Rant: din city
Alex Wong
I keep old Beach Boys tracks on my iPod in the vain hope their lilting refrains will drown out the cacophony that is Hong Kong, as heard from my desk. Nearby construction sites have been sending out bad vibrations for years - but Rhonda is no help and it's no fun, fun, fun.
For more than 233.7 weeks (not that I am counting), I've tried to redress the noise karma. I've even removed the pictures that were knocked from walls that shudder from the incessant pounding of drills.
I've tried listening to the calming Mozart and Baby Bach CDs that soothed my babies when they were wee bairns. To be honest, I would play every Eurovision Song Contest winner since 1973 - including the torturous , by Brotherhood of Man - if it would drown out the din.
My brain is pulsating along with the pile driving and endless drilling. It's like having a hangover every day, even when you're on a juice diet.
Things are not always better elsewhere in town. I changed dentists recently - accurately drilling someone's teeth while the building shook from the pile driving next door would have been a challenge for even the most dexterous of tooth doctors. And I need my tongue for work, even if I don't type with it.
It is claimed comedian Billy Connolly said of Hong Kong some years ago, "It will be a great place when they've finished building it."
Touché.
Some other well-known Scots, AC/DC, once sang, "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution," but Hong Kong's unrelenting construction is. And it's music to no one's ears.
