James D. McCurdy

Swine Flu has hit Hong Kong.  Says Monsters and Critics.com, 240 guests and 100 hotel staff have been quarantined for a week.  They were initially told only 24 hours.  What’s scary is that Hong Kong, because of it’s preparedness from SARS, can do this.  They could do more than just lock up the Wan Chai Metropark Hotel, they could close down the airports to all incoming flights.  They could lock up the borders.  The place could get crazy.

Some good news:  the pool at Royal Green, the place where I live, finally opened yesterday.  Some bad news:  it closed today due to the impending doom of swine flu.  I told the guy downstairs that closing the pool was dumb, cause I’m the only one that uses it.  It’s probably the cleanest pool in Hong Kong.  I almost guarantee I’m the only one who’s been in it since the end of October, and I didn’t even pee in it.  I should have. 

So I had to swim at the Sheung Shui pool after lunch, which was fine, except there were no lane lines and about 50 youth and a bunch of old men battling with me over my lane.  I managed to have a good work out, despite running into/crushing some kick-boarder.  Then I went for an hour run.

I took a few photos of the signs posted outside the pool.  They’re a bit excessive but demonstrate the overall hypochondria of Hong Kong society.

I saw a bus driver get out of his bus, pull down his surgical mask, and light up a cigarette.  I tried to get a picture without him noticing but couldn’t. 

So here’s a picture of me gathering some soil moisture data.

Jay