Christmas reflections

Christmas Eve we attended midnight mass, it being dry and not too cold for once outside, and was very warm in the church with about 80% full congregation. A very good service with some delightful music, Smiths Mass setting and a Tavener piece to inspire the soul. The sermon was forgettable but caused me to reflect upon those times this last year when the plight of others had been brought to mind by personal experience or witness of occasions. Two such events of contrasting, but by no means less meaningful, were respectively in Edinburgh and Chengdu. The first was the return parade of "the Scottish Regiment" along the Royal Mile. We stood outside the City Hall atop the hill and heard the bagpipes from the bottom of the hill gradually becoming louder as they ascended with the marching troops. As the soldiers passed the Brigadier and Sheriff they gave the salute. We were very moved by the sight of these battle worn men recently returned from Afghanistan and could see the battle stress in their faces. The column of troops was followed by one of their soldiers in his wheelchair.
The other event was at Chengdu Station in Sechuan Province, China where we alighted from the train and found hundreds of young soldiers on the platform with lots of gear waiting to go to Tibet. The Government had brought their parents to see them off and would transport them home subsequently.
To serve in Tibet is considered an honour as to be picked for duty you need to be very fit so that you can endure the harsh conditions and rare atmosphere in that part of the World. These young men are also facing the unknown and their families fearful for their safety and anxious about their returning home one day.
We have not yet been to Tibet but hope to in 2009 or 2010 if we have time. There is a new train service from Beijing to Lhasa taking about 4 days through very spectacular scenery which we would like to try along with two Chinese friends.
Anyway, these memories came to mind whilst at mass and reminded me of others who need us to include them in our prayers.
May your Christmas be peaceful and Happy.

Not another banking story........?

I took this photo in Nanjing in November and think that it is an apt subject for the banking fraternity, showing a forlorn, desperate man on the steps in front of a bank!
My latest experience with Lloyds TSB is pretty unbelievable. In September I used the bank to send a few hundred US Dollars to a person in China, by an express "International Moneymover" as they like to call it. the bank had sent me a text message confirming the completion of the process. I have done this on many occasions in the past. This was a first time payment to the particular recipient whose bank is located in Kowloon. The receipient recently called me to say the money had not been received, so I sent a copy of the Bank Form that had been completed, by the bank clerk, to them as proof of payment. A few days later the chinese person called again to say the money had definately NOT been received. I headed for the bank with copies of all the paperwork, including the recipients bank details which they had emailed to me and which I had given to the bank clerk to use on the bank form. I had checked all the details after the clerk had finished and before the bank sent it off. At the bank I related the facts and handed all the paperwork to "Bill" the friendly bank clerk who said it would take while to check it all out as they ahd to contact the International Dept. OK. After about 50 minutes Bill came back with the Branch Manager in tow, a female called Lucy. Lucy then proceeded to say that the bank form had been filled in wrongly as Kowloon (Hong Kong) is not in China!!!!!
I was flabbergasted by this statement and assured her that Hong Kong IS IN CHINA. She maintained her insistance about this and was very aggressive, defensive and assertive while poor Bill stood to one side in an embarrased fashion. I asked Lucy if she had ever been to Hong Kong and if she realised that the UK had handed back Hong Kong to the Chinese a few years ago. After confessing that she had NOT been to Hong Kong or anywhere near it she gave me a short lecture on her version of the history and status of Hong Kong. Having told her that I have been there 4 times in the last 3 years she merely said that the discussion could go on for hours like this and refused to concede the point. However she did say that as far as the Banking fraternity were concerned Hong Kong is not in China which belied the truth of the matter. Her staff needed more training about THEIR systems and to know this fact. In the end she agreed to re-send the money without further charge and to pay the difference in exchange rate between now and the original date as there was a difference of about 30 cents to the pound!! So I believe that she had admitted their mistake by that action. After she had vanished I looked at Bill who had a wry smile on his face, he is no fool. I told him that her behavious had been outrageous and was no way to treat a customer as the whole argument was in the main banking hall in front of all the staff and customers. I think she must have been suffering from PMT that day or had too much coffee that morning. She is not the right sort of person to be a branch manager and I intend to write to her superiors about the incident. When I returned home to my Chinese wife and told her that Hong Kong is not in China she looked at me in total disbelief!! Gone are the days when bank managers were educated gentlemen with polite and courteous manners. More's the pity. Perhaps if we still had them the current banking mess would not have happened?

Madness

On the subject of madness I believe that we all have the capacity for some madness, in fact it might be that the more intelligent we are the more capable of madness we are! You may ask why I make this statement? Well, given the recent events in the World financial markets and banking I think my point is copiously illustrated. The bankers and financial "wiz-kids" have been very clever in their conjuring with our money with sub-prime lending hedge funds, devised to make us (them) rich, have finally been exposed as totally indadequate in their profession. Further more their greed has caused them to panic and create even greater mayhem than necessary and probably to line their pockets even more through commissions on stock trading whether prices are going up or down.
Added to this is the further injury that no less than an ex-president of NASDAQ has just been exposed as the author of probably the world's largest single scam which may exceed $50 BILLION!!! The large banks bought into this scam, again a hedge fund, and now stand to lose billions themselves. So how does this leave us, the taxpayers, who have already baled out these inept bankers with our tax dollars?
Unlike the millions of people who have borrowed to the hilt on plastic at the encouragement of the banks, those of us who have no debts or mortgage but have endeavoured to lead to a financially prudent existence are the ones who are suffering most of all. With the possibility of a zero interest bank rate our savings are returning very little and our pensions invested in stocks have plummetted in value too. Whereas the "spend - spend" brigade with huge mortgages and on oversized houses and gas guzzling chelsea tractors are going to benefit the most from the governments two year payment holiday on mortgages at our expense!!
I believe that it is time to go back to basics where banks etc only lend 1.5 to 2.0 times the annual salary of the principal wagearner of the household and NOT 3 or 4 times the joint income. This would lead to more sensible property values and more affordable homes for ordinary people. Likewise overdrafts and credit card lending should be limited to the same restrictions and the banks get back to having real "bank managers" instead of these inexperienced twits who only want to sell you something (usually an overpriced service that you don't want or need) rather than to provide sound financial advice and sensible help when you need it.
So my friends, the inmates have been running the asylum for too long, it is time to lock up these idiots so we may retain our sanity.

What more pictures?

I've had complaints about not enough pictures of China but there is an album to view if you look at the previous blogs with a webaddress to go to for viewing it!!
But I will add some more pics here anyway so here they are.............