I bet Noah lived in Hong Kong

THIS WEATHER IN HONG KONG IS DRIVING ME MAD

Weather's been FOUL for weeks it feels like.

Non-stop torrential rain. Low grey clouds. Stinking heat 30+ degrees. Stifling humidity - 99% this morning was the official figure. No wonder so many Europeans hot-foot it back home during July and August. The weather for most of the year is so glorious here that one forgets the summer months. Horrid.

Several weather warnings were in operation this morning - Amber rainfall; Danger of landslips; Thunder and Potential flooding in the Northern Territories.

On the way to work this morning over 3cms fell in <30 mins (the definition of Amber rain). I managed to get a taxi as no buses went past after 30 mins of waiting - I took a different route into work (over the top of the Peak Vs my normal bus route via the Aberdeen tunnel).

The rainfall was monsoon like up in the hills - rather incredulously, I noticed several of streetsweepers out on the road - they were shin deep in rainwater and dressed in big black bin liners and with large straw hats on (to keep the rain out supposedly). They were busy wading through the gutters sweeping their brushwood brooms. It took me a while to realise that they were keeping the gullies and drains free of detritus. The rain was so strong, it was forcing its way vertically gushing up and out of the drains - fountains about 2 feet tall in some instances.

What a miserable job.

I've noticed, there's a distinct lower caste of workers here in HK employed to do the manual labour - toilet cleaning and roadsweeping etc. Shorter and stockier than the average Cantonese, they work so hard but are nearly almost always smiling (I'm talking here about the cleaning ladies I see in the office). I've asked my colleagues about this - and if there is a separate under caste ... understandably, I guess, they don't really acknowledge it.

According to offcial stats, the average labourer earns about HK$500 per day ... about 35 UK pounds ... but I suspect it's a lot less than that (some taxi drivers I've spoken to say they earn less than HK$300 per day - 20 pounds ... and that's for 10-12 hour shifts).

M