早上泊在户外的汽車擋風玻璃上結滿霜
晚上的大雨過後，車身上的水珠迅間結成冰塊
屋頂上也結滿了霜
草地也不例外
東面山上結滿了雪，海拔一千五百呎以上已積雪遍遍
Saturday, January 10, 2009
這個冬天不太冷
全球暖化令世界氣候反常，加州出名的陽光與海灘在這個十二月忽然消聲匿跡....
早上泊在户外的汽車擋風玻璃上結滿霜
晚上的大雨過後，車身上的水珠迅間結成冰塊
屋頂上也結滿了霜
草地也不例外
東面山上結滿了雪，海拔一千五百呎以上已積雪遍遍
早上泊在户外的汽車擋風玻璃上結滿霜
晚上的大雨過後，車身上的水珠迅間結成冰塊
屋頂上也結滿了霜
草地也不例外
東面山上結滿了雪，海拔一千五百呎以上已積雪遍遍
現代人的悲哀 (一) ：感情
近日在Facebook看到學弟的一篇文章，其中一段訴說他開始發現跟比他年輕的後輩已有代溝，不明白時下年輕人對處理感情的態度是何等的開放….
個案一：甲已經有女朋友A，但仍然會追求另一個女的B，而這個女的又有另一位男朋友乙，而B又接受這個甲，弄致自己終於跟自己的男朋友乙分手……
甲 和A，乙和B (兩對共四人開始相安無事)
甲 追B
B和 乙 (分手收場)
A 和 甲繼續抖纏
沒錯一日未結婚那管你是甲、乙，還是A、B都有權選擇，但時下的年輕人總相信自己有能力同時處理四個人的三段關係。在他們眼中，一段關係不外乎電腦上的一個新視窗，只好嘆一句:這全拜Microsoft Window 的 multi-tasking function所賜。
個案二：失婚數年的男方自美返港工幹時在朋友介紹之下邂逅了年近三十的女方，事隔一月女的不惜告長假越洋七千多浬赴美住進男家陪男的過聖誕新年以解相思之苦。二人親密程度儼如一對熱戀多年的愛侶。男未婚女未嫁兩情相悅本應天下太平，但由素未謀面到同床共枕前後不用兩個月。香港人出名效率高生活節奏快全屬醒字派我可理解。但當大家常投訴生我養我供書教學的父母不明白我所要所想所以要搬開，那邊廂卻十二分包容的可以跟一個認識前後不足一千五百小時的人共處一室用上同一枝牙膏沐浴露抽同一包純萬寶路。是愛情的魔力能排除一切？還是春宵一刻值千金我話之理？慾望戰勝理智大家成年人又唔喺第一次所以無需太認真？
人與人之間的關係已進化到極點？還是退化到原始時代？
(待續..)
個案一：甲已經有女朋友A，但仍然會追求另一個女的B，而這個女的又有另一位男朋友乙，而B又接受這個甲，弄致自己終於跟自己的男朋友乙分手……
甲 和A，乙和B (兩對共四人開始相安無事)
甲 追B
B和 乙 (分手收場)
A 和 甲繼續抖纏
沒錯一日未結婚那管你是甲、乙，還是A、B都有權選擇，但時下的年輕人總相信自己有能力同時處理四個人的三段關係。在他們眼中，一段關係不外乎電腦上的一個新視窗，只好嘆一句:這全拜Microsoft Window 的 multi-tasking function所賜。
個案二：失婚數年的男方自美返港工幹時在朋友介紹之下邂逅了年近三十的女方，事隔一月女的不惜告長假越洋七千多浬赴美住進男家陪男的過聖誕新年以解相思之苦。二人親密程度儼如一對熱戀多年的愛侶。男未婚女未嫁兩情相悅本應天下太平，但由素未謀面到同床共枕前後不用兩個月。香港人出名效率高生活節奏快全屬醒字派我可理解。但當大家常投訴生我養我供書教學的父母不明白我所要所想所以要搬開，那邊廂卻十二分包容的可以跟一個認識前後不足一千五百小時的人共處一室用上同一枝牙膏沐浴露抽同一包純萬寶路。是愛情的魔力能排除一切？還是春宵一刻值千金我話之理？慾望戰勝理智大家成年人又唔喺第一次所以無需太認真？
人與人之間的關係已進化到極點？還是退化到原始時代？
(待續..)
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
貳零零捌程霜眼中大事回顧
事業 – 年初高人贈言程某於零捌年事業必有改變，驛馬不斷云云，高人果真料事如神，八月未過，已在新地點上班，新地方工作量較以往少，但涉及的層面較廣，屬問責形式。老闆奉行積極不干預政策。可能年紀關係，以往拼搏的日子已不復還，亦不响往，只寄望工程能依預定時間表動土施工，促進南加經濟，疏導交通之餘並且創造就業，造福華人社區。
學業 – 重拾課本的心願終於在年終前達成，念的卻是跟以往所學的風馬牛不相及，紅酒跟工程學南轅北轍，下班後疲累不堪仍要温習應付考試感覺並不好受，堅持的動力只憑一顆永不言敗的頑固信念和對課程內容的熱衷加興趣，雖稱不上學有所成，卻勉強把兩個課程念完，寄望成績單早日公佈，好可以更進一步，向文憑班挑戰。
家庭 – 六月叔父中風辭逝，更加意識到生命的脆弱，真正認知何謂萬般帶不走。現在仍有年邁家人在療養院出院無期，可以做的….只有等待，等待那一刻不要來。
感恩節前夕收到外甥女婿來電，小倆口正式為人父母，叫我一聲舅公….
我『…..』！養兒方知父母恩，小倆口，做個盡責的奴隸獸吧！
離別的愁緒，令人更覺新生命來臨的可貴。
朋友 – 多謝Facebook令我把散落全球的各方朋友重新連結，零玖年將會多兩位波友定居天使之城，結伴打球必定無難度。那邊廂共偕連理的弟兄一個接一個，祝願他們能有美滿將來。。
謹此祝願各方博客心想事成，繼續努力寫作！飲杯！
學業 – 重拾課本的心願終於在年終前達成，念的卻是跟以往所學的風馬牛不相及，紅酒跟工程學南轅北轍，下班後疲累不堪仍要温習應付考試感覺並不好受，堅持的動力只憑一顆永不言敗的頑固信念和對課程內容的熱衷加興趣，雖稱不上學有所成，卻勉強把兩個課程念完，寄望成績單早日公佈，好可以更進一步，向文憑班挑戰。
家庭 – 六月叔父中風辭逝，更加意識到生命的脆弱，真正認知何謂萬般帶不走。現在仍有年邁家人在療養院出院無期，可以做的….只有等待，等待那一刻不要來。
感恩節前夕收到外甥女婿來電，小倆口正式為人父母，叫我一聲舅公….
我『…..』！養兒方知父母恩，小倆口，做個盡責的奴隸獸吧！
離別的愁緒，令人更覺新生命來臨的可貴。
朋友 – 多謝Facebook令我把散落全球的各方朋友重新連結，零玖年將會多兩位波友定居天使之城，結伴打球必定無難度。那邊廂共偕連理的弟兄一個接一個，祝願他們能有美滿將來。。
謹此祝願各方博客心想事成，繼續努力寫作！飲杯！
變
世事常變。
讀大學時學長曾告誡，一生中要盡量避免於同一時間於家庭、事業和感情關係上作重大改變。生活上太大的轉變會容易令心理加重了負擔。若EQ不夠，很容易造成焦累。更甚會形成精神崩潰。
言猶在耳，上月家中作小裝修，把居所來個大翻新。
月前曾跟高人請教，高人斷言程某今年一定會轉工，甚而轉行。一把年紀才驚覺自己入錯行…..
三者已改其二，人變得沈默、變得收斂。
跟同事的關係更見疏離。。。。我看該是.......該走的時候
Friday, December 26, 2008
Good Food; Good Old Friends and of course..Good, Old Wine
An evening with good old friends,
some homemade good food and
good wines pulled from a friend's private cellar.....
It's worth to drive that 861 miles in below 40 degree F temperature,
above the 2,000 feet elevation snow line at Grapevine,
for 6 hours one-way, in the rain,
to spend some quality time with a few real good friends during Christmas times.......
Wine Tasting Notes? What wine tasting notes?
It is not what you drink, is who you are drinking with...
Live a simple life, A life that matters!
Friday, November 07, 2008
朋友，再見！一路好走......
"如果對於明天沒有要求 牽牽手就像旅遊
成千上萬個門口 總有一個人要先走
懷抱既然不能逗留 何不在離開的時候
一邊享受 一邊淚流
十年之前 我不認識你 你不屬於我
我們還是一樣 陪在一個陌生人左右
走過漸漸熟悉的街頭...."
(十年-林夕)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Challenges in Life
"Life is always filled with Challenges;
Sometimes these Challenges are scary.
But it is these Challenges that makes our Lives become more meaningful;
and these challenges also help shape our characters;
and add colors to our Lives."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
纽约開眼界之行
週末應友人邀請前往東岸，從洛杉磯到聖荷西，經丹佛到纽约；回程從紐約經阿特蘭大和聖荷西。三日內坐了六程飛機，逗留纽约卻不足廿一小時，出席了兩個拍賣會。有幸能跟其中一位拍賣官R於會後晚飯，三個男人一邊喝着香檳，一邊天南地北的聊天一個晚上，雖然跟R只是第一次見面，卻一點也沒有陌生的感覺。從红酒生意的市道前景到人對生活的追求無所不談，很爽。跟R談着，才知他為了一對小朋友升學問題，很快便會舉家回流倫敦。真的有點相逢恨晚的感覺.....
R也奇怪為何我們兩個『外人』會老遠從西岸跑到東岸來跟他見面。要在平淡生活中劃出精彩，非得花點心思不可。纽約，我七月會再來；前面的路將會怎樣走，我卻不太清楚。
美中不足的是因航班的延誤，錯過了會前的試酒會。實屬可惜。
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Something I learned Today
TEAM - Together Everyone Accomplishes More
1. Is the "Will" not the "Skill" what brings you the success
2. Be Successful -> Be Happy -> and Be Good
3. You need a Mentor regardless of your age, and you should step up to serve as other's mentee.
4. Catch people when they did something good, encouragement is free to give...allow them to look for their own mistakes.
5. Keep Life Simple, as well as your answer to other's question, don't avoid the answer.... "Loopers" are losers
6. Go to bed early. Nothing is good after midnight.
7. Step up to make things happen, standing behind will not do you any good.
8. Gain Strength after Failure
9. Build up your Self Confidence with positive attitude
10. Never Quit on what you belief
11. Enjoy what you are doing, if not, do something else.
12. Stop to lift someone's life
13. Is the Attitude that get you High Altitude
14. Don't walk away from negative people----run away, and run fast.....
1. Is the "Will" not the "Skill" what brings you the success
2. Be Successful -> Be Happy -> and Be Good
3. You need a Mentor regardless of your age, and you should step up to serve as other's mentee.
4. Catch people when they did something good, encouragement is free to give...allow them to look for their own mistakes.
5. Keep Life Simple, as well as your answer to other's question, don't avoid the answer.... "Loopers" are losers
6. Go to bed early. Nothing is good after midnight.
7. Step up to make things happen, standing behind will not do you any good.
8. Gain Strength after Failure
9. Build up your Self Confidence with positive attitude
10. Never Quit on what you belief
11. Enjoy what you are doing, if not, do something else.
12. Stop to lift someone's life
13. Is the Attitude that get you High Altitude
14. Don't walk away from negative people----run away, and run fast.....
Thursday, February 28, 2008
LET’S THINK TWICE BEFORE WELCOMING THE SO-CALLED TAX FREE WINE – A DIFFERENT OPINION
The following article was contributed by a friend of mine. He expressed a totally different opinion about the impacts of the proposed zero percent wine tax as part of the 08-09 fiscal budget...
"I am writing to reveal a few truth about the global wine trade situation, and to recommend *AGAINST* completely eliminating the import tax on wines, which is against the prevailing opinion publicized by a few special-interest groups.
I'm also in the import/export trade of fine and rare wines. While I could go with the flow, and be a proponent to welcome 0% import tax on wine, and enjoying the higher profit margin as a result of this proposed tax cut/elimination. I feel strongly about the resulting disparity of wealth. I feel obligated to reveal the latest condition of fine wine trade and the real motivation of those who advocate it, and how misleading those numbers are, as detailed below:
This tactic is for the wealthiest to liquidate their collection of the now-expensive wines currently stored in Europe.
The truth is, with 0% import tax of wine to Hong Kong, it creates a convenient venue for the wealthiest, those who have collected expensive and rare wines, to liquidate their asset in Hong Kong to attain the maximum profit. Everyday drinkers usually do not cellar/collect/store more than the volume that they could consume, let alone storing them in Europe's bonded warehouse. The much advertised “500,000 cases of wines owned by Hong Kong people”, should be more accurately described as “owned by the wealthiest Hong Kong people, not the general public.” Having a free-ride into Hong Kong region, would mean more direct and faster exit for the expensive ones, either for sale, or for their own consumptions, on a tax-free basis.
The lie about reduction in wine prices as a result from 0% tax.
The retail prices of the highly valued French wines are determined largely by second hand market -- via auctions, or consignment sales through retail merchants close to the source of collections, i.e. in USA, or in Europe where the original collectors are. Please note that wholesalers from Europe don't hold onto old vintages, they must push out and churn the current releases, which are of lesser valued. However, the rise of old vintages’ values has evidently created speculative pricing, or "price fixing", in the current, and future releases!! This is a vicious cycle, and is in contrary to the hyped benefit of cheaper retail wine prices.
Last year, when HK government reduced the tax from 80% to 40%, it immediately caused an up-rise in auction prices of those high-end Bordeaux wine from Europe. That's because the less tax means more ammunition or fire power (capital) to bid in the second hand market. Merchants with ties to HK, bid aggressively, knowing that the same $1,000 cost now can afford a higher hammer price. They then flip the wines to the wealthiest buyers in Asia. Remember, to access older vintages, they mostly *must* be obtained from second hand market. The price hasn't come down since then. This time, if the tax is completely being eliminated, the same thing will happen again. To the wealthiest, the difference of USD$2,500/bottle and $2,200/bottle is *NOTHING*. To the merchants, however, it means more buying/bidding power and they'll bid more eagerly in the second-hand supply market, while maintaining their $2,500/bottle price, because the wealthy buyers won't care that small fraction of difference, thus creating another wave of price escalation due to speculative buying. The price of the wine in second hand market trade will not decrease even though the import tax is being eliminated.
On the cheaper end of the spectrum, the supply is abundant world-wide. I have seen second grand cru classes from Bordeaux, prices barely moved by 10% - 15% in the past year, way behind the hot ones. They are of less demand, and there is really very little speculative upside for them. Consequently, there is very little incentive to import those to Hong Kong anyway, due to lower margin and high logistic cost per bottle. With abundant supply on the cheaper wines outside of HK, and little incentive to bring those into HK's hypothetical "wine trade center", price of the affordable wines will not see significant reduction, if any at all!
The resulting polarization of wealth.
As I pointed out, the value of those 500,000 cases currently stored in Europe are mostly high-end wines, some easily valued at HKD$15,000 per BOTTLE, not per case. How will the general humble HK citizens go buy those on daily basis? This is a classic case where a fiscal policy would help the richest to become richer, and very little to the poor. The buyers of expensive wines via retail merchants in USA, are mostly speculators and they then shipped the wines to Asia, many via illegal means (improperly import into Hong Kong or China via US postal mail without sufficient custom declaration). Under normal circumstances, typical wine drinkers rarely buy wines more than USD$150/bottle, it is deemed a luxury. Once the consumption pattern is understood, it is easy to see how being a "wine trade center" of expensive wines, only benefit the richest collectors!
"Wine Trade Center will create more job opportunity!" --- ha, ha, ha! Yeah right!
The lie about creating new job opportunity in logistics and storage. This is the biggest lie being covered by the media. Let’s look at the world’s second biggest wine production region – Napa Valley’s wine storage business. It is capital intensive to build during the start up stage, but it takes very, very little to maintain. One of the biggest wine storage in northern California is run by 3 people with only 2 of them full time. This storage is running at full capacity, storing about 25,000 cases, and that only takes 3 people to maintain.
Another storage facility in one of wealthiest neighborhood in northern California could not survive and went out of business last year, because there wasn’t enough demand for it. This is in the homeland where wines are cheap, but only the few wealthier folks collect and store the wines. The general public does not collect any significant quantity, and renting a commercial storage would not make any economic sense to them, they buy as they need to consume.
A major wine logistics operator in California, the "*** Wine Transport" (name withhold), handles the distribution of hundreds of wineries throughout USA, has a 20,000+ sq. ft warehouse, but hires no more than 50 people to run their high-volume business, and has been like that for the past 25 years! They distribute hundreds of thousands of cases annually.
Another major importers of French wines in California, only hires 2 warehouse staff, one of them is the delivery truck driver, the other is half of a sales. This 2-men crew manages all their distribution needs. Trucking logistics will not see significant growth either, unless the cheaper wines consumption increases many-folds. Note that the true intention of those who openly advocate 0% import tax, is after the high-end wines. In that segment, the actual volume/quantity is relatively small, that it'd hardly translate into more needs for trucking logistics. So how many job opportunities we could create even though we are bring those 500,000 cases of fine wine back?
For example, 10 pallets of high-end French wines (500 cases) can easily carry a value of USD$1M to USD$1.5M. That is enough supply for several weeks of sales in Hong Kong/Macau, if not longer! I wish every Hong Kong family has become so rich and refined in their taste that they open a bottle of Mr. Tong's beloved 1982 Mouton Rothschild every week, but first average Hong Kong family rarely spend so lavishly, and second, there aren't that many 82 Mouton available in the market as of now.
The volume required to significantly create new job opportunity is simply not there. Put simply, unless cheaper tax will bring in a LARGE AMOUNT of cheaper wines for general consumption, 0% import tax will not translate into significant number of new job opportunities. Motivation of selling older vintage when the market is high. Judging from the age-groups of the most affluent collectors in Hong Kong, many started collecting in the 80s. Many of those 500,000 cases are old vintages in the 80s or older. Bordeaux wines from the best vintages in the 80s, 1982, is drinkable now, whereas the weaker vintages in the 80s, are effectively expiring now. Instead of seeing their weaker vintage wines become undrinkable or decline in value, Hong Kong collectors of the 80’s and before want a fast and cheap exit for these soon-expired items. “How do I get rid of my soon-will-expire wines in Europe, without paying a hefty premium?” is a lingering question among the wealthy collector crowd of Hong Kong.
Recent winter snow storm in China, and the correction in China's equity market, has already slowed down the purchase of the high-end wines. By advocating 0% tax to create a cheaper exit for their collections, the wealthiest intention could be to catch the top of the market before any uncertainty set in. Having 0% import tax would implicitly encourage speculative buying and trading, which is a risky practice and lead to unstable pricing.
Put Our Public Safety and Import Security at Risk
0% Import Tax will definitely promote aggressive importation of fine and rare wine. At the same time, this is a perfect opportunity for criminals to smuggle illegal items into HK by carrying such illegal items as explosives, firearms in Original Wood Cases (also known as “OWC”), disguised on the outside with proper origin labels and hidden deep in piles of OWC with the high volume of import wines.
It also creates a more difficult job for Customs officers to spot any illegal items at the import clearing, because the lack of necessity to evaluate and impose tax based on wine values, importers are must less likely to unravel every pallet for examination. One pallet of wines can have 50 cases, each is 19kg in weight. With 0% tax, Customs officers are under pressure to expedite the screening/examination of these "non-taxable items", thus allowing illegal items to slip through easily.
In our neighboring city Macau, system is in place to reveal the content of every case, OWC or not, at the import customs clearing. Such tight measure has successfully discouraged and deterred the smuggling of illegal items via wine transport.
Conclusions
Fine and rare wines are an acquired taste. The market is heavily second-hand driven, the commodity is hardly standardized, so there's a lot of arbitrage opportunity for pricing. All these are as such, because the general public is not well-educated in terms of the supply, demand, and pricing of hundreds of vintages from wineries around the world. The media accept and readily publish whatever the lobbyists feed them as "data".
While I'm not a super wine expert, I have been in the business long enough to shake my head when I read the media coverage, the "rumors of 0% tax", only from mouth of the special-interest. The media have been flooded repetitively with such brain-washing data figures, which are biased, and conceal the true beneficiary. The same article quoting the hypothetical set of trade figures, new job opportunity, and the famous “500,000 cases of wines in Europe owned by Hong Kong citizens”, was published at least 3 times in a month. Note, these are not official statistics data endorsed by any organization outside of the local advocates. The media can and will learn the truth eventually. If they do, you can bet on that they will write negatively about any government endorsement to business idea which profits few and do little good to the rest, without due consideration and analysis.
By revealing some of the market condition and mechanism, I only hope the HK government would do the right thing for its people. I see very little media coverage on the opposite side of 0% wine import tax, which is worrisome. I hope the HK government is not in the dark about these, and will take a balanced approach which rewards those who truly create new job opportunity, and help Hong Kong become a competitive and stable environment for wine trade.
Hong Kong has already its shares of speculative buying/trading in equity and real estate market, please don't help create yet another one in the fine wine market AND SEGRAGATE OUR SOCIETY EVEN FURTHER BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR.
In my opinion, eliminating the import tax completely, is a poor fiscal and political move. I urge our Financial Secretary and his staff put some effort into analyzing the pros and cons of doing so, before the fiscal budget proposal becomes publicly available for review and approval. When and if the media learns about the above mechanism and landscape of the fine wine trade, a 0% tax proposal on imported wine will definitely draw heavy criticism from them.
It will look even worse, when the media can associate such policy with the fact that many prominent, high-ranking government officials have substantial, sizable collections of fine wines in Europe that will directly benefit from a “tax-free” import environment, for their own consumption, or for liquidation with higher tax-free profit."
"I am writing to reveal a few truth about the global wine trade situation, and to recommend *AGAINST* completely eliminating the import tax on wines, which is against the prevailing opinion publicized by a few special-interest groups.
I'm also in the import/export trade of fine and rare wines. While I could go with the flow, and be a proponent to welcome 0% import tax on wine, and enjoying the higher profit margin as a result of this proposed tax cut/elimination. I feel strongly about the resulting disparity of wealth. I feel obligated to reveal the latest condition of fine wine trade and the real motivation of those who advocate it, and how misleading those numbers are, as detailed below:
This tactic is for the wealthiest to liquidate their collection of the now-expensive wines currently stored in Europe.
The truth is, with 0% import tax of wine to Hong Kong, it creates a convenient venue for the wealthiest, those who have collected expensive and rare wines, to liquidate their asset in Hong Kong to attain the maximum profit. Everyday drinkers usually do not cellar/collect/store more than the volume that they could consume, let alone storing them in Europe's bonded warehouse. The much advertised “500,000 cases of wines owned by Hong Kong people”, should be more accurately described as “owned by the wealthiest Hong Kong people, not the general public.” Having a free-ride into Hong Kong region, would mean more direct and faster exit for the expensive ones, either for sale, or for their own consumptions, on a tax-free basis.
The lie about reduction in wine prices as a result from 0% tax.
The retail prices of the highly valued French wines are determined largely by second hand market -- via auctions, or consignment sales through retail merchants close to the source of collections, i.e. in USA, or in Europe where the original collectors are. Please note that wholesalers from Europe don't hold onto old vintages, they must push out and churn the current releases, which are of lesser valued. However, the rise of old vintages’ values has evidently created speculative pricing, or "price fixing", in the current, and future releases!! This is a vicious cycle, and is in contrary to the hyped benefit of cheaper retail wine prices.
Last year, when HK government reduced the tax from 80% to 40%, it immediately caused an up-rise in auction prices of those high-end Bordeaux wine from Europe. That's because the less tax means more ammunition or fire power (capital) to bid in the second hand market. Merchants with ties to HK, bid aggressively, knowing that the same $1,000 cost now can afford a higher hammer price. They then flip the wines to the wealthiest buyers in Asia. Remember, to access older vintages, they mostly *must* be obtained from second hand market. The price hasn't come down since then. This time, if the tax is completely being eliminated, the same thing will happen again. To the wealthiest, the difference of USD$2,500/bottle and $2,200/bottle is *NOTHING*. To the merchants, however, it means more buying/bidding power and they'll bid more eagerly in the second-hand supply market, while maintaining their $2,500/bottle price, because the wealthy buyers won't care that small fraction of difference, thus creating another wave of price escalation due to speculative buying. The price of the wine in second hand market trade will not decrease even though the import tax is being eliminated.
On the cheaper end of the spectrum, the supply is abundant world-wide. I have seen second grand cru classes from Bordeaux, prices barely moved by 10% - 15% in the past year, way behind the hot ones. They are of less demand, and there is really very little speculative upside for them. Consequently, there is very little incentive to import those to Hong Kong anyway, due to lower margin and high logistic cost per bottle. With abundant supply on the cheaper wines outside of HK, and little incentive to bring those into HK's hypothetical "wine trade center", price of the affordable wines will not see significant reduction, if any at all!
The resulting polarization of wealth.
As I pointed out, the value of those 500,000 cases currently stored in Europe are mostly high-end wines, some easily valued at HKD$15,000 per BOTTLE, not per case. How will the general humble HK citizens go buy those on daily basis? This is a classic case where a fiscal policy would help the richest to become richer, and very little to the poor. The buyers of expensive wines via retail merchants in USA, are mostly speculators and they then shipped the wines to Asia, many via illegal means (improperly import into Hong Kong or China via US postal mail without sufficient custom declaration). Under normal circumstances, typical wine drinkers rarely buy wines more than USD$150/bottle, it is deemed a luxury. Once the consumption pattern is understood, it is easy to see how being a "wine trade center" of expensive wines, only benefit the richest collectors!
"Wine Trade Center will create more job opportunity!" --- ha, ha, ha! Yeah right!
The lie about creating new job opportunity in logistics and storage. This is the biggest lie being covered by the media. Let’s look at the world’s second biggest wine production region – Napa Valley’s wine storage business. It is capital intensive to build during the start up stage, but it takes very, very little to maintain. One of the biggest wine storage in northern California is run by 3 people with only 2 of them full time. This storage is running at full capacity, storing about 25,000 cases, and that only takes 3 people to maintain.
Another storage facility in one of wealthiest neighborhood in northern California could not survive and went out of business last year, because there wasn’t enough demand for it. This is in the homeland where wines are cheap, but only the few wealthier folks collect and store the wines. The general public does not collect any significant quantity, and renting a commercial storage would not make any economic sense to them, they buy as they need to consume.
A major wine logistics operator in California, the "*** Wine Transport" (name withhold), handles the distribution of hundreds of wineries throughout USA, has a 20,000+ sq. ft warehouse, but hires no more than 50 people to run their high-volume business, and has been like that for the past 25 years! They distribute hundreds of thousands of cases annually.
Another major importers of French wines in California, only hires 2 warehouse staff, one of them is the delivery truck driver, the other is half of a sales. This 2-men crew manages all their distribution needs. Trucking logistics will not see significant growth either, unless the cheaper wines consumption increases many-folds. Note that the true intention of those who openly advocate 0% import tax, is after the high-end wines. In that segment, the actual volume/quantity is relatively small, that it'd hardly translate into more needs for trucking logistics. So how many job opportunities we could create even though we are bring those 500,000 cases of fine wine back?
For example, 10 pallets of high-end French wines (500 cases) can easily carry a value of USD$1M to USD$1.5M. That is enough supply for several weeks of sales in Hong Kong/Macau, if not longer! I wish every Hong Kong family has become so rich and refined in their taste that they open a bottle of Mr. Tong's beloved 1982 Mouton Rothschild every week, but first average Hong Kong family rarely spend so lavishly, and second, there aren't that many 82 Mouton available in the market as of now.
The volume required to significantly create new job opportunity is simply not there. Put simply, unless cheaper tax will bring in a LARGE AMOUNT of cheaper wines for general consumption, 0% import tax will not translate into significant number of new job opportunities. Motivation of selling older vintage when the market is high. Judging from the age-groups of the most affluent collectors in Hong Kong, many started collecting in the 80s. Many of those 500,000 cases are old vintages in the 80s or older. Bordeaux wines from the best vintages in the 80s, 1982, is drinkable now, whereas the weaker vintages in the 80s, are effectively expiring now. Instead of seeing their weaker vintage wines become undrinkable or decline in value, Hong Kong collectors of the 80’s and before want a fast and cheap exit for these soon-expired items. “How do I get rid of my soon-will-expire wines in Europe, without paying a hefty premium?” is a lingering question among the wealthy collector crowd of Hong Kong.
Recent winter snow storm in China, and the correction in China's equity market, has already slowed down the purchase of the high-end wines. By advocating 0% tax to create a cheaper exit for their collections, the wealthiest intention could be to catch the top of the market before any uncertainty set in. Having 0% import tax would implicitly encourage speculative buying and trading, which is a risky practice and lead to unstable pricing.
Put Our Public Safety and Import Security at Risk
0% Import Tax will definitely promote aggressive importation of fine and rare wine. At the same time, this is a perfect opportunity for criminals to smuggle illegal items into HK by carrying such illegal items as explosives, firearms in Original Wood Cases (also known as “OWC”), disguised on the outside with proper origin labels and hidden deep in piles of OWC with the high volume of import wines.
It also creates a more difficult job for Customs officers to spot any illegal items at the import clearing, because the lack of necessity to evaluate and impose tax based on wine values, importers are must less likely to unravel every pallet for examination. One pallet of wines can have 50 cases, each is 19kg in weight. With 0% tax, Customs officers are under pressure to expedite the screening/examination of these "non-taxable items", thus allowing illegal items to slip through easily.
In our neighboring city Macau, system is in place to reveal the content of every case, OWC or not, at the import customs clearing. Such tight measure has successfully discouraged and deterred the smuggling of illegal items via wine transport.
Conclusions
Fine and rare wines are an acquired taste. The market is heavily second-hand driven, the commodity is hardly standardized, so there's a lot of arbitrage opportunity for pricing. All these are as such, because the general public is not well-educated in terms of the supply, demand, and pricing of hundreds of vintages from wineries around the world. The media accept and readily publish whatever the lobbyists feed them as "data".
While I'm not a super wine expert, I have been in the business long enough to shake my head when I read the media coverage, the "rumors of 0% tax", only from mouth of the special-interest. The media have been flooded repetitively with such brain-washing data figures, which are biased, and conceal the true beneficiary. The same article quoting the hypothetical set of trade figures, new job opportunity, and the famous “500,000 cases of wines in Europe owned by Hong Kong citizens”, was published at least 3 times in a month. Note, these are not official statistics data endorsed by any organization outside of the local advocates. The media can and will learn the truth eventually. If they do, you can bet on that they will write negatively about any government endorsement to business idea which profits few and do little good to the rest, without due consideration and analysis.
By revealing some of the market condition and mechanism, I only hope the HK government would do the right thing for its people. I see very little media coverage on the opposite side of 0% wine import tax, which is worrisome. I hope the HK government is not in the dark about these, and will take a balanced approach which rewards those who truly create new job opportunity, and help Hong Kong become a competitive and stable environment for wine trade.
Hong Kong has already its shares of speculative buying/trading in equity and real estate market, please don't help create yet another one in the fine wine market AND SEGRAGATE OUR SOCIETY EVEN FURTHER BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR.
In my opinion, eliminating the import tax completely, is a poor fiscal and political move. I urge our Financial Secretary and his staff put some effort into analyzing the pros and cons of doing so, before the fiscal budget proposal becomes publicly available for review and approval. When and if the media learns about the above mechanism and landscape of the fine wine trade, a 0% tax proposal on imported wine will definitely draw heavy criticism from them.
It will look even worse, when the media can associate such policy with the fact that many prominent, high-ranking government officials have substantial, sizable collections of fine wines in Europe that will directly benefit from a “tax-free” import environment, for their own consumption, or for liquidation with higher tax-free profit."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
事先張揚 - 樂壇早有人洞釋先機
近日人人談論樂壇淫照事件，孰是孰非眾說紛云。事件仍在調查階段程某亦不想多作胡亂猜測。抱病在家多天呆望公仔箱赫見這首零七年林夕作品橫掃多個頒獎禮，細看歌詞內容再看八卦新聞事態發展，莫非林老師早已洞釋先機，賦詞入曲，道出一眾女當事人心聲？
酷愛
作曲：Vincent Chow｜填詞：林夕｜編曲：Gary Tong｜監製：Alvin Leong
無論怎得罪 你說我是負累
陪著我等於死去了無情趣
從前或現在當我是誰
你這一種伴侶
前夜一起睡 你卻沒廉恥
竟講出口你怕受罪
完全忘記往日為何
凌晨迎潮浪戲水
＊還道愛愛愛愛愛對愛情已死心
貪高興好心敷衍一下卻逼真的親吻
我們這結局太不堪
分不出真假的愛恨
無謂愛愛愛愛愛太過動魄驚心
我估錯這個世界得到教訓
怎相信人 命中怎麼愛著你為人＊
立甚麼心腸 我對你極善良
如若你肯想想我這樣受傷
你會知愛情毒於砒霜
你怎安心可不改漂亮
怎想像 共你已同享多少很真確晚上
一轉頭 纏綿後要罰離場
Repeat＊
彷似幻像你給我的愛是玩具磨爛後變絕情
難為這洗劫永沒罪證
道別並無罪也沒權問你內情
Repeat＊(Rap)
(Rap:我都唔知點解你忽然對我無晒感覺
以前嗰種快樂就好似成為一種罪惡
連我失眠 你都唔多覺
或者其實所謂愛情都只係互相搵個寄托
或者係一場即興嘅幻覺
連自己都唔知道 乜嘢係喜 乜嘢係樂
幾時有感覺 又幾時無晒知覺
就算你無突然失去下落
我哋之間都可能已經落幕)
Repeat＊()
(把失敗換教訓 不死總算幸運
看 全沒罪案發生
為著聚散不需責任
一起若像軟禁 無疑離開先更合襯)
酷愛
作曲：Vincent Chow｜填詞：林夕｜編曲：Gary Tong｜監製：Alvin Leong
無論怎得罪 你說我是負累
陪著我等於死去了無情趣
從前或現在當我是誰
你這一種伴侶
前夜一起睡 你卻沒廉恥
竟講出口你怕受罪
完全忘記往日為何
凌晨迎潮浪戲水
＊還道愛愛愛愛愛對愛情已死心
貪高興好心敷衍一下卻逼真的親吻
我們這結局太不堪
分不出真假的愛恨
無謂愛愛愛愛愛太過動魄驚心
我估錯這個世界得到教訓
怎相信人 命中怎麼愛著你為人＊
立甚麼心腸 我對你極善良
如若你肯想想我這樣受傷
你會知愛情毒於砒霜
你怎安心可不改漂亮
怎想像 共你已同享多少很真確晚上
一轉頭 纏綿後要罰離場
Repeat＊
彷似幻像你給我的愛是玩具磨爛後變絕情
難為這洗劫永沒罪證
道別並無罪也沒權問你內情
Repeat＊(Rap)
(Rap:我都唔知點解你忽然對我無晒感覺
以前嗰種快樂就好似成為一種罪惡
連我失眠 你都唔多覺
或者其實所謂愛情都只係互相搵個寄托
或者係一場即興嘅幻覺
連自己都唔知道 乜嘢係喜 乜嘢係樂
幾時有感覺 又幾時無晒知覺
就算你無突然失去下落
我哋之間都可能已經落幕)
Repeat＊()
(把失敗換教訓 不死總算幸運
看 全沒罪案發生
為著聚散不需責任
一起若像軟禁 無疑離開先更合襯)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
友緣相聚
"每個人都希望在自己的人生舞台當中，
贏得擊節的掌聲..."
"舞台的演出是經過無數次的綵排，
有重新再來的機會；
但人生的演譯就只有一次。
能夠在人生之中演活自己，
投入人生中的每一個角色，
這樣才可做到無悔今生...."
-沈澱霞於無綫電視節目『友緣相聚』中訪問話劇界前輩朱瑞棠老師的兩段旁白-
贏得擊節的掌聲..."
"舞台的演出是經過無數次的綵排，
有重新再來的機會；
但人生的演譯就只有一次。
能夠在人生之中演活自己，
投入人生中的每一個角色，
這樣才可做到無悔今生...."
-沈澱霞於無綫電視節目『友緣相聚』中訪問話劇界前輩朱瑞棠老師的兩段旁白-
Thursday, January 03, 2008
仍是情報
刑事情報科第十六集有段對白大意如下：
『兩個人當初無論如何的投契，日子久了，當大家各自有着不同的人生目標，便會一先一後，愈走愈遠，向着各自的目標進發，沒有分誰是誰非..........
人與人之間的關係是何等的脆弱，當初可能只是基於一個眼神、一個承諾、一句說話、一個刻骨銘心的舉動而走在一起；但往後的日子卻要花上無盡的精力和時間，去維繫、去修補、去延續這段關係。人與人之間原來是何等的無奈............』
『兩個人當初無論如何的投契，日子久了，當大家各自有着不同的人生目標，便會一先一後，愈走愈遠，向着各自的目標進發，沒有分誰是誰非..........
人與人之間的關係是何等的脆弱，當初可能只是基於一個眼神、一個承諾、一句說話、一個刻骨銘心的舉動而走在一起；但往後的日子卻要花上無盡的精力和時間，去維繫、去修補、去延續這段關係。人與人之間原來是何等的無奈............』
Monday, December 10, 2007
飲水思源
回來已差不多一個星期，當中有四天是混在母校裡參加舊生聚會和跟昔日老師一同慶祝校慶。當年的老師們大部份現今巳過著退休的生活。重遇他們，有着一份說不出的親切感。上次見面雖然已是N年前的事，但跟舊日飯堂老闆、校務處的職員、修仕打招呼的時侯，卻完全沒有分隔兩地的疏離感覺。
校舍雖然有點陳舊，少了昔日的霸氣，畢境巳是八十年代初的建築設計，卻多了點和靄的感覺，當一眾從南加趕回來参加校慶的師兄弟站在聖喇沙像脚下合照的時候，大家不其然記起校歌的幾句：
"有 幸 做 好 喇 沙 書 院 友
重 遇 我 往 昔 同 窗
不 管 天 陰 天 晴 日
我 地 齊 聲 將 此 曲 唱"
"同 門 友 誼 因 時 俱 進
當 天 歡 笑 不 變 樣
良 朋 滿 堂 欣 然 相 對
母 校 校 歌 來 合 唱"
噢....為甚麼有沙入眼？
校舍雖然有點陳舊，少了昔日的霸氣，畢境巳是八十年代初的建築設計，卻多了點和靄的感覺，當一眾從南加趕回來参加校慶的師兄弟站在聖喇沙像脚下合照的時候，大家不其然記起校歌的幾句：
"有 幸 做 好 喇 沙 書 院 友
重 遇 我 往 昔 同 窗
不 管 天 陰 天 晴 日
我 地 齊 聲 將 此 曲 唱"
"同 門 友 誼 因 時 俱 進
當 天 歡 笑 不 變 樣
良 朋 滿 堂 欣 然 相 對
母 校 校 歌 來 合 唱"
噢....為甚麼有沙入眼？
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
不一樣的十一月
北方的摯友跟病魔巳惡鬥了三年有多，十月初探望她的時候她已身卧病房之中，但氣息仍十分好，跟我們依然有說有笑。臨別前我還叮囑她要早日痊癒，好等一眾兄弟姊妹十一月趁長假期再度北上帶她往北加州的場觀光，一嚐大客滋味。
言猶在耳，下班前卻收到學弟的一通電郵，令心情頃刻間跟近日的恆指一樣，直線下滑……..
『她的親人依照她的意願，把所有喉管通通拔掉……..』
雖然人生四苦早已司空見慣，亦已學懂用平常心去看待；雖未至鐵石心腸，自問亦非眼淺之輩，但始終人非草目…..
以往遇到挫折時常常告誡自己人定勝天，其實吾等是何其渺小；假若上天硬要把她帶走，任誰也擋不了。
凡事由天定，一切皆隨緣，會否好過一點？
我欲乘風去
汝偏把我留
心盡碎
欲哭卻無淚
莫道誰欠了誰
塵緣將盡
化輕煙一縷
恨情深缘淺
陰陽倆不見
留未亡人
肝腸寸斷
深秋立樓頭淚滿面
人生匆匆
不求天長地久
可幸曾經擁有
驀然回首
卻恨未能倆相廝守到白頭......
現在距離預定出發時間還有二十四小時，更改行程已來不及，一定要沉著，因程某要專心飛車……….
言猶在耳，下班前卻收到學弟的一通電郵，令心情頃刻間跟近日的恆指一樣，直線下滑……..
『她的親人依照她的意願，把所有喉管通通拔掉……..』
雖然人生四苦早已司空見慣，亦已學懂用平常心去看待；雖未至鐵石心腸，自問亦非眼淺之輩，但始終人非草目…..
以往遇到挫折時常常告誡自己人定勝天，其實吾等是何其渺小；假若上天硬要把她帶走，任誰也擋不了。
凡事由天定，一切皆隨緣，會否好過一點？
我欲乘風去
汝偏把我留
心盡碎
欲哭卻無淚
莫道誰欠了誰
塵緣將盡
化輕煙一縷
恨情深缘淺
陰陽倆不見
留未亡人
肝腸寸斷
深秋立樓頭淚滿面
人生匆匆
不求天長地久
可幸曾經擁有
驀然回首
卻恨未能倆相廝守到白頭......
現在距離預定出發時間還有二十四小時，更改行程已來不及，一定要沉著，因程某要專心飛車……….
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Wooden Bowl (Author Unknown)
Sometimes it is just too hard for me not to share.....
I guarantee you will remember the tale of the Wooden Bowl tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now.
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.
The family ate together at the table.
But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about father," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There! Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two; his food was served in a wooden bowl!
When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food!
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?"
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.
That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they are gone from your life.
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life...”
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.
People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn!
I've learned that you should pass this on to everyone you care about. I just did.
I am not going to be the one who lets it die. I found it believable -- angels have walked beside me all my life--and they still do.
I guarantee you will remember the tale of the Wooden Bowl tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now.
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.
The family ate together at the table.
But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about father," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There! Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two; his food was served in a wooden bowl!
When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food!
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?"
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.
That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they are gone from your life.
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life...”
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.
People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn!
I've learned that you should pass this on to everyone you care about. I just did.
I am not going to be the one who lets it die. I found it believable -- angels have walked beside me all my life--and they still do.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
酒後胡言篇之“女人，也是人”
前言：
早前劣作刋出後，有讀者留言提及應為女性出頭。苦思如何起筆之際，公仔箱傳來梁偉文學長的一段話：『創作人應該有雙性思維，從兩性角度分別出發以作出持平論調。』程某斗胆從另一角度出發.......
“不要把我和其他亞洲地區的女性作比較，我清楚明白也知道我們這群土生土長的一群並沒有日本女孩婚前的可愛或婚後的千依百順，因我沒有要求你老闆每月把你的薪水自動轉賬給我；我也沒有韓國女孩般輪廓鮮明樣子嬌俏，因我爸不會容許我高中畢業後立刻去花錢整容，亦不會如李英愛大長今般任勞任怨，因這只是编劇筆下的神話；而我也要外出工作賺錢買名牌包包和化粧品；我也沒有如台灣女孩般嬌嗲和柔情似水，因為我自出娘胎便要在這個鳥獸都市中長大，地鐵巴士內周圍都充斥着各式各樣色迷迷的眼光，所以上班我會棄極其女人味的連身羅傘裙子而選套裝加長衭；就算穿裙子也會如周麗淇般加一條四個骨窄身衭；大熱天也要在上衫外加件冷氣褸。更不要把我和北地姑娘並排比較，我不像她們懂家頭細務做飯煲湯揍小朋友，我才不會跟她們一般見識以相夫教子為终生職業，做個家庭主婦總不需大學學歷吧。而我自小有菲傭嫲嫲外婆替我打点一切，我是爸媽眼中的掌上明珠心肝寶貝，家頭細務也不是我杯茶。我是被寵的一個，我亦樂於成為被寵的一個。
我們基本上也是喜歡做運動的，拿着重典典的購物袋由中環行到銅鑼灣應該可以減到不少卡路里。星期天是唯一一天可以以睡眠去補充皮膚失去水份的機會，所以千萬不要安排任何上午的活動。要不然皮膚保養不好要花錢護膚請勿投訴。女為悅己者容，我們花那麼多時間和精神去美容漂白減肥，目的亦只不過想你們臭男人的眼睛好過一點。吾媽子教誨人善被人欺，所以千萬不要投訴我粗聲粗氣對待外人；我在事業上努力跟男仕們一起打拚，因我媽常說男人都靠不住；我也要替往後的日子作最壞的打算。
色戒中王佳芝和易先生的一夜纏綿是多麽的令人响往，只因現實生活中居住的地方實在異常的狹窄，情感上的宣洩往往未能完全釋放，至令我們經常感到頭痛。地產商何時才會花心思替主人房興建一些完全隔音的牆壁，好讓大家可以不受噪音影響而得到安睡？
男人口口聲聲說女人天生茶煲，卻又偏倫徧違反不了大自然的定律：『男人愛女人，女人是茶煲。』你們真傻。為甚麼你們男人總是天生的長不大？還是刻意地做個永遠長不大的男孩子？為甚麼你們還是不懂我們的用心良苦？”
早前劣作刋出後，有讀者留言提及應為女性出頭。苦思如何起筆之際，公仔箱傳來梁偉文學長的一段話：『創作人應該有雙性思維，從兩性角度分別出發以作出持平論調。』程某斗胆從另一角度出發.......
“不要把我和其他亞洲地區的女性作比較，我清楚明白也知道我們這群土生土長的一群並沒有日本女孩婚前的可愛或婚後的千依百順，因我沒有要求你老闆每月把你的薪水自動轉賬給我；我也沒有韓國女孩般輪廓鮮明樣子嬌俏，因我爸不會容許我高中畢業後立刻去花錢整容，亦不會如李英愛大長今般任勞任怨，因這只是编劇筆下的神話；而我也要外出工作賺錢買名牌包包和化粧品；我也沒有如台灣女孩般嬌嗲和柔情似水，因為我自出娘胎便要在這個鳥獸都市中長大，地鐵巴士內周圍都充斥着各式各樣色迷迷的眼光，所以上班我會棄極其女人味的連身羅傘裙子而選套裝加長衭；就算穿裙子也會如周麗淇般加一條四個骨窄身衭；大熱天也要在上衫外加件冷氣褸。更不要把我和北地姑娘並排比較，我不像她們懂家頭細務做飯煲湯揍小朋友，我才不會跟她們一般見識以相夫教子為终生職業，做個家庭主婦總不需大學學歷吧。而我自小有菲傭嫲嫲外婆替我打点一切，我是爸媽眼中的掌上明珠心肝寶貝，家頭細務也不是我杯茶。我是被寵的一個，我亦樂於成為被寵的一個。
我們基本上也是喜歡做運動的，拿着重典典的購物袋由中環行到銅鑼灣應該可以減到不少卡路里。星期天是唯一一天可以以睡眠去補充皮膚失去水份的機會，所以千萬不要安排任何上午的活動。要不然皮膚保養不好要花錢護膚請勿投訴。女為悅己者容，我們花那麼多時間和精神去美容漂白減肥，目的亦只不過想你們臭男人的眼睛好過一點。吾媽子教誨人善被人欺，所以千萬不要投訴我粗聲粗氣對待外人；我在事業上努力跟男仕們一起打拚，因我媽常說男人都靠不住；我也要替往後的日子作最壞的打算。
色戒中王佳芝和易先生的一夜纏綿是多麽的令人响往，只因現實生活中居住的地方實在異常的狹窄，情感上的宣洩往往未能完全釋放，至令我們經常感到頭痛。地產商何時才會花心思替主人房興建一些完全隔音的牆壁，好讓大家可以不受噪音影響而得到安睡？
男人口口聲聲說女人天生茶煲，卻又偏倫徧違反不了大自然的定律：『男人愛女人，女人是茶煲。』你們真傻。為甚麼你們男人總是天生的長不大？還是刻意地做個永遠長不大的男孩子？為甚麼你們還是不懂我們的用心良苦？”
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
一九八八
上月北上走訪友人，舊朋友盛意拳拳，二話不說從私人珍藏中拿出這瓶1988年的 Bordeaux Left Bank Second Growth送飯。
酒香沉鬱、沒有First Growth的懾人氣魄，葡萄的淡淡幽香夾雜著細水長流的餘香(after taste)，名乎其實的齒頰留香，酒的芬芳和葡萄的果香不住交錯的去復還，真正回味無窮。
同行的學弟一邊啖着紅酒，一邊凝望着樽上寫着年份的招紙，不期然的問道：『1988年，還在唸中三，你那年在做甚麼？』
1988年，屈指一算距今已是差不多廿年光景。廿年前的人和事，你又記得起多少？
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