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SCMP Reporter

Q How do you think the five-day week will affect your lifestyle?

As a teenager, I believe the five-day week will circuitously make our lives healthier and mean we can have better family relationships.

Everyone would agree that education in Hong Kong is not good enough. Then there was the news that a young girl died of drug abuse and the complaint on August 8 that a writer to the paper had never seen any teenagers on the MTR in 10 years giving up a seat for  people in need.

The role of parents is of the utmost importance under such a system.

The five-day week doubtlessly will lead to parents having more time to spend with their children, inculcating good values  and instilling the right outlook on life.

When offered illicit drugs, they will know how to reject them; if there is a need, they will promptly offer a seat; and on growing up they will become more mature. Since more time is spent  with their parents,  family relations will improve.

Earnest Ho, Sheung Wan

I'm quite pleased the  government has introduced the five-day week because I think it will  be a big success.

The only thing that really will affect me is that my parents will only need to work five days a week and will have Saturdays and Sundays off. Since my parents have a load of work and both of them need to work on Saturdays, and sometimes even Sundays, the  five-day work regime  will encourage them to spend more time with me, making our relationship closer.

In the past, my parents worked day and night; they were always glued to their desks, concentrating on their work and seldom taking note of my business.

However, if the five-day week is successfully promoted, my parents and I can organise a 'family day', for which I have waited a long time. I'm very happy they'll have time to spend  with me. A five-day week will also help them become more relaxed;  they can  use  their weekends  to calm   their confused minds.

Chan Wing-sze, Kowloon

The five-day work week has been in existence in other a number of places countries for many years, and France exists on only 35 working hours over the five days.

Why stop at five days? With increasingly modern technical innovations, the future looks bright for four- or even three-day working weeks?

Charlie Lum, Mongkok

Q How can the typhoon signal system be improved?

Apparently, I have always had the wrong impression that the signals we give for  typhoons have something to do with the distance they are away from Hong Kong and, secondly, the relevant strength.

From the explanation of Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying,  I now understand it has to do with the wind speed in Victoria Harbour.

I am totally flabbergasted by this remark as several times, when signal No8 was raised, there was little or no wind and rain,  and during last week's No3 signal I saw people being almost blown out of their shoes while negotiating the streets in front of my office.

Something wrong with the meters, perhaps? Maybe the whole system should have an overhaul and as far as I am concerned, it is up to people whether they go out or not, unless we are being warned about a 'direct hit'.

Jeffry Kuperus, Clear Water Bay

On other matters...

Good to see the folks at the Airport Authority getting into the Disneyland spirit and creating their own magical kingdom.

The farcical way they dealt with the events from Thursday are laughable and once again Asia's self-proclaimed world city has been put firmly on the map.

My wife and son were some of the lucky ones and their flight was delayed for only four hours, but the lack of organisation  ahead of their departure was shocking and no announcements were made to keep people informed, thus adding to the chaos.

I can imagine that the backlog from Thursday must have been horrendous to deal with, but we are talking about the Airport Authority here and surely a proper plan should have been in place for such an event - especially as typhoons  are a fairly frequent occurrence.

Also, why was it not possible to get any food or drink in the departure area after 11pm? My wife and son went without food or water from 11pm to 4am - and again I reiterate they were some of the lucky ones.

I am sure we will see millions of dollars of Hong Kong taxpayers' money go into multiple inquiries into this event, which really would not have been necessary if the airlines and the Airport Authority had just done their job.

Finally,  congratulations to Cathay Pacific for having a single ground crew member to deal with all the connecting flights at Heathrow - good work. My wife and son really enjoyed their nine-hour wait at Heathrow.

Adam Graham



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