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Another Rant - Today It's Kite String

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  1. #1

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    Another Rant - Today It's Kite String

    Or rather, the best response I've ever had for why it's okay to do something that wrecks it for everyone else:

    Today, like many others, we decided to change our morning dog walk (yes, we do clear up their shit) and headed for the breezy ClearWater Bay park entrance area. We go there often, we know it's used at weekends by hordes of half-crazed kite fliers, enjoying those few scant seconds of interest that holding a piece of bright plastic at the end of a lengthy thread of nylon can bring. We know many get lost in the trees, we know they are such cherished items that no sane Hong Konger would bother to try and retrieve it once it gets tangled in a tree and we know that some days the whole park looks like a strange colourful triangular fruiting forest.

    Today however as we took our first few steps I suddenly felt something around my neck, I had like many countless birds and other wildlife before got tangled in a length of nylon kite rope. One of our dogs trotted over to see what I was fussing about, naturally she got herself also entangled and in her panic started to dash around, causing the piece attached to me to tighten like a bright pink plastic garrotte. After a few fun minutes of swearing and untangling we got free and I took the time to unravel the lengthy killer, ball it up and put it in a bin. We took a few more steps and walked straight into another piece.

    Raging I headed for the park office and got my anger sated by politely filling in a form...

    20 minutes later I got a call from a very apologetic park ranger and during the conversation he advised me that the problem was that time was very precious to Hong Kong people, when they come to the park they often only have half an hour, or 2 hours, and so you can't expect them to have to clear up after any mess they create.

    I must remember that as the answer to everything, my time is too precious, I no longer need to stop for that group of children crossing the road in front of me, my time is after all precious and nobody could expect me to actually have to brake and slow down.


  2. #2

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    Nice rant, though, how did you not spot the kite string? Was it just hanging there?


  3. #3

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    It was and I did see it a little way away, but its position over the steps where I was walking must have just hid it from my view.

    Who knows how I don't see the things I stumble into sometimes, they usually seem much clearer, larger, smellier once we've made contact.

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  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by kogia:

    Today, like many others, we decided to change our morning dog walk (yes, we do clear up their shit)

    [...]

    One of our dogs trotted over to see what I was fussing about, naturally she got herself also entangled and in her panic started to dash around, causing the piece attached to me to tighten like a bright pink plastic garrotte. After a few fun minutes of swearing and untangling we got free
    While it is undoubtedly impressive that your dog can swear, rather than encourage this you should focus on his other abilities such as shit-clearing and untangling.
    Last edited by justjoe86; 09-06-2011 at 02:47 PM.
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  5. #5

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    I once recently saw a school outing, having a picnic in a public park near the Peak. Rubbish was strewn everywhere. Coke cans, plastic bottles, chip packets, straws, napkins. I was quite shocked. I considered trying to identify the supervising teacher to request them to clean the mess, but I decided not to. I did however see a park ranger. When I pointed this out to him he replied "Yes, I know. But there is nothing we can do. These students are very busy and they have limited time, so they might not clean away their rubbish". This response, and acceptance, seems to be quite similar to the attitude Kogia experienced.

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  6. #6

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    I guess this is what happens when so many adults live like children, waiting for someone else (aka a maid) to clean up for them at home, and cheap labour to clean up when they're out.

    I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but - for example - in UK we put our tray in the bin after we eat McDonalds... In HK i've been told (quote) "if you do that you are costing people jobs" - I've also had McDonalds workers quite flustered when I attempted to do it!

    Please, don't take this as criticism of HK people (I can see one of these West v HK debates springing up) - it is just a by-product of relatively cheap labour, conversely to the fact that in UK we have self service checkouts and in the post office/ airport etc. we are usually served by machines instead of people, due to a higher minimum wage and a better profit margin to be gained by avoiding labour.

    We're all products of our environment, that's why when you see a BBC or an ABC they are generally about as Western as you get!


  7. #7

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    I was there on sunday evening, those kite string were everywhere once you start heading past the Pavallion, I got entangled, my dogs were too, some of those string used by the pro looking kite flyers are quite dangerous as they use it to cut the other kite flyers string during mid air battle.

    I went down the hill on to the Tree Walk and there were kites every where at the bottom as well.


  8. #8

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    aren't the strings used have ground glass to cut an opponents string in a mid air battle?

    No wonder your dog was swearing!


  9. #9

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    [QUOTE=justjoe86;1539837]I guess this is what happens when so many adults live like children, waiting for someone else (aka a maid) to clean up for them at home, and cheap labour to clean up when they're out.

    I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but - for example - in UK we put our tray in the bin after we eat McDonalds... In HK i've been told (quote) "if you do that you are costing people jobs" - I've also had McDonalds workers quite flustered when I attempted to do it!
    QUOTE]

    How weird to find so much affiinity with half of what you say (we have said exactly the same thing about a society of adults living like kids in our house) and then feel so alienated by the other half (you actually eat in MacDonalds to see that behaviour??).


  10. #10

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    [QUOTE=kogia;1539901]

    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    I guess this is what happens when so many adults live like children, waiting for someone else (aka a maid) to clean up for them at home, and cheap labour to clean up when they're out.

    I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but - for example - in UK we put our tray in the bin after we eat McDonalds... In HK i've been told (quote) "if you do that you are costing people jobs" - I've also had McDonalds workers quite flustered when I attempted to do it!
    QUOTE]

    How weird to find so much affiinity with half of what you say (we have said exactly the same thing about a society of adults living like kids in our house) and then feel so alienated by the other half (you actually eat in MacDonalds to see that behaviour??).
    Sometimes a sausage and egg mcmuffin and a mccafe coffee is just the quick trick you need in a morning! Guilty pleasures haha.

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