Current annoyances (by no means an exhaustive list)

Of late, I haven't had the inclination to blog - my thoughts have been tied up elsewhere on somewhat more pressing matters. I regularly meander along the chaotic streets here or sit through yet another ferry journey into work while pondering what I could be writing on here, and indeed have written some fantastic posts. Computer geeks of the world, unite: make something that transfers my thoughts to a computer screen.

Perhaps I'll get a dictaphone. Awesome.

A pet hate of the moment? Umbrellas. I now have a monthly budget set aside for umbrellas, and I jest not. What with ridiculously high levels of humidity over here it is unreasonable to consider wearing a waterproof coat to fend off the elements and thus an umbrella is the only truly viable option; unfortunately, the majority of umbrellas are not built to withstand the forces of nature that are present in HK at this time of year. Specifically, the Rainy Season. In addition to the regular destruction of my umbrellas, I have to deal with the idiots who march along with their stadium-size brolly with an evil sharp point at one end, held parallel to the pavement and thus at a perfect height to jab me firmly in the shins. An Umbrella Proficiency Course needs to be created.

Next? Oh, which to choose? How about the fact that I have a Masters degree from one of the more prestigious universities in the world, a degree I gained by - essentially - a careful and impeccable analysis of words. Meanings, sentence structures, words omitted, words overlooked, pauses, punctuation, the whole works. I could write a dissertation based around a single postcard. It frustrates me that, despite knowing this, some people try and have their way with me by means of artful playing around with semantics. A gentle word of warning: underestimate me at your peril.

Weather. Perhaps this should have slotted in after Umbrellas, but I trust that nobody reading this is going to dare to question my judgement. Continuous rain is unutterably depressing, and we've had a good deal of it recently out here. HK even has a warning system for when the rain becomes particularly dramatic - a few weeks ago, I experienced the worst rains in the city since records began. 'Black rain', as it is referred to on the warning system, equates to time off work as it is deemed too dangerous to be outside. There comes a point, however, when walking up a hill as drenched as a person can get, that the frustration with the rain suddenly dissipates and is replaced with, for me at least, a strange sense of belonging. Every part of you has become so involved in the very business of being alive that eventually a part of my brain kicks back into action. I do some of my best thinking after prolonged periods of miserable weather- well, after I've climbed out of the initial pit of depression that it invariably induces.

It shouldn't be classified as an 'annoyance', but still: the endless knifings I keep reading about. I just glanced at the BBC website between typing paragraphs and note that a man has stormed into a police station in Shanghai and stabbed to death at least five officers. Dear God. Somewhat illogically, there is something much less brutal about murdering someone with a gunshot; at least this method is (or can be) mercifully fast and painless. Stabbing, cutting somebody's throat, repeatedly thrusting a knife into another human being - where does such anger and hatred come from? (That was entirely rhetorical, I obviously have just a few opinions on that topic.)

Yes, some people have accomplished incredible things - en masse, the human race has evolved impressively, dramatically, seemingly impossibly at times. And yet, while some leap on with technological and medical advances, others are left behind, the pawns in an elaborate game of chess played by people with ideals and theorems; people armed with a veritable mountain of statistics and data but no concept of understanding human nature. Students are constantly asking me why we bother to read some of the texts we do - why read Sophocles and Shakespeare and Hardy and Woolf? Surely they are redundant today? I tell them that one damn good reason is that we can see as we read that humans have, fundamentally, remained unchanged for centuries. Isn't that both fascinating and terrifying? We are still jealous and envious, bitter and greedy, cruel and unkind: it somehow seems irrelevant that I can write something on a computer in Hong Kong and transmit it to the entire world when such basic problems remain unsolved.

The man who created the atomic bomb petitioned to the US government to not use it: he realised the evil he had unleashed on the world. With great power comes great responsibility, and I just wish a few more people understood that concept and worked with it. Here's to hoping Barack Obama means at least half of what he says.

"Science has made us Gods even before we are worthy of being men." (Jean Rostand)