Fact.

Now picture this:

There’s a kid who’s dishing out nonsense in the room, making all sorts of crazy noises and basically hurling abuse at anyone and everyone in the vicinity. You try to calm him down, yet he calls these abuse as “constructive criticism” (my English teacher once told me that all criticisms are constructive in nature so there’s no such thing as constructive or destructive criticism, but that’s besides the point). So what are you going to do?

Shut him up, of course!

There’s a general problem with kids nowadays – they make so much noise sometimes that they don’t even know what they are talking about. They hurl abuse at people, but aren’t prepared to take them. They think that it’s their divine right to use all kinds of derogatory terms at others, but when they are being given the same, they cry foul and say they are being oppressed. Hello?! Freedom of speech doesn’t equal to freedom to vocally abuse – get that into your heads, kids! If you lot think that freedom means you can do whatever you want, I would say you are missing the point!

Alright, nuff of my rumblings.

It’s been two days since I came back from Manchester and to be honest, I’m still feeling the jet-lag. It’s not like I’m yawning away at work, it’s just that I don’t think I’m sleeping well. It really isn’t fun to be crossing between time zones at such a short period – I started from GMT+8 last Wednesday night, arrive at GMT+1 on Thursday, and returning to GMT+8 on Monday. I think my body clock is all messed up, and it looks like for future trips to Europe or US, I might actually stay longer to at least give my body some time to adjust.

United lost 1-0 at Wigan last night and honestly while that doesn’t make for pretty reading, I’m not too upset about it. I guess I’ve somehow reached that stage where results on the field hardly gets me too upset. I mean, I definitely wasn’t pleased, but I’m not overly upset. I don’t think I’m like those spoilt brats as mentioned earlier who would basically screw the hell out of the manager, the players, the physio, the kitmen, and the tea lady – and when people try to shut them up, they would say “I’m providing constructive criticisms only, why are you abusing me?”

Another half a day to go before I call it a day – would be working this weekend so there’s nothing to look forward to!

10 Things of Manchester.

As I arrived back in Hong Kong after a 4-and-a-half days in Manchester, there are many thoughts going up in my head and I think it might be a while before I could really put my travelogue together – after all, I still have to sort out my photos! Before the travelogue comes up, I’d just want to share some things I observed/experienced while in Manchester.

1. People in the Manchester are generally friendly. Or maybe it’s a western thing to be friendly.

2. The Manchester Metrolink breaks down at no warning, and when it breaks down, it doesn’t really care how you would carry on your journey.

3. Meat pies at Old Trafford actually aren’t that nice

4. I like Salford, because it’s quiet, comfortable, and most importantly, red.

5. I didn’t get any ticket checks on all the Metrolink rides that I was on.

6. Seems to me that the shops in the city opens only at 10 and shuts down at 6.

7. Out of my four-and-a-half days in Manchester, I experienced good weather (i.e. no rain) for a grand total of one day. I think that’s a good return.

8. Things in Manchester are actually not that expensive. It’s only expensive when you keep comparing it in Hong Kong Dollars terms. Many things are actually very good value for money.

9. Non-league football in Manchester has more passion and bigger crowds than football in Hong Kong.

10. We should be glad that we don’t have Value Added Tax in Hong Kong – the VAT rate in UK is a whooping 20%!

I’m quite sure I’ll visit Manchester again.

One reason to make a second trip to Manchester for...

Plan.

I think I have been going around telling people that I’ll be going to Manchester next week. That’s one problem of me as far as my travels are concerned – they are never secrets!

Anyway as this is my first ever trip to the UK, I really do not know what to expect. The only good thing is that people speak English, so I think I could communicate without too much trouble. But I do have a bit of a concern – I haven’t really sorted out my itinerary yet! I mean, I know I’ll be going for a stadium tour at Old Trafford on Thursday, and then to see United vs QPR on Sunday, but basically everything in between – I have no idea whatsoever. I think I’d do well to research a bit more on Manchester in the next few days.

I would be heading out to Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground after work to watch South China taking on Kitchee (who?) in the Hong Kong Football League later. To be honest, I am always a pessimistic fan and in matches like these, I always go into the stadium thinking that South China is going to lose. No difference this time round – I guess when you have little expectation, you can’t get too disappointed when things don’t go your way. But for me, seeing your team lose is part and parcel of being a fan. If you can’t tolerate a team losing, then you can’t really call yourself a fan. A fan sticks with the team no matter what results they churn out, and gives his/her support no matter how low the team is. Too bad, Hong Kong is a place full of fairweather friends who seem to love the team only when they win. (That explained why there was suddenly an increase of Chelsea fans a few years ago, and now you also see more Manchester City fans). They hurl abuse at their own players game in, game out, and think that their team are only worthy of their support only when it wins. Sad low-life forms, if you ask me.

"You only sing when you're winning..."