In a few instances, snow can fall on these areas. Precipitation is heavier during the colder months, but there are a number of clear sunny days even during the wetter seasons.
Regions with this subtype of the Mediterranean climate closely resemble an Oceanic climate. Unlike typical Mediterranean climates, for the majority of the year, these regions experience generally cloudier and damper conditions. During the summer months, these regions experience sunny, dry and warm conditions, where almost no rain falls.

To learn more about the flowering plants that can be found in San Francisco, the Conservatory of Flowers in the Golden Gate Park is worth visiting!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Another Bus Story

This is a story told by Kevin Tsang:
 A CityBus (fleet no.: 445) retired yesterday. It was unexpected that the very last route it operated on its last day was 170 (a long-distance route crossing three tunnels, namely Lion Rock Tunnel, Aberdeen Tunnel and Cross Harbour Tunnel). 445 is a unique one in CityBus due to its all yellow body whereas ordinary CityBus Buses have yellow blue and red colour as standard colours of the company. The reason for it having the special all yellow body still remains a mystery to bus enthusiasts. It is a Volvo Olympian with TD engine. It revealed the long hidden KCR logo on the Sha Tin Station route display since most buses have already got their display changed but not for 445 as it usually operated on local routes like 1, 5, 5B, 10, 70, 72, 75, 90, 97, 592 etc. and seldom operates on long distance routes like170.


I came across it heading for Wah Fu.at noon yesterday outside the Cross Harbour Tunnel Since I have not had lunch at that time, I did not jump on to it. However, after dinner, I  decided to take a ride because I have had quite a lot of childhood memories with this bus so I took it to Sha Tin. There was a saying that it would operate its last journey from Sha Tin Station to Wah Fu at 23:45 but since its license expires after midnight, it would become illegal owhen running on roads of Hong Kong. The bus company decided not to take the risk, hence, 445 took its last journey departing from Sha Tin at 21:20 to Wah Fu. There were kids  who grumbled at their parents saying that they wanted a newer bus instead of 445. Nevertheless, when the kind-hearted driver told them they were lucky to take the very last journey of 445, they became excited and took a lot of photos with the bus. After arriving at Wah Fu, another bus (fleet no.:325) was ready to take up the remaining journey of the day and 445 had to return to the depot to end its service. The driver was extraordinarily kind that he allowed us to take enough pictures before driving the bus away. He even offered us to change its route display. I immediately changed its display to route 10 while somebody suggested changing it to BYE but I insisted number 10 because I took it every day to  my elementary school and it is the route 445 for 17 years. When the driver was driving it away from the terminal in Wah Fu, he suddenly opened the door again and waved to us signalling us to board the bus again! We were the last 4 passengers of the bus which was supposed NOT IN SERVICE!! While making a brief stop at the Ocean Park depot, the driver warned us not to get off the bus and we hid inside the bus in order not to be discovered by the depot manager since it was not appropriate to have passengers on a PRIVATE bus. We got off the bus outside the depot in Chai Wan finally -- I was the last passenger getting off 445 and we witnessed the staff labelling it as "RETIRED" What an amazing experience to me!


Top Photo: Taken at  Wah Fu Bus Terminal after its last service journey on 170. I changed its route to number 10 at last and some one suggested N10, an overnight version of route 10). After that it remained its display as N10 North Point.
Bottom-left Photo: Taken at Cross Harbour Tunnel Toll Plaza.
Bottom-right Photo: Taken at Wah Fu estate, with the route display of Sha Tin Station with KCR logo

Monday, March 11, 2013

教畫老師筆下的舊巴士


Eric是女婿的舊同事,現在開畫室教人畫畫。最近Eric送了這捲筒式的懷舊畫作給女婿,而女婿和女兒知道我是一個巴士迷,於是轉送給我,當然我欣然接受。

這般圓型筒子上有兩幅直立畫,我一眼就看得出其中一張是以前九龍巴士行走尖沙咀至官塘1A線或佐敦至慈雲山3C線之一種重量級雙層巴士。這批巴士因高齡關係,現已消失得無影無踪。鮮紅色的車身,配上一條粉黃色的腰帶及上層車行走九龍新界及香港島的九巴是人見人愛的金色巴士。

另外一張圖畫是那種色藍車身前中華巴士的中型巴士。曾幾何時這些輕型巴士在港島狹窄的馬路奔馳,功勞可算是不少。 這兩幅畫值得觀賞的地方是巴士色彩真實,背景則艷麗奪目,尤其那幅中巴天空上縱橫交錯懸掛的凌亂電線正是反映出從前港島區中上環,甚至西環路上的情景。

這卷圖畫內裏有乾坤:原來打開筒頂的膠蓋往內看則見到一家大小都愛吃的Calbee蝦條,不過今次這些是勁辣的那種。